I'm proud to announce today that I'm taking part in a social media campaign to raise awareness of and support for more diverse books. This is an issue near and dear to my heart, and creating more diverse books is one of my biggest goals as an author. Please read about the campaign, visit the Tumblr, and consider participating yourself. The more people spreading the word, the greater the chance that we can help to improve representation in literature.

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Recently, there’s been a groundswell of discontent over the lack of diversity in children’s literature. The issue is being picked up by news outlets like these two pieces in the NYT, CNN, EW, and many more. But while we individually care about diversity, there is still a disconnect. BEA’s Bookcon recently announced an all-white-male panel of “luminaries of children’s literature,” and when we pointed out the lack of diversity, nothing changed.

Now is the time to raise our voices into a roar that can’t be ignored. Here’s how: On May 1st at 1pm (EST), there will be a public call for action that will spread over 3 days.

We’re starting with a visual social media campaign using the hashtag #WeNeedDiverseBooks. We want people to tweet, Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, blog, and post anywhere they can to help make the hashtag go viral.

For the visual part of the campaign:

• Take a photo holding a sign that says “We need diverse books because ___________________________.” Fill in the blank with an important, poignant, funny, and/or personal reason why this campaign is important to you.




• The photo can be of you or a friend or anyone who wants to support diversity in kids’ lit. It can be a photo of the sign without you if you would prefer not to be in a picture. Be as creative as you want! Pose the sign with your favorite stuffed animal or at your favorite library. Get a bunch of friends to hold a bunch of signs.




• However you want to do it, we want to share it! There will be a Tumblr at http://weneeddiversebooks.tumblr.com/ that will host all of the photos and messages for the campaign. Please submit your visual component by May 1st to weneeddiversebooks@yahoo.com with the subject line “photo” or submit it right on our Tumblr page and it will be posted throughout the first day.




• Starting at 1:00PM (EST) the Tumblr will start posting and it will be your job to reblog, tweet, Facebook, or share wherever you think will help get the word out.




• The intent is that from 1pm EST to 3pm EST, there will be a nonstop hashtag party to spread the word. We hope that we’ll get enough people to participate to make the hashtag trend and grab the notice of more media outlets.




• The Tumblr will continue to be active throughout the length of the campaign, and for however long we need to keep this discussion going, so we welcome everyone to keep emailing or sending in submissions even after May 1st.

On May 2nd, the second part of our campaign will roll out with a Twitter chat scheduled for 2pm (EST) using the same hashtag. Please use #WeNeedDiverseBooks at 2pm on May 2nd and share your thoughts on the issues with diversity in literature and why diversity matters to you.

On May 3rd, 2pm (EST), the third portion of our campaign will begin. There will be a Diversify Your Shelves initiative to encourage people to put their money where their mouth is and buy diverse books and take photos of them. Diversify Your Shelves is all about actively seeking out diverse literature in bookstores and libraries, and there will be some fantastic giveaways for people who participate in the campaign! More details to come!

We hope that you will take part in this in any way you can. We need to spread the word far and wide so that it will trend on Twitter. So that media outlets will pick it up as a news item. So that the organizers of BEA and every big conference and festival out there gets the message that diversity is important to everyone. We hope you will help us by being a part of this movement.

I admit that when I delved into publishing, I was pretty naive. I had anticipated that not everyone would like my books, which I am A-okay with as I don't like every book I read, and sometimes I dislike books that everyone else seems to like. We all have our own tastes, and I can frankly be very particular. What I hadn't anticipated, though, was the reaction some people have to specific character types, namely the nice ones (and by nice, I don't mean people who are actually jerks, who do things with an agenda in mind and then bemoan the fact that they didn't get what they wanted and it's so unfair because they're so "nice"--you know the type).

Before I proceed, I want to throw out a big, fat disclaimer. I am by no means trying to argue that I can do no wrong when it comes to my characters and how I portray them. Writing is something I've been doing since I could hold a pencil, but I know for a fact that I will never stop learning about it, no matter how many novels I read or write. So please don't take this as a defensive post.

Now, down to it.

One of the reactions that most perplexes me is when someone says, "This character is too nice." Of course some of this boils down to taste. The character doesn't work for that reader, and that's perfectly valid. I've been known to think this about some characters. Maybe what we really mean is the character is too gullible or too naive or too passive, but we use the word "nice" as a blanket description. But criticizing characters for being too nice makes me worry that maybe society is a bit jaded. I find it especially worrisome when caring, supportive male love interests are deemed unrealistic. What?

Granted, evil characters and characters with an edge are interesting--to me too. If they're done well, they can be a lot of fun to read about, especially because they can provoke such strong reactions. When I'm reading a book, I want to be invested in the story, and I want to feel actual emotions. Unsavory characters are very good at creating a strong reaction, so I'm not undermining their value.

But I don't get why that means nice characters are no good. When nice characters are done well, they can have just as many shades as the not nice characters. And by nice I don't mean someone who's perfect at all times. People who are nice can make stupid mistakes and do hurtful things. The difference is they know it, repent of it, and try to do better next time.

Maybe I'm an idealist, but I think niceness is a good thing and a highly desirable trait in others, particularly people with whom one might want to be friends or enter into a romantic relationship. I'm not advocating for nothing but friendly people in books, and I promise that my books will continue to include some very unfriendly, annoying, and awful characters, but I will also continue to have nice people in my books. Moreover, in my books the nice people will often win because, sadly, that's not always how it is in real life, and I'm a sucker for happy endings. But maybe if the nice people got more support, maybe if more focus was put on them than the not-nice people, niceness might prevail. And wouldn't that make the world, well, nicer?

I am SUPER excited to take part in the cover reveal for the final book in Zoe Cannon's Internal Defense trilogy, No Return. Zoe is one of my Infinite Ink counterparts, but I've been a big fan of Zoe's trilogy since long before we joined forces. If you love young adult dystopian, you don't want to miss this series.

So without further ado, behold the fantastic cover for No Return!

Every dissident knows about Becca Dalcourt.

They know about the lives she’s saved. About the prison break she carried out against impossible odds. They know she turned a dying resistance into the first real threat Internal Defense has faced in a long time.

And even now, with the resistance under attack from the inside, they know Becca can save them.

They’re wrong.

The conclusion to the story that began with The Torturer’s Daughter and Necessary Sacrifices, No Return explores what happens when an ordinary person becomes a legend – and how to choose between who you are and who the world needs you to be.

No Return will be released on May 21st, 2014.

Add No Return to your to-read shelf on Goodreads.

Zoe Cannon writes about the things that fascinate her: outsiders, societies no sane person would want to live in, questions with no easy answers, and the inner workings of the mind. If she couldn't be a writer, she would probably be a psychologist, a penniless philosopher, or a hermit in a cave somewhere. While she'll read anything that isn't nailed down, she considers herself a YA reader and writer at heart. She lives in New Hampshire with her husband and a giant teddy bear of a dog, and spends entirely too much time on the internet.

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