HER PERFECT LIFE--AND A PERFECT LAUNCH!

Jenn McKinlay: It goes without saying that the Reds are each other's biggest fans! So I am just over the moon, ecstatic, and positively thrilled to announce our Hank's latest book HER PERFECT LIFE will be released into the wild TOMORROW!!!

This book has already started to buzz hard with starred reviews from Kirkus and Publisher's Weekly and was declared “A spectacular thriller” in a rave review from Library Journal! It's Hank's second pandemic launch and the publisher says it's her “Most personal book yet.” ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

BUY NOW!!!

HER PERFECT LIFE

It’s about sisters, betrayal, guilt, fame, and revenge. Everyone knows television reporter Lily Atwood, and that may be her biggest problem. She has fame, fortune, and beloved daughter; and her devoted fans have even given her a hashtag: #PerfectLily.  But Lily also has one life-changing dark secret—and if anyone finds out, she fears her career and happiness are over.  Problem is: how do you keep a secret when you’re always in the spotlight? And when an anonymous source begins to tell Lily secrets about Lily’s  own life --she learns the spotlight may be the most dangerous place of all. 

There is a BIG launch party tonight so don't miss out! 

Register here:  https://bit.ly/HPLLaunch 

If you can’t come, boo, but Hank can still sign and personalize a book for you! Just click on the link. 

We all have questions for Hank--and we know you will, too! YAY, Hank--and we know this will be fabulous. Scroll down for the questions--and Hank's insightful answers.

JENN McKINLAY: Congratulations, Hank! This is so thrilling (intended)! We Reds have been fortunate enough to be a tiny bit in the loop during your writing process, and I have to ask is your protagonist television reporter Lily Atwood based on someone(s) that you’ve met during your own illustrious career as a reporter or was she inspired by something else? What was the spark that inspired her story? 

HANK: Oh, thank you! I am overwhelmed and nervous, just saying.  But I know exactly where this story came from.

  

When I worked in Atlanta, in the 80s, I was anchoring the weekend news. I came home after the eleven PM news one night, around midnight or even later, and my house was surrounded by police cars. Someone had broken into my house. The police caught him, and he confessed to them that he had chosen my house to break into--because he knew I was live on television, and not home!  Isn’t that chilling?

Because he knew where I was, he knew where I wasn’t. That understanding of the deep vulnerability of being a television reporter haunted me. And that was the beginning of the story.

And led to the irony in the title.

HALLIE EPHRON: Your titles always have multiple meanings and shades of meaning that reveal themselves to the reader. A case in point: “perfect” paired with “life”? Did the title come to you as you were writing, or did you start with the title and spin a story from there.

HANK: Oh, great question, dear Hallie!  In this book, the title did not emerge until about the middle of writing it. It was initially titled “The Next Caller” because one of the key elements is that an investigative reporter, who gets a lot of news tips from sources, gets a call from an anonymous person who appears to know some secrets about the reporter herself! 

 I thought it would be fascinating to turn the tables--to have someone whose life revolves, in a way, around telling secrets--begin to understand how it feels like to be in the spotlight. 

She has such a perfect public image that her fans have hashtagged her #PerfectLily. But soon she knows her seemingly-perfect life is about to be ruined. And that the spotlight may be the most dangerous place of all.

And once I thought the phrase “Her perfect life..” 

I thought--OH! Of COURSE.

LUCY BURDETTE: Yes big congratulations on everything Hank! Jenn stole my question about your spark, but here’s another one. You’ve talked about not plotting ahead while you’re writing. How much do you know when you start out? Do you use any turning points or character sketches or any kind of structure?

HANK: NO IDEA. Nothing. I know there would be a celebrated reporter who had a dark scary secret. What was it? NO idea! 

 I did have an image of a college freshman, a girl, who comes home for the holidays, and seems sad, and her mom finds her notebook, which has a calendar with the days crossed off.  And I thought--is she counting the days until something? Or after something? 

And that’s all I had.  (And that’s on page one, so no spoilers. ;-0) 

Lily’s seven-year-old daughter Rowen was a huge surprise to me. And she was a joy to write--mischievous, funny, confident, articulate, polite--and she pushes Lily a bit. And Lily pushes right back. And they are wonderful together. Until..what if that spotlight shines on little Rowen?  

(And oh, thank you, Lucy!)

RHYS BOWEN:  Many congrats on the new book, Hank. My question: do you become emotionally involved with your heroine? Identify with her? Or can you remain detached as you do in your job?

HANK: Thank you! Hmm. I BECOME her, as I write.  It’s almost like method acting. I know when I’m  writing Lily, I have good posture, and my brain presents Lily words, and I know what she wants, and her secrets, and I make her decisions. When I write Greer Whitfield, the ambitious/brilliant/complicated producer, my eyes narrow a bit, and Greer phrases come out. . And for college girl Cassie, well, I can’t talk about that. (HER PERFECT LIFE takes place in the past and the present.)  

But I DO identify with Lily’s concern for her personal life in a public arena. People who watch her on television think they KNOW her--she’s in their living rooms every night!--and they think they’re her friend. How dangerous is that? And Lily is an investigative reporter, like I am. She does a lot of good--but someone’s scheme is thwarted in every story she does--so she’s made a lot of enemies. And, like my burglar, they know where she lives.  

DEBORAH CROMBIE: It is such a fabulous cover, Hank! Everytime I see it I have to just gaze at it for a moment. Were you pleased with it? Is that how you imagined Lily? Did the cover design go through many iterations? 

HANK: Oh, totally totally totally. Thank you, dear Debs!  I GASPED when I saw this. And yes, we went through many iterations. I kept saying: elegant, classic, Mona Lisa, Grace Kelly, luminous,  mysterious, sophisticated. And then wow. Designer Katie Klimowicz at Forge hit a grand slam home run. Even the paper stock is incredible. (And here’s a secret--in the original version, her eyes are blue. I asked for green. And poof! Green.)

 

 JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: After these great questions, I'm afraid anything I might ask about HER PERFECT LIFE will slide into spoiler territory! So I'm going to ask about launching a BIG book in Fall '21 - you're doing a mix of Facebook Live, streaming, podcasting - and of course, you're still blogging here and at Career Authors and highlighting other authors with First Chapter Fun and The Back Room. Just typing that makes me want to lie down with a cold compress. How do you manage such a packed schedule and how - since I've seen this many times - do you keep delivering 100% at every event?

HANK: (Please don't make a list like that! It is a lot, but it's a lot of fabulous. xoxoo) Truly, I adore it, and it's part of the crazy-wonderful life as an author. And these days, all the more necessary to stay connected. And aw, thank you for the wonderful links!

And we all have packed schedules, right? But remember was it--Willie Mays? Someone like that? Who was asked: "Why do you always play the best you can in every game?" And he said: "Because there might be a little boy in the stands who's never seen me before."

Right?

And speaking of schedules:

All right, Readers, it's your turn to put Hank in the hot seat! What do you want to know about HER PERFECT LIFE? 

On Christmas Eve

LUCY BURDETTE: I came across this photo of my first Christmas Eve on this earth, with my mom and big sister, Sue. I don't know what we were singing, but my father was probably playing his accordion and warbling along too. This got me thinking about Christmas traditions and what has been strongly carried along with my current family. The one thing none of us will ever give up is Christmas stockings. We love them, no matter how old we get! (And for me also, it's attending Christmas eve carols and lessons service, though I can't confirm that all of my family does that.)

How about you Reds, holiday traditions?

RHYS BOWEN: We gave up stockings only recently although Daughter Anne and I still exchange. One tradition is mince pies and sausage rolls as we open presents. Another is that the tree gives us another small present in the afternoon.. 

JULIA SPENCER-FLEMING: Our Christmas Eve traditions: Go to the 5:00 service at St. Luke's (the one with the Christmas Pageant in it!) pick up Chinese take out, and watch DIE HARD at home, all snugged up together in front of the wood stove.There will be a huge missing piece in our Christmas Eve this year, so the children and I are getting away from our house, and snowy Maine - all the way to Hawai'i! Where we will probably...go to the service at the Episcopal church in Hilo, get Chinese takeout, and watch DIE HARD.

Hollywood Christmas

HALLIE EPHRON: Everyone stays here on Christmas eve--two little grandkids, my 2 daughters, my son-in-law. The Night Before Christmas must be read aloud. The radio tuned into Christmas music. A delicious Xmas eve dinner served early before the little ones turn crabby (shhh, I'm making a lobster bisque this week and freezing it) that includes potato latkes and Hanukah cookies (mandelbrot). I know, Hanukah will be over, but so what? 

And Xmas-eve night my daughter and I put together something yummy/yeasty to cook the next morning after presents are opened. Sticky buns in years past. This year we're making jelly donuts. 

Here's a picture of Christmas morning when I was little, a tree so big my dad always had to cut the top off to get it into the house. We trimmed it Christmas eve.

DEBORAH CROMBIE: We are a stocking family, too, and vow never to give it up. And this year we will have a stocking for Wren, such fun! When Kayti was little we read The Night Before Christmas aloud on Christmas Eve, along with A Child's Christmas in Wales. I still try to read both, just for myself.  These days we go to my in-laws for a big Christmas Eve party. (There are five siblings, with sibs' others, sibs' kids, and now sibs' kids' kids, and always some non-family friends.) It's great fun, but I often long for a quiet Christmas Eve in front of the fire, with hot chocolate and a movie or a book.

Stockings with Kayti, 1988

Christmas morning the kids come over as soon as we're all up. We do stockings, then breakfast (with something sticky!) then the tree. We used to go to my aunt's for Christmas dinner but the last few years we decided we really wanted to stay home. However, the quiet Christmas Day has evolved into a proper Christmas dinner for eight to ten people! But I love having family and friends around the table to celebrate.


INGRID THOFT: Christmas Eve includes a delicious meal, new PJs for the grandkids from Nana, reading “The Night Before Christmas,” a viewing of the Grinch, and the stuffing of stockings for both kids and adults.  The last few years, I prepped baked French toast to be popped in the oven on Christmas morning.  This year, I decided to let someone else do the work, so I ordered cinnamon rolls from Zingerman’s in Ann Arbor.  Fingers crossed they taste as good as the French toast.  My photo shows a Thoft tree from years past.  We were more ambitious then, but trimming a smaller tree is definitely a more peaceful process!

Hank's mom, circa 1965

HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  When I was little, we had champagne and scrambled eggs. Aw. And oranges in our stockings. (This is my mom, circa, maybe, holidays 1965? And now, I see, we have similar nail polish, and rings, and wear a watch with a bracelet.)  Anyway.  We could open ONE thing on Christmas Eve.  And the whole thing was..odd. Because we're Jewish. But we celebrated everything.  And now Jonathan and I do the same thing.We have rack of lamb one of the days, with a great wine. One of our traditions is this conversation.  Hank: Can we get a tree? Jonathan: We're Jewish. Hank: I know, but still, it'd be fun. Jonathan: If you want a tree, of course we can have a tree. Hank: Okay, I guess it's silly. ::sort of:: 

King George with wind-up toys

JENN MCKINLAY: Stockings! So much fun. We still do those, too, and we always have a wind up toy in it. No idea how this tradition started but I have a collection of windup toys that is unequalled. My picture is our newest kitten, King George, playing with a few years worth of windups. I had to check and make sure i hadn't already given the ones I bought this year. When I was a child and when the Hooligans were little, we always read Twas the Night Before Christmas and left out a plate of cookies and carrots (reindeer get hungry, too). Now that they're older we have a make your own pizza party and watch a Christmas movie together. It's still lovely just  to be together.  

Red readers, what will you be doing today and tonight? Any special Christmas eve traditions?

Author Websites: What's the point?

The 24% was Goodreads and Amazon

A few weeks ago, I was playing around on the poll taking option on Twitter. I wanted to get a sense of how readers track their favorite author's latest releases. With only 57 respondents, it's not like this was an in depth study by any means. But are readers really using FB more than an author's webpage to find out about their new releases? Given that FB can be hit or miss, it did give me something to ponder!

I thought I'd start this discussion with a tour of the Jungle Red Writer's author websites. Feel free to check them out and give us pointers on what you like and what you don't like. We can take it. Right, ladies?


So, Reds, what is your website address? Do you maintain it yourself or have a webmaster do it for you? Do you find your website to be a way to reach out to your readers?

JENN MCKINLAY: www.jennmckinlay.com  I maintain mine, which is one of the reasons I chose to have it hosted through my Author's Guild membership. As Ingrid so wonderfully put it earlier this week, I am a "control enthusiast". They have templates, which makes it very easy to customize, and they have a support team who field questions when I can't figure out how to do what I want. I do find it a very handy tool to reach my readers, mostly because I use the newsletter feature to send out quarterly(ish) notes to readers to keep them apprised of books coming out, signings, etc.

HALLIE EPHRON: www.hallieephron.com I structured this web site back when my first suspense novel came out. My daughter did the visual design and I hired a programmer who implemented it in WordPress. It's super flexible. I add new books as they come out; new events, new reviews go right up. And that keeps the cost way down -- all I pay for is hosting and my domain name and my expert swings by if something breaks (they "upgrade" the software) or I need some new bell or whistle. Now if I could figure out how to pay myself...
I think of my website as my portable PR kit. I want to make it as easy as possible for readers to find me at events or contact me or the wonderful publicist I get to work with at Morrow. And, of course, buy my books! 


LUCY BURDETTE: www.lucyburdette.com and for the previous series, www.robertaisleib.com. Oh lord, I know they need work! My Lucy website is through Wordpress and I picked a theme which is too complicated. I will be happy to hear suggestions--or maybe I'll end up choosing an author's guild template and starting over...

DEBORAH CROMBIE: www.deborahcrombie.com  My hub designed my website. I love it. It's clean, easy to navigate, has a gorgeous photo of London as the background, and all my books in order. Also, you can expand or print the maps from any of the books.  However, we argue about who gets to do the updating, so moving that to the top of my list! 

INGRID THOFT: I hired a woman who specializes in author websites to create mine at www.ingridthoft.com I update it myself, which usually means, that I screw it up and my husband, the software developer, fixes it!  One thing I love about my website is the photograph that serves as the backdrop.  It shows Boston from a somewhat different angle, and it's so atmospheric.  The Boston-area photographer, Bob Lussier, let me purchase the right to use the photo on my bookmarks and business cards.  I love it so much, I gave prints of it to my agent and editor when LOYALTY was published.  I'm on the fence about how important websites are to readers, and I'm eager to hear some feedback today!


HANK PHILLIPPI RYAN:  www.HankPhillippiRyan.com (Next life, I am getting an easier name.)  I have a web designer and maven, the wonderful Maddee James of xuni.com, who has worked with me on three incarnations of it: the Charlie McNally look, the Jane Ryland look, and the "Hank is an author" look, which it has now, and I love. I mean love. As for the inner workings, I have no idea. I send her calendar /schedule updates, she puts them in. I send her announcements, she puts them in.  There's all kinds of bios of all sizes, photos of all types of me and the books, press kits, tons of info for readers and writers. And reporters! And an easy contact button--that comes directly to me! 


But yeah--I do ever go to an author's website? I've gotta say, unless I am writing an article about them, or interviewing them, or just curious about what they look like---not too often.  What do you all think?

JENN: Because my agent strongly encouraged me to update mine (i.e. add BUY buttons for the books), I read a lot of articles on author websites. Here are my top three favorites (if you know of others, feel free to share):


7 Secrets for Amazing Author Websites

Author & Book Websites: What to include?

The Basic Components of an Author Website

So, tell us, readers! Do you visit author websites? If so, why? What are you looking for? Have you seen any author websites that knocked your socks off?