Our Chemical Hearts is getting a serious makeover in celebration of its upcoming paperback release! Check it out:
So very different to the original cover... but I still like it! What are your thoughts? Do you miss the fish or dig the new look?
Keep you eyes peeled for this version - it hits shelves on August 29 in the US.
The very first stop on my US tour was one of my favourite cities in the world: New York.
Snapped in Times Square
My event there was also with one of my favourite authors in the world: Scott Westerfeld.
Cue freak out.
I arrived in NYC at around 6pm on Monday night after a 14-hour flight from Sydney, a two-hour stopover in LA, and then a five-hour flight to New York. When I got to my hotel, I promptly collapsed into bed without eating dinner or changing out of my flying clothes.
I awoke at 3.30am and couldn't get back to sleep. HELLO JET LAG, MY OLD FRIEND.
Tuesday 4th October was the official release date of Our Chemical Hearts, and I had the whole day off to recover from my jet lag, so I basically spent it in bed tweeting. It was great.
That night, I got to meet my fantastic, amazing, unicorn of an editor, Stacey Barney, for the first time. We ate deep dish pizza and drank red wine. It was magical.
On Wednesday, I got to meet the rest of the Penguin team who helped make my book real, but tragically I forgot to snap a picture. Needless to say, they're all dreamy human beings and I swooned at being in the same room as them. Partly because of the jet lag, but mostly because I adore them all.
Then, that night, I had my first official US event: a joint book launch with Scott Westerfeld at Books of Wonder.
Is this the real life? Is this just fantasy?
*Internal fangirling intensifies*
We had a great chat (sans moderator!) about our books and about how influential Scott has been on my writing career and it was basically amazing.
Signing books like a real author
Part of the stellar team of humans at Putnam: Kate Meltzer, assistant editor, Lauren Donovan, publicist (who wore blue especially to match the cover!), yours truly, and Stacey Barney, editor extraordinaire
New York was incredible and I feel so lucky to have been able to have my US book launch in one of my favourite cities in the world, surrounded by people I greatly appreciate and admire.
Until next time, NYC.
Five states. Five days. One epic tour. Here's how it went down:
I arose early on Tuesday morning for my five hour flight to Perth. Damn Australia, why you so large. I kinda miss the days of living in Europe, when flying for five hours could get you to a different continent.
When I landed, I met up with my lovely publicist, Tina, and headed to Paper Bird books, a cute little bookshop in Fremantle, for my first ever event as a real life author. And there I saw, for the very first time, the physical manifestation of eight years of daydreaming: Our Chemical Hearts out in the wild.
Outside the adorable Paper Bird
MY BABIES! THIS IS NOT A DRILL!
My Q&A was hosted by the fantastic A. J. Betts, author of Zac & Mia, and a fellow Queenslander from a rural town! I was amazed to find out that she's from Innisfail, which is about a three hour drive north from Townsville.
The event was small and cozy and afterwards I signed my first purchased copies of Our Chemical Hearts and it was basically the best afternoon of my life so far.
Holding each other's books, trying to be cool etc.
Another early morning for our three-something hour flight to Adelaide. There were whispers on social media of an intense thunderstorm headed for the Adelaide region, but my publicist and I were blissfully ignorant of the true extent of the approaching weather. Enter Stormaggedon.
We landed in Adelaide about two hours before the wild weather began, and went to get hot chocolate at Koko Black in Rundle Mall. And that's when all hell broke loose. The storm rolled over the city, and all of South Australia lost power. For reference, that's an area three times the size of Germany. Tragically, we did not get our hot chocolate.
Alarms were blaring from every second building. The roads were gridlocked with traffic because no lights were working. The whole city was dark and eerie.
As we waited for news on the power in our darkened hotel lobby, we wondered if we'd have to cancel the event to be held at Dymocks. Police were telling people to stay indoors and off the roads, and we didn't want anyone to risk their safety to try and make it into the city.
Then, an hour before the event was supposed to start, my publicist received a phone call from the bookshop: six people were already there.
We wandered back through the darkened city to the bookstore to meet Tori and Sian, who run the YA Circle out of Dymocks in Adelaide, and the six (later ten) very dedicated readers who'd turned up despite the conditions!
Signing by candlelight. I nearly set my hair on fire twice - after that, the candles had to be moved away from my general vicinity for my own safety.
Dedicated af readers. You guys are some serious troopers!
A gift from the girls at YA Circle for doing my Adelaide event. I don't think they really understand that I would pay them for this opportunity, but I took the gift regardless because, well, chocolate.
After the seance, Tina and I were starving, and I came to realise that I would probably die very quickly in an apocalypse because I had no idea how to acquire food. Luckily a nearby Woolworths was running on a generator and we managed to snag some Doritos and red wine for dinner.
The glamorous life of an author on tour!
We managed to escape Adelaide on time despite many early morning flights being cancelled due to the power outage the night before.
And then it was time for my Melbourne event, which I was particularly excited about for two reasons:
1. So many of my early supporters have been Melbournians, and I was really excited to meet them in person, and
2. Amie Kaufman said she was going to be there.
AMIE BLOODY KAUFMAN, 1/2 of the team responsible for Illuminae. EXCUSE ME WHILE I FREAK OUT.
The lovely Shivaun Plozza, author of Frankie, hosted the Q&A
Meeting the adorable @_sarahdreams, whom I love! If I die, I want the review she wrote of Our Chemical Hearts read out at my funeral.
And then this happened:
Holy shit, both of them were there. Amie Kaufman. Jay Kristoff. Literary superstars. I CANNOT EVEN.
Another day, another city, this time up to Brisbane in my home state in Queensland. It was sunny and warm and glorious and made me wonder why I ever left.
My event that night was at Riverbend books, another cute boutique bookstore with a cafe attached. Which is basically my idea of heaven.
They also had my face out the front. It's very strange getting out of a cab and seeing your face staring back at you.
More books in the wild!
Booksellers are the best.
My Q&A was hosted by the lovely Rhianna Patrick from the ABC. We had a great chat!
Action shot. Limbs akimbo. No idea what's going on here.
We wrapped up the tour in Sydney, my adopted hometown, and boy was it a grand finale.
The event took place in Kinokuniya, one of my favourite Sydney bookstores, and was attended by a hoard of friends, family, my agent, my Aussie editor, and readers.
It was also hosted by Will Kostakis, who's new book The Sidekicks I just finished the day before. The Sidekicks will easily make my top three books of 2016, so I was a little nervous to meet/be interviewed by Will, who's an incredibly talented storyteller.
Stand at Kinokuniya. Awesome/terrifying in equal measure!
I saw Rainbow Rowell and David Levithan on this stage just a few weeks ago. MIND BLOWN.
Signing for my friends and family made my heart swell.
To every single person who came to one of my Australian book events and/or bought a copy of Our Chemical Hearts (or four, a la my sister and best friend) - THANK YOU.
Seriously, from the bottom of my heart, thank you.
It may seem like a small gesture to you, but it means so much to me. It means everything! I hope you like the book, and I hope you tell your friends about it, and I hope I'm lucky enough to be supported by such incredible people for years to come.
Dates, times and locations below! Click on the image to RSVP (except for Perth, where I'm pretty sure you can just rock up). Hope to see you there!
My previous author photo was taken on a hurried afternoon in August last year, just as my book was going out on submission to editors for the first time.
My lovely sisters did my makeup, and then the three of us traipsed off to our local park and took a few black and white snaps in which I appear very regal and like a Real Professional Author.
Photo credit: Shanaye Sutherland, fifth year med student/one time photographer
This is the photograph that ultimately appears on the back of Our Chemical Hearts. It's special to me because my sister took it and my other sister was there and it was just the three of us, alone in a park, before I even knew if my book would sell or not.
Alas, we only took black and white photos (because they're more regal and author-ish, duh) and I've recently had requests from media outlets for colour images, so it was time to get photographed again. I'm in Sydney and my sisters are back in Townsville, so I decided to hire a pro this time: the incredibly talented Lisa Fahey.
Here are some of the new picks she took of me, in one of my favourite places in Sydney/the world: Centennial Park.
Krystal Sutherland, international high fashion model
Krystal Sutherland, woman who enjoys glancing right
Krystal Sutherland, casual reader of hardback books she totally found just lying by the lake
Krystal Sutherland, who totally woke up like this
Thanks to Lisa Fahey for making me look way nicer than usual!