Frequently Asked Questions

About Meg Cabot

In Bloomington, Indiana, on February 1, 1967.

Indiana University at Bloomington, IN. I studied studio arts and graduated in 1991.

Because a random guy I met at a party I went to in high school told me not to study creative writing because in his opinion studying creative writing as a major sucks the love of writing out of you (he was a creative writing major, so he said he would know). I did not want the love of writing sucked out of me, so I followed his advice (however, I did take a few creative writing workshops at IU and I enjoyed them very much). Instead, I had the love of art sucked out of me. Years later I met that guy from the party again in New York City where I moved after college to be an illustrator, and we got married.

It took me three years of sending out query letters every day to get an agent, and a year for her to find me a publisher.

Where Roses Grow Wild, written as Patricia Cabot.

When I first started writing professionally, I wrote for three different publishers, and so had two pen names (Jenny and Patricia). Now all of my books are written under the same name, my real name, Meg Cabot.

About Meg's Books

The 5th book, The Bride Wore Size 12, is in stores now. I haven’t ruled out writing more books in the series.

Allie is currently on summer vacation, getting ready for fifth grade! I’ll be be sure to let you know as soon as she’s ready for school!

Yes! The Quarantine Princess Diaries will be published in March of 2023.

Yes! REMEMBRANCE, the 7th book in the series, is in stores now.

As a special treat for Suze Simon fans, a special Mediator e-novella, Proposal, is also available. Proposal is book 6 1/2 in the series. No new books in the series are planned at this time, but you never know!

The Mediator series has been optioned for television and film almost continuously since it was first published in the year 2000 by many extremely talented, caring, and successful producers. But because this series contains such a delicate mix of romance, horror, humor, and mystery, (and is also beloved by fans worldwide), it’s been difficult to find the perfect studio (not that studios haven’t asked)! Until we do, I’m hanging onto the screen rights. Thanks so much for caring as much as I do!

The 5th book in the 1-800-Where-R-You series, MISSING YOU, is the final book in that series for now.

No, I’m happy with where the sequel, Ready or Not, ended. Look for a short story about Sam and her experience in the White House in Our White House: Looking In, Looking Out

No, these were all meant to be stand-alone novels.

I cannot confirm or deny that there will be a 3rd movie, television series, or Broadway musical based on the characters from this series.

Nothing that I’m allowed to discuss! Sorry 🙁

Shhh! It’s a secret! But as soon as I can tell you, I’ll let you know via my blogTwitter, or Facebook page.

My book covers, titles, and even some of the book content vary from country to country because they’re put out from different publishers. Find yours here.

If you have to ask, then no, you’re not 😉

If you’d like a free newsletter, postcards, and autographed bookplates to stick in your copies of the books, send your request with a SELF-ADDRESSED STAMPED REGULAR BUSINESS SIZED ENVELOPE (stamps should total 64 cents. Overseas residents, please enclose a self addressed regular business sized envelope along with an International Reply Coupon (IRC) — available at your local post office — equalling the amount of return postage of a four page newsletter to your country) to: to Meg Cabot, P.O. Box 4904, Key West, FL 33041-4904.

Writing a Report About Meg

So you’re doing a report on Meg. That’s great! But we have a feeling your teacher assigned this project because he or she wanted you to do this work yourself. Please do not email Meg and ask for her help. If Meg had to help all the people who had reports due about her, she’d be up all night.

All the information you need to write a detailed report on Meg is available right on this site. You just have to be clever, and know where to look. Start here (Meg’s Bio) and the below FAQ.

By reading all of these pages, you should find everything you need to know.

Still don’t have what you’re looking for? Try Google or Wikipedia! Just put in Meg’s name. Or try your local library. Your librarian should be happy to help you.

Thanks for your interest in Meg Cabot and her books! Good luck on your report!

My books have won numerous awards. Including being number one New York Times bestsellers, they are frequently chosen as New York Public Library Books for the Teen Age, ALA Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers, IRA/CBC Young Adults’ Choice, Book Sense Picks, and  have also been on the Texas Lone Star Reading List. All American Girl won the Evergreen Young Adult Book Award (Washington), and The Princess Diaries won that one also, along with the TASL Tennessee Volunteer State Book Award. I was recently named the 2008 Distinguished Alumni of my college, Indiana University.

I hope readers will realize that they are not alone in feeling the way I did when I was in middle and high school-like a great big freak! Also that “normal” is not what you see on TV. Being true to yourself, and to your friends, is way more important than being part of the “in crowd.” I am living proof that it is possible to profit from being a middle and high school freak.

I read far too many books for me to list here, but some of what I read included a lot of fantasy, such as Susan Cooper’s The Dark Is Rising series, Nancy Springer’s Book of Isle tetrology (including The Sable Moon), and the Lloyd Alexander books. I also liked STAR WARS and SPIDERMAN comic books. I really loved some classics, too, like Jane Eyre, Pride and Prejudice, Lorna Doone, and the Betsy-Tacy books by Maud Hart Lovelace. And I am a big fan of Mary Stewart, especially Nine Coaches Waiting, Madame, Will You Talk? and Thornyhold. For more books, read my blog.

I like to read way too many books to list here. I love mysteries of all kinds, chick-lit, humorous memoirs, and I also love to read magazines of virtually every kind there is. I also read YA! I hesitate to list my favorite authors because I know I’ll leave someone important out, but off the top of my head a few of my favorite authors include Robert B. Parker, Sue Townsend, Susan Juby, Michele Jaffe, Megan Crane, Carrie Fisher, Per Wahloo and Maj Sjowall, Ngaio Marsh, Agatha Christie, Alexander McCall Smith, Patricia Wentworth, Barbara Park, Judy Blume, Nora Roberts, Janet Evanovich, Lisa Palmer, PD James, Barbara Cartland, Edward Eager, JK Rowling, Sarah Dessen, Neil Gaiman, Robert Ludlum, John Grisham, the list goes on and on, may I stop now?

On Writing and Getting Published

I just love to write, the same way other people love to play golf. Although, just like Tiger Woods, I have my good days and bad days. The challenge is what makes it fun!

Ideas come from everywhere…my own experiences, my imagination, newspapers, television. That’s why if you want to be a writer, it’s a good idea to carry around something to write with, so you can jot ideas down as they occur to you! Much of what is in my books is taken directly from my own diaries that I kept when I was in high school…I still have them, though I am the only one who will ever be allowed to read them. I just use the selective bits that won’t incriminate me.

Titles are tricky! I don’t usually think of a book’s title until the book is almost finished. Sometimes I can’t think of a title at all, and the publisher will have to come up with one. Sometimes my publisher won’t like my title, or there will already be a book with that same title published recently. Often, my publishers in other countries will come up with their own titles, because the American title doesn’t translate correctly. Even though titles are important, authors can’t be too picky about them. I’ve had book titles change two months before the publication date! I would say of all my book titles, 50% are ones I’ve come up with, and 50% are ones my publishers have come up with. Of my non-US editions, almost 100% of my titles are made up by the publisher!

The writing market has changed a lot since I first got published! There are many different different paths to getting published. I can only tell you the one I took: I wrote a book (actually, many books), then found a guide called Jeff Herman’s Guide to Agents, Editors, and Publishers. I wrote to the agents in the guide what’s called a query letter. This is a one page letter describing you, your book, and why a publisher/agent would want to buy this book from you. Just to let you know, I sent out several hundred of these letters before a single person ever asked to see the book I was trying to sell.

Some of the people who wrote back asked me to give them money in order to sell my book. I personally didn’t want to take that route, as I didn’t believe it was the right path for me (especially since I didn’t have any money)! Finally one person said she would represent me for 15% of whatever my book earned if she could sell it. That person is still my agent today.

You can get a publisher’s attention a lot more quickly—and some people believe you can get a much better deal—if you have a literary agent. A literary agent is someone whose job it is to take people’s manuscripts and try to place them with the appropriate publisher.

A good agent will never charge a fee for her work on your behalf.However, if an agent agrees to take on your work, when she places it, she will earn a 10-15% cut of whatever money you make from the sale. So if a publisher offers you $10,000 for your book, your agent will get $1,500 of that money. You will get the rest.

You can get an agent the same way you get a publisher: by finding a book on how to get them (such as the one by Jeff Herman) and sending them query letters

It is always more fun to start a new story than it is to work on the one you’ve been working on for months. This is why publishers don’t pay writers their whole advance until they turn in the completed manuscript. Every writer feels this way. Just power through it, and remember that if you write a page a day—just ONE page—in three months you’ll have a hundred page story. And in six months you’ll have a two hundred page story. That’s almost a whole book. So don’t think about it like: “Oh my gosh, I have to write two hundred pages.” Think of it like, “Today, I have to write a page.” Trust me. It works.

The solution to this problem is very simple: Sit down. Start a story. Finish it. Put it aside. Start another story. There. Now you’re a writer.

How about this: Who do you hate and why? Who do you love and why? What’s happened to you that you wish hadn’t happened? What hasn’t happened to you that you wish WOULD happen?

Write these things down. There’s your story.

Obviously you’ve got to create a plot and change your characters names so your friends and family won’t sue you. But that’s the fun part.

Publishers go by words, not pages. Most adult books are about 90,000 words, and no longer than 100,000 words (unless you’re JK Rowling). Teen books are about 55,000 words.

How many words are there to a page? It depends on the font you are using, of course, but in general, 250-300 words per page. Therefore, a 55,000 word book should be about 200 manuscript pages. A 100,000 word book would be about 400. Editors like 12 point font.

Whichever one you like. I like Word, but some writers I know use Scrivener, Pages, and even Google Docs.

I like chapters to be no longer than 10 pages each, with one scene per chapter. But you can have as long or as short a chapter as you want, with as many scenes in each that you want. You can have no chapters, if you want. But remember, readers have busy lives, and at some point they will have to put your book down to go the grocery store. It would be nice if you have chapter breaks so they could do this easily.

Some authors make an outline plotting out what will happen in each chapter, before they sit down to write the book. While I do think it’s important when you’re writing a book to know where you are going (what the end will be) and how to get there, that kind of detailed plotting pretty kills the fun of writing for me, so I don’t do it. But see what works best for you.

That is the difference between someone who WANTS to write, and someone who DOES write. The person who FINDS the time is the one who is going to become a writer. The person who doesn’t, won’t. You have to decide what’s important to you. I didn’t write very much while I was in school because I had too much homework/social life. There is no shame in waiting on the writing thing until you have more time. I did.

My advice to young writers is:

  • Write the kinds of stories you like to read. If you don’t love what you’re writing, no one else will, either.
  • Don’t tell people you want to be a writer. Everyone will try to talk you out of choosing a job with so little security, so it is better just to keep it to yourself, and prove them all wrong later.
  • You are not a hundred dollar bill. Not everyone is going to like you … or your story. Do not take rejection personally.
  • If you are blocked on a story, there is probably something wrong with it. Take a few days off and put the story on a back burner for a while. Eventually, it will come to you.
  • Read-and write-all the time. Never stop sending out your stuff. Don’t wait for a response after sending a story out…start a new story right away, and then send that one out! If you are constantly writing and sending stuff out (don’t forget to live your life, too, while you are doing this) eventually someone will bite!
  • It is nearly impossible to get published these days without an agent. The guide I used to get mine was called the Jeff Herman Guide to Agents, Editors, and Publishers. It was well worth the money I spent on it, since it lists every agent in the business and what he or she is looking for. It also tells you how to write a query letter, what to expect from your publisher, and all sorts of good stuff…a must buy for any aspiring author!

  • And above all, become a good listener. In order to write believable dialogue, you need to listen to the conversations of the people around you—then try to imitate them! So my advice is always to try to keeping quiet, listen only, and let other people to do the talking for a change. You’ll be surprised how much this will improve your writing skills (and how many people will think you’re a really sage person, when all you’re basically doing is spying on them).

 

Good luck, and keep writing! If I can do it, so can you!