Posts for category ‘the industry’

You know what I love about shopping at my local independent book store? I go in there, and they know me. Okay, yes, part of that is because I’m an author and they are nice to authors, but when I go into Sam Weller’s or The King’s English and hang out awhile, it’s obvious that they know their other regulars, too. I know this doesn’t only happen at indies. I used to work at a little Crown Books in Daly City back when Crown Books used to be the biggest chain there was, and we knew our regulars, too, and could make recommendations and chit-chat and otherwise engage in human interaction not based on a five-star rating system or anonymous usernames.

Full disclosure: I have spent plenty of money on books at Amazon over the years, but have tapered off considerably after getting into the book business and understanding more about it. Lately I only resort to it when I need a hard to find book ASAP. But since the Macmillan debacle, and the letter from Amazon about it that felt…well, it felt hostile, frankly…I’m done with that, and keeping my Amazon purchases to blender replacement parts, the vacuum filters my hardware store doesn’t carry, and random medical supplies. Now, in saying that, I’m not berating anyone who chooses to buy books from the big A. I understand that sometimes convenience and pricing are the difference between you buying a book and not buying a book, and if you live in the boonies with no good library and you have to buy everything you want to read, it’s challenging to go indie. And, I bet that at some point in the future I will wind up clicking the buy button of a book (assuming it’s there), myself. But by shifting even 25% of your purchasing dollars to local stores, you’ll help keep the personal, human, passionate bookselling business—and the real people who make it happen—alive.

Anyway, speaking of Sam Weller’s, right now they are having a pretty fantastic sale for in-store customers—it goes through tomorrow the 6th. 50% off used (!), 25% off new, 30% off rare. Some restrictions. There is also chocolate. So if you’re in the SLC, go down there and show Catherine and Tony and the crew some love. Heck, you can even do that when there’s not a sale. All the better. To make it even more convenient, TRAX stops right at their front door, and there are two bars and a coffee shop and some restaurants on the same block, so you can eat, drink, and buy books all in one delightful outing. (All right, yes, sometimes you go downtown on Sunday or a weeknight and things are shuttered, but that seems to be changing. I am seriously hoping this “downtown rising” thing works out, because I live within walking distance of downtown and having it actually…rise…would make living here longterm so much more enticing.)

Here’s my haul from yesterday, a mix of new and used, and not counting the four books I have on order (you know you can order books through your local store if you don’t see them in stock, right?). The wrapped one (expertly, and for free by SW staff) is a top secret gift, obviously:

Coming on the blog next week: interview with Matt de la Peña, in which we talk about the wonderful We Were Here and other writery stuff. You’re gonna like it.

Have a great weekend! Go…Saints?

- Last week I suggested that people add author Andrew Smith’s blog to their reading list. Apparently, some people did, and didn’t like some of the stuff he said, or the way he said it, or the things some of his commenters said (though it’s not clear in the comments who is responding to Andrew and who is responding to other commenters…be specific, people, if you want to have a conversation). Drama ensued all weekend. Yet few truly seem to be listening to what Andrew said and continues to say about the pros and cons of having a book you write published in the YA category. I don’t think half the commenters on Andrew’s blog even realize he writes YA novels.

- All I have to say is this: Writers may have some very different ideas about what they do and why they do it than readers and gatekeepers do. Of course that has been the case throughout all time and in all categories of publishing, but there is this extra layer of expectation in the YA world that writers should think like parents, teachers, librarians, advocates, award committees, other writers. Some do, I guess, but many don’t. Personally, I know that I didn’t get into this to be a crusader. And if I were writing specifically for an adult audience, that would not be an expectation. But sometimes I feel like that is exactly what is expected of me. That I should be a Helpful Crusader, and that’s what writing YA is all about.

- Speaking of gatekeepers, John Green looks into the future of publishing and reading and librarianship over at SLJ. It took eight days to get a “shame on you” in the comments. You’re losing your touch, John.

- I love this interview with Mo’Nique in the Sunday Times. There’s a lot there for writers, or anyone in a creative profession, to think about in terms of working hard and letting the work speak for itself. And, this quote (about Precious) is great:

“I keep hearing, ‘It’s so dark, it’s so dark,’ ” she said, placing her hands flat on the table. “This movie is not dark. This movie is honest, and I think we get that confused. I believe dark is when you see the action movies, and they’re killing 25 people in a room for no reason. That’s dark. Some people,” she said, looking up at the reporter, “can’t deal with that type of honesty, and so they just call it dark.”

I haven’t seen the movie yet, but this response applies to some of the criticisms of realism in YA.

- Here is a nice review of Once Was Lost at Through a Glass, Darkly. Thanks, Kari.

After my post yesterday about knowing when to unplug, and wanting to keep up with all the online conversations, I totally got sucked in to the conversation about the cover for Justine Larbalestier’s forthcoming book, Liar.

The Publishers Weekly article, Justine’s report, Chasing Ray opinion, E. Lockhart’s two cents

There is a lot of outrage, and I think for good reason. Though, some of the comments floating around the o’sphere indicate a belief that the publisher is evil, bad, calculating, etc. Here’s what I think: it’s not like editors and marketing people are monsters. I have met a lot of people in children’s publishing over the last few years, and almost to a (wo)man, they are great, smart, hardworking, passionate people who wants to get books into readers’ hands and to be able to keep doing that by staying in business. I think this was simply a bad decision symptomatic of a larger, mostly hidden problem that we need to talk about and it’s good we are doing so. Being the clueless raised-in-diverse-and-liberal-SF white girl that I am, I had no idea, personally, about the belief that black people on covers don’t sell (or inside picture books – read E. Lockhart’s post). I’ve always been a little naive about racism and racial bias. In the soil I grew out of, it didn’t seem come up much.

Aside from the bigger implications, the cover story itself is yet another reminder of how little we as authors can control* about our jobs. The only part we can totally control (to the extent that we can control it) is the writing, and making it the absolute best we can. And by all accounts, Justine has done her job and written a brilliant book. Seriously, I have heard nothing but raves, and I can’t wait to read it. I wouldn’t want that to get lost in the scuffle. No author wants a controversy to overshadow the hard work on her baby.

*…which is not an excuse to not fight for things that should be fought for. But sometimes, you lose.

P.S. Here is the cover I mentioned in my comment on Justine’s post—a cover that made me pick up the book in the first place, when I was just browsing my local store. I bought it based on the cover. I can’t imagine I’m the only reader/book buyer in the world that is drawn to covers that have people on them who are not like me.

More resources:

The Brown Bookshelf

Color Online

Mitali’s Fire Escape

Reading In Color

Demonstrating once again how to have intelligent, thoughtful discussion and disagreement about YA lit without devolving into name-calling, snark, and gross generalizations, I give you: the women of the “What a Girl Wants” round-table at Chasing Ray. I want to go on a retreat with these women. I probably most agree with what Sara Ryan says in her contribution today:

“I think the YA authors who nail teen girls’ voices credibly — and part of that is recognizing that a monolithic Teen Girl Voice does not exist — respect girls and their lives in a way that authors of adult books with teen girl characters often don’t. The YA authors who get it don’t treat being a teenage girl as the best or worst time ever, or — as is perhaps most common with authors of adult books — as a time of such excruciating awkwardness that they can barely stand to evoke it. Instead, the authors who get it present girls’ teen years simply as a time when a lot is happening, some of it confusing, some of it exhilarating, some of it tragic, some of it amazing. Much like, you know, the rest of life.”

Also, as I read the various responses, I found myself confirmed in my belief that YA fiction is something very specific. It’s not junior varsity adult writing. It’s not practice fiction for younger readers. It’s not just for teens. It’s a specific genre of fiction (with many sub-genres) that accomplishes something unique. Now, putting what exactly that is into words is hard, and maybe not the point. To me, the point is it’s not better or worse than other genres and categories in excellence, purity, usefulness, merit, and potential to inform, entertain, provide escape or connection or whatever else a reader might be looking for. It’s not To Kill a Mockingbird vs. [insert your favorite YA novel] in a “is it YA?” smackdown. It is what it is, and as Sara R. alludes to, we are not all writing for one archetypal Teenager. We’re writing for humans, in our specific ways.

The whole What a Girl Wants series:

• Introduction
• Part I The Books We Can’t Forget
• Part II Girl Detective Fiction
• Part III Representing All the Girls (race/ethnicity in YA)
• Part IV The Girl vs. the Woman (when it comes to reading…why YA?)

Meanwhile, at Readergirlz, Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg chat live tonight.

So, what else is going on? Post your interesting YA-related links in the comments if you’ve got ‘em…

If you have any connection to the universe of children’s publishing, you have probably heard about this. I’m not up in arms or anything, as a) I’m not completely clear on the details of the proposal and b) “best of” lists are always limited, ultimately, in their usefulness. But, the idea is that BBYA would be replaced by some kind of popular vote, and that got me thinking about the starification of our culture, something that’s been bothering me for awhile now.

I love our friend the Internet. You know I do. But I’ve always hated that you can’t write an Amazon or Goodreads review without adding a star rating. How can you rate a Carson McCullers novel using the same scale as a VC Andrews novel—that is, 0 to 5 stars? I might give both Member of the Wedding and Flowers in the Attic a 5, as they are both totally satisfying to me in their own ways. But they are hardly equal. This same star scale is used to rate all consumer products, restaurants, cities, mechanics, doctors, ISPs, hair stylists…the list goes on and on.

Aren’t these things a tiny bit more complicated than a five-star rating system? What do the ratings and rankings really tell you other than an average opinion of average people who may or may not be anything like you in their needs and tastes? In an ideal world, excellent things would also be popular, but the fact that America’s Funniest Home Videos has been the most widely-viewed TV show for eons tells you that is not always the case.

Some books are excellent but not popular. Some books are popular but not excellent. Some are excellent and popular–yay! Of course this all ties into the last big online debate in kidlit: Who is qualified and should be allowed to review books? Which ties into the bigger cultural picture and the demise of print journalism, the controversies over citizen reporting and mommy bloggers, and the re-evaluation of the purpose of and need for gatekeepers.

There is a seismic cultural shift going on, and the ALA is not immune. As is always the case with change, whether it turns out to be bad change or good change, something is lost. I think we lose a lot by the way star ratings have encroached on how we make choices, and I fear that they—and any kind of popular vote scenario—can even keep us from knowing certain choices exist. The breadth and depth of the BBYA list has been so great—it’s hard for me to see the proposed changes as anything but a loss, with nothing gained since there are already so many ways to measure and reward popularity.

I saw 17 Again yesterday. I didn’t really get the Zac Efron hysteria before, but now I do. He is completely adorable, and actually a really good actor. I laughed, I cried, I admired his skin. But, if he wants to really transform his career from hearthtrob to actor with longevity, a la Johnny Depp, I have an idea: he should play Tommy in the Story of a Girl movie. We could de-cute him a little bit, add a scar, leave him unwashed for a couple of days. It would be brilliant. Zac! Have your people call my people!

Doesn’t he look a little Tommy-esque here?

Earth Day. I don’t know how I feel about it, as a day, which mostly feels like yet another opportunity for capitalism to taint what should be common sense. But, here are a few of the major though easy things I’ve done in the last couple of years. 1) I really, really, really try to avoid buying bottled water. For one thing, good, drinkable water should be free. Like air. For another thing, when I realized how many bottles I was tossing into recycling bins (when available, and they aren’t always), not to mention how much money I was spending, I felt lame. Recyclable doesn’t necessarily equate with desirable. All that recyclable stuff still has to be processed. 2) Re-usable cloth grocery shopping bags. They’re like 99 cents each. And who doesn’t want to stop the reproduction of plastic bags under the kitchen sink? I keep a couple in my car for spontaneous shopping trips, or in case I forget to take them from the house (happens all the time). 3) Flushing only when necessary. Enough said. 4) I air dry a lot of my laundry. I live in a very dry climate, so most articles of clothing that aren’t really heavy will dry in a day. 5) I’m obsessive about going around and turning off lights. Ask my husband. Next step: turning off the power strips when the things attached to it are not in use.

Someone on twitter posted the following from the Association of American Publishers: February publishing stats: adult hc down 0/9% in Feb, 17.7% YTD; adult pb down 38.8% for Feb, 29.5% YTD; mm down 18.3% for Feb, 14.7% YTD. Childrens/YA hc up 62.1% for Feb, 46.4% YTD; childrens/YA pb up 13.4% for Feb, 17.4% YTD. Ebooks up 131% for Feb and 177.2% for year ($6.7m) Very interesting. I certainly do not want to see any stats down, but jeez, seeing any segment of the economy grow at an over 50% rate right now is incredible, and makes me grateful I’m in the business I’m in. (That’s only one of the many things I’m grateful for lately.)

Everyone have a great day!