My first book came out in 2020. I was excited and proud to share it with my community. It was the fulfillment of countless dreams, the realization of years of hope and hard work, and then the world went into lock down. All the plans had to be changed, the expectations altered. And I was hardly the only one who experienced disappointment and frustration at having my once in a lifetime moment devestated.
Now, five years later, I visited with a few of my fellow 2020 debuts to talk about what that experience was like.
TRANSCRIPTION PART 1
PJ
Hi, I am PJ Gardner. I am the author of the Horace and Bunwinkle series and The Great Zoodini and Worst in Show, which is coming out in March of 2026. And I am here today with Adrianna Cuevas and Laura Stegman to talk about debuting during the pandemic and what we learned and kind of like how life is what we've taken from that experience.
So I'm going to have each of them introduce themselves and their books, and then we'll get down to some serious questions. So Adrianna, would you share like your books with us?
Adrianna
Sure, no problem. So I'm the author of nine middle grade novels.
The one that I debuted with during the pandemic was The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez. But my most recent books are The Ghosts of Rancho Espanto, which actually comes out in Spanish this coming Tuesday. And then What Fell from the Sky published in February.
But yeah, all of them are basically middle grade contemporary fantasy, bordering on spooky kind of horror, but mostly like adventure.
PJ
Well, actually, this is a perfect month to have you since it's October and it's spooky month.
Adrianna
Pretty much.
PJ
And Laura, tell us a little bit about you and your books.
Laura
Hi, I'm Laura Siegel Stegman. And my middle grade trilogy is Summer of Luck, which is about three struggling kids who stumble on a magical carnival haunted by a ghost who helps them find self-acceptance.
And it's two sequels, are Ready or Not and The Chambered Nautilus. And they are all middle grade fantasy.
PJ
That's awesome.
So we had to do a little shifting because Laura's computer was shaking. So she's now in a new spot looking lovely. And so let's go ahead and start.
Let's start talking. We each debuted in 2020. We were a part of an author group called The Roaring Twenties.And that's how we connected. And if I remember correctly, we did a gift exchange. And Adrianna, you got me because that's how I discovered Bustelo coffee.
And because you were like, this is strong, be careful. And I was like, this is amazing. So all right, so let's talk about, let's start, Adrianna, let's start.
When did your book come out? Like what month? So like, so kind of then how much time and like, what was that experience like?
Adrianna
So my book was supposed to come out in April. And I, you know, all my marketing that I had set up was gearing towards this April date, everything I was sharing on social media, April, April, April. And then I forget when, but a little bit before I get a text from my sister that says,
“Hey, I got a shipping notification from Amazon that your book isn't being sent to me in April. It's going to be sent to me in July.”
That's actually how I found out that my publisher was delaying the release of the book until July. My publisher didn't tell me Amazon told my sister and she told me, so that was less than ideal.
But as we know, sometimes that's how things happen in publishing. So yeah, the release got delayed until July because obviously we didn't know when things were going to open again. And I think my publisher was being cautious or optimistic or something saying, “okay, you know, nothing's open right now in April, maybe things will improve by July.”
And so, yeah, they delayed it. And so, yeah, I finally, the book released like July 21st, I think. And so that's what happened.
PJ
Oh, that's rough. But I do love social media or like some like twists like that, where you're like, wow, that was a major thing I probably should have known about right beforehand.
Adrianna
I was literally already doing a countdown, like four weeks till release and like releasing special stuff about the book and all this thing.
Yeah. All these things. And nope.
Yeah.
PJ
Oh, that's brutal. Yeah.
Laura, you debuted later though, right?
Laura
September. Yeah.
PJ
Okay. When? Because I was September 15th. When were you?
Laura
September 15th.
PJ
Oh, okay. So we were the same. I don't remember. Laura's like, it's September. What else do you want from me?
Laura
But I think it was the 15th. Yeah.
PJ
So when you, okay, did you, because Adrianna was telling us a little bit about some of the plans and things she was doing.
How did it change? Like, what had you planned that then had to change? Or had you kind of been holding off? Like, how did that go for you?
Laura
I knew, you know, it was going to be September from relatively early. I had a teeny tiny publisher that subsequently the following year went out of business before my two sequels were published. And I can go into that in a bit, but they were so small that I didn't really see the final galleys until a month or two before.
So I was planning, but I was not sure it was going to even happen. And that was very scary and frustrating. But I, I did what Adrianna said she did, you know, you know, sort of planned as if it was going to happen. And I was very happy to be in our debut group because there was all the people talking about what they were doing. There was all the support and there were people we, I befriended a couple of people in that group. My brain is really going because PJ, I can't even remember if you were part of that.
I don't think you were with Celesta and Jess Rinker and Gina Loveless, Celesta Remington. We banded together for a Zoom launch and Shannon, is that her name? Yeah. She, she volunteered to be our moderator.
And that was, that was sort of a big thing. Plus I contacted my local bookstore, Children's Book World, and they hosted a Zoom launch as well. So I had two and I had a lot of friends that came to both of those.
So that was pretty exciting. And I sold a lot of books for, for me, you know, and as a result of that, and, and I went, I remember going to the bookstore, mask on, terrified. And they had the book set up in the back room.
And, and I, and they left me alone to sign them all. They had it all organized and it was weird, but I didn't know any different. So.
PJ
Right. Yeah. Y'all, you want to hear something funny because my book was set on a farm.
I was like, I, there's a park next door to my house and it had a greenbelt and I was going to get a petting zoo and I was going to do all this stuff. And, and then it just, you know, because March and April, you were like, it might, it might get better. And then by about May, we were like, oh, you know, and then, and by, by, you know, August, when I was like, I really have to figure out what I'm doing.
I was like, oh no, this, this is not gonna, this is gonna, but in the end, that saved me an epic amount. So in that way, I was like, oh, well, maybe that was a good thing.
Laura
I have to also say that, you know, it didn't, I didn't necessarily think of it as saving money, but it saved my, me, the, the angst of having to be do in-person events.
Like the practice that I got doing zoom events helped me so much become comfortable when I finally did do in-person events and school visits.
Adrianna
I totally agree with that. So I, I had an in-person launch, obviously for Nestor in July, or in-person, virtual launch through Book People, which is a indie bookstore here in Austin.
And I'm sure y'all will probably agree. I had a lot more people attend that because you could attend from anywhere in the world. So, I mean, I had family from Florida and friends from Puerto Rico and up in new England and from all over get to attend my debut launch that 100% would not have been there in Austin, Texas at book people at my launch.
I don't have a big local draw. You know, I probably would have had like five people at my, you know, launch for this book. And so in that regard, having virtual events for a little bit was kind of nice.
I felt like I had a bigger draw. So I had a virtual launch for that book. My second book Cuba in My Pocket that released in September of 2021, things were still pretty much not happening.
So I had a virtual launch for that one as well. And same kind of thing. Lots of people could attend from all over for that.
My third book, a ghost of Rancho Espanto, when that came out in April of 2023, that was my first in-person launch. And Lord, I was stressed out.
Am I going to be able to fill this bookstore? Are people going to come? And do you know what? I hated it.
I absolutely hated having an in-person launch and I haven't done it since with any of my subsequent books. I'm like, you know what? I don't need to do an in-person launch. I have nine books.
I know what it's like. We're fine. Y'all know when my books are coming out, we're good.
But I think I'm like you lead doing all those virtual events for the first, honestly, two years of my author career. The very first time I ever stood in front of flesh and blood people to talk about my books was when I was invited by Hillsborough County Public Schools in Tampa, Florida, to talk at this big convention that they were having for their students. And that would have been in 2022, two years after I debuted.
And it was the first time I got to talk to actual people about my books, but I wasn't nervous about it. Cause like you said, I had already been doing virtual school visits and virtual events. Like I had done a ton by then.
So I feel like we got to ease into things as debut authors in that way.
PJ
So, which was kind of, which was one of the later questions is, was there something like, were there good aspects of it to it? Like stuff that you took away?
I felt the same way, Adrianna. I had a family, I have family, most of my family's in Denver.
And then I had friends, you know, spread around the country. And I had like, for me, which I was really, I was like, I had over a hundred people come and which was really a hundred different accounts. So it was more people.
Right. And it, it was so exciting and I was so happy and I worked, Celesta Remington and I, I was, she was, she was the host and we, and I had done videos. I did so much more that was meaningful, you know, in the video form, but I did find that like second book, like people were like, we've already done this once.
Right. They're like, this is what you do. And I was like, subsequent stuff online was like, eh, but I appreciated that.
And I did, I appreciated being able to get comfortable on zoom. Right. And so you're right.
Like, Oh, I'm going to do a class visit, a virtual visit. Easy peasy. Like I know how to do this now.
Like it's not, even though there's almost always still with a class visit, there's always some kind of like technical. Yeah. Right.
You're like, no, it's going to be something. Right.
DEBUTING DURING THE PANDEMIC PART 2
" . . . we made it through debuting during the pandemic. Now, whatever publishing throws at us, I'm like, at least it's not that . . ." - Adrianna Cuevas
TRANSCRIPTION PART 2
PJ
How do you remember feeling at the time? Like, you know, Laura, were you disappointed? Like, were you bitter? Like, I mean, how did you feel about-
Laura
No, I was relieved, like we've been talking, just because I, and the irony is my college degree is in acting. It's not like I never had an opportunity to be, but sort of growing up after college and, you know, doing what I did, and especially writing, writing is so solitary. And I'm used to not appearing in public, you know, that way.
And I think it gave me confidence to do it once I started doing it, but no, I was actually relieved. Plus I was, you know, I was very uncomfortable going out. I didn't want to go out anywhere.
I liked the fact that I could do, I could reach all these people, as Adrianna said, you know, all over the country, you know, I liked the fact that they could come to my virtual book launch and that I could do, you know, there were so many things that I learned about as a result of being in our debut group. I don't, neither one of you was in this video, but there was a young woman who did TikTok videos, which were sort of relatively new-ish at the time, book talk, and she asked for volunteers to make little videos of our books dropping, you know, and there were, and we were like all over TikTok and it was pretty exciting. I never would have had the nerve to do something like that on my own, but with this group, it was great.
So yeah, I really did.
PJ
I remember those videos with the books dropping. Yeah, yeah.
Laura
Where you were at, yeah. And I was in one of those, and I like playing it every so often because it's so hilarious. But yeah, so those were the kinds of things that I learned about and said yes to anything I could because it was, you know, it was a connection.
We were, everybody was so disconnected during the pandemic, and these were opportunities that we found through our debut group and other opportunities that we must have had, you know, to connect and to be around people without having to expose ourselves to COVID.
PJ
Right, right. Adrianna, what about you? We had talked a little bit, like, oh, it was a relief, but I mean, as a whole, how did you feel about those plans not working out, about debuting during that time where you couldn't do all the stuff that people got to do, right?
Adrianna
Well, it was kind of funny.
Like, one, when I found out the book was being delayed, in all honesty, I thought it was the end of the world. I was like, okay, well, that's it. I tried this whole author publishing thing, but I guess it's over now because, you know, as a Cuban, we kind of take things to extremes.
But once I calmed down from that and was like, no, your book's still coming out, I think the thing that was hard for me to grasp was that all of the established authors who had been in publishing kept talking about how different things were and how much they missed, how things used to be, but we didn't have a point of reference. And so I was like, okay with doing everything virtually. I'm an introvert.
I was like, you're telling me I don't have to go anywhere. I get to sit in my office with my cat at my feet and, you know, I don't have to leave my house. This is my preferred way of doing things.
I was all right with doing things virtually. And so as people were kind of bemoaning the loss of the connection, I was like, I don't have a problem with this so much, you know? Like, it's okay. Because I was also seeing that in the span of a day, I was doing a school visit in Florida in the morning and then a school visit in Indiana in the afternoon. And then I was doing a school visit in California, you know, to end the day, something I couldn't physically do otherwise.
And so I think because I, you know, we, like I said, we didn't have a really point of reference for what things were like pre-COVID. I wasn't really mourning the loss of anything.
And so I was kind of accepting it like, well, I can't do anything about the current state of things. You can really just accept it and make the best of it. And so that's what I was just trying to do, make the best of everything being virtual and do as much as I can virtually.
And so, yeah, I thought it went really well. And like you said, you were just trying to make as many connections as you could with other authors and then with schools and librarians and teachers. And so, yeah, I think overall, I think we all kind of handled it as best we could.
But I feel like as debut authors, we were almost positioned better because we were just, okay, this is the only thing that we know, so let's go. Whereas I feel like other more established authors were kind of fighting it perhaps a little bit more because they were used to a different way of doing things.
PJ
I remember being disappointed at the time.
I do remember feeling like this isn't fair, right? This wasn't the promise from when you got the contract and all of that stuff, right? But then I do remember kind of feeling ultimately that I did get to do, like we talked about, I reached my family and I was able to celebrate with people who would not have been able to be there. But I also remember there was so much other stuff going on around it. You have to have your author website up beforehand and you have to, right? And I had moved from WordPress to Wix and I was creating my, like I'm preparing for this virtual launch now and that I was like trying to get my stupid website up at the same time.
And I was like, this is too much, it's so much. Okay, so we talked about good things. Is there, and I think we actually talked about stuff that we took away kind of from it as well.
Are there other things that stood out to you about it? Like anything that, I mean, we've talked about what we appreciated, but was there anything else? Cause I mean, I think my questions were kind of open-ended, but is there something else about debuting during the pandemic that stood out to you or was meaningful or was painful about either of you?
Laura
I mean, no. Other than my publisher going out of business the following year, but then I had the great fortune to have another publisher reach out and, or connect with me. And they reissued Summer of Lock, which is the cover that you see there.
And they issued Ready or Not in 2023 and the Chamber Nautilus in 2024. And I just have a feeling that despite the fact that there was a sea change certainly for the larger publishing companies, especially the big five, but I think it gave an opportunity for smaller publishers to grow and blossom during this time. And certainly my current publisher, Young Dragons Press, which is a division of Roan and Weatherford, they're growing quite substantially since the beginning.
And lucky for me, I was able to connect with them and go through a whole, go through the reissue of the first book. And then I remember, this isn't really answering your question because it's sort of more positive, but-
PJ
No, I want it to be positive. I want it to be whatever's real.
Laura
I remember when Ready or Not came out and probably maybe a few months after that, I put together an in-person event at a book signing at a bookstore and lucky for me, PJ and I are like this. And I got the courage to actually do that because PJ was my moderator and people showed up and same for Chambered Nautilus when that came out. I mean, a lot of people, they were all people I knew, but I guess that's what they're supposed to be.
And so that, having had that, just sort of repeating the idea of connecting with people, not only on a author to author level, but becoming friends with many of these people from our debut group. And so that was really helpful. And then when Summer of Luck was gonna be reissued, I remember going to people in the debut group and saying, hey, anybody interested in forming a co-marketing group with me? And we did.
And there were, I don't know, 15 people. And it didn't, the book, the group didn't exactly last because we were all connected by, I mean, it still exists, but we interact now on a one-to-one basis, those of us who live in Southern California like PJ and I do. And we connect with several of the other authors who do, so we've, that's become a huge source of opportunity for in-person visits.
And that never would have happened had I not learned how to connect with authors through our debut group. So I'm forever grateful for that. Yeah.
PJ
Absolutely, I agree. Adrianna, was there any other things about it? And I know, I mean, I'm not looking for negativity. I'm just, for real, like, you know.
Adrianna
No, cause it was tough, but I think whenever you go through an event like that, that is really, really difficult and you survive it, you know, then you look at your publishing career as I do. And I'm like, well, you know, we made it through debuting during the pandemic. Now, whatever publishing throws at us, I'm like, at least it's not that, like, fine.
We're gonna survive whatever publishing throws at us next because I'm not debuting during the pandemic again. You know, it's kind of like, I remember when it happened, we were all saying that we deserved to have little, like, stickers on our books saying, like, this debuted during the pandemic. Please give it some extra love.
And I feel like as authors, we kind of all still carry that badge of honor together and it connects us, you know? And so, yeah, I think that, like, no matter what new nonsense publishing comes up, you know, for us, it's not pandemic debuts. So, yeah, we'll be okay. We'll be fine.
We've got those skills of being able to pivot and being able to, you know, think up new things. And like Laura has said, the most important part was making those connections because I think you can talk to any author and they'll tell you that that's the key to surviving publishing is connecting with other authors and sharing stories and sharing strategies and really just being able to vent and, you know, exist together because that's how you make it. And I think that just got heightened during the pandemic, that need for connection and that need to rely on each other and to share with each other.
Because I just remember a lot of us sharing stories, like, is it just me or is this happening to anyone else? And we would all be like, no, no, no, no, no. You know, my publisher is doing this or I'm going through this. And yeah, there was just, that was so important then.
And it still is. But yeah, so I think, you know, connection and then knowing that, hey, we survived that, we'll be able to keep going.
PJ
I totally agree.
I do think it did the, I do think it was like, I would never have thought, well, I didn't really know anything about Zoom or the other one that was more popular at the time. I can't think of it.
Adrianna
It was Skype. Did we get rid of Skype? We got rid of Skype.
PJ
You never hear Skype anymore, right? But, you know, it was like, I would never have thought to use that technology, right? And then we did. And now I have great friendships with authors across the country.
I have regular like writing sessions with people and I would never, never have met them if it weren't for, you know, getting comfortable with this sort of format and everything. And then I also do think, I think that it's like trial by fire, but it was very interesting.
Thank you for joining me. I appreciate it. It was a particular bond made during this and it's great to see you.
And I'm glad that we were able to share our experiences and kind of, I think, again, I think publishing is just a wild journey, right? And if it's not a pandemic, it's always gonna be something that comes up and you just have to learn to sort of, to roll with it and to go back to what matters, which is the writing and the stories and being proud of what we've created.
So thank you for joining me and thank everyone in SCBWI who is joining us for this as well. And take care.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
ADRIANNA CUEVAS
Adrianna Cuevas is the author of the Pura Belpre honor book The Total Eclipse of Nestor Lopez, the Edgar Award winning The Ghosts of Rancho Espanto, and many other popular middle grade titles. She is a first-generation Cuban-American originally from Miami, Florida. A former Spanish and ESOL teacher, Adrianna currently resides outside of Austin, Texas with her husband and son. When not substitute teaching at her local high school, cheering for the Florida Panthers hockey team, and setting off the smoke alarm in her kitchen, she is writing her next middle grade novel.
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LAURA STEGMAN
Laura Segal Stegman is the author of Summer of L.U.C.K., Ready or Not, and The Chambered Nautilus, a middle-grade trilogy from Young Dragons Press, all with Readers' Favorite Five Star reviews. She has been a presenter/panelist at such literary events as NCTE (National Council of Teachers of English), Orange County Children’s Book Festival, Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators’ (SCBWI) SoCal Harvest Day, San Diego Writers Festival, and LitFest in the Dena. She shares her author journey with students at virtual and in-person school visits, participates in such events as the STEM Teacher Summit, and serves as a judge for writing competitions sponsored by Society of Young Inklings, SCBWI, and others. As a long-time publicity consultant, she created PR Tips for Authors, a step-by-step guide to building a digital author media kit, which has been presented by The Writing Barn, SCBWI, and elsewhere. Non-fiction writing credits include collaboration on the travel book Only in New York as well as feature stories and guest posts that have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Magazine, SCBWI’s Official Blog, and School Library Journal’s Teen Librarian Toolbox, among others.
She is based in Los Angeles. www.LauraStegman.com
PJ GARDNER
PJ Gardner has never met a talking animal, but that hasn’t stopped her from writing about them. She’s the author of the middle grade Horace & Bunwinkle series, Book 1 of which made the Hawaii State List two years in a row, as well as The Great Zoodini, which was a finalist for the SCBWI Golden Kite Sid Fleischman Humor Award. Her next book, Worst in Show, comes out in March 2026.
She lives in Southern California with her husband and sons, a mischievous cat named Kaiju, and a rambunctious Boston Terriers named Rocky.
