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This year I've been getting more and more people asking about ebook editions of my novels. This is my general response to that query.
First of all: you're asking the wrong person. My publishers are in charge of the electronic rights to my novels. If you're curious
John Scalzi has more to say on this question. If you're desperate for ebooks of my stuff bug my publishers, not me. That will be much more effective.
But here's what I know: Penguin has made electronic editions of Magic Lessons and Magic's Child available. But for some reason not the first book in that trilogy, Magic or Madness. Apparently they're working on it. That's all I know.
Bloomsbury, who publish How To Ditch ...
Posted by Justine at 21:02, November 13th, 2009 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, Magic or Madness trilogy, Publishing business, Reading, Young Adult literature |
The event at
Books of Wonder with
Libba Bray,
Kristin Cashore,
Suzanne Collins, me and
Scott last night was astonishing. Several people said they thought there were around 200 people there. I could not possibly guess from where I was sitting, but it did indeed appear to be many.
Here's my bad fuzzy photo of the many:
It was pretty overwhelming to be on the bill with such popular writers, especially Suzanne Collins. For those who don't know, her two most recent novels, Hunger Games and Catching Fire are currently, and have been for some time, numbers one and two on The New York Times bestsellers list, selling bajillions of copies a week. The Books ...
Posted by Justine at 17:03, November 11th, 2009 under Book tour, New York City/USA, Writing life, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
Today Louisville's Courier-Journal has a most excellent article
about adults reading YA by Erin Keane. I don't just say that because I was interviewed for it, but because the article is smart and non-sensationalist, and includes some actual facts:
Young adult fiction's appeal has grown way beyond the school library. What was once considered entertainment for kids has become big business for adults, who are increasingly turning to the children's section for their own reading pleasure, according to publishing experts.
Nielsen's BookScan predicted U.S. book sales will remain flat this year, but amid this industry slump, sales of young-adult titles are expected to continue to rise. It's not only teenagers who are browsing the shelves
There's no hint of panic about this ...
Posted by Justine at 12:35, October 27th, 2009 under New York City/USA, Praising, Reading, Young Adult literature |
Ever since I first became a part of the YA world, I've been noticing complaints that way too many YA books published in the US of A are set in New York City. Why can't other cities get a look in? they ask. Off the top of my head I can easily name many, many US YA books that are not set in NYC. But I think most people would concede that there are more YA books set in NYC than any other city or place in the USA.
There are lots of reasons. There's the famous
New York City bubble. People who live in NYC find it hard to believe there is anything of interest outside her five boroughs. ...
Posted by Justine at 8:13, October 2nd, 2009 under New York City/USA, Young Adult literature |
First I must make a confession: I was very nervous about reading
Zetta Elliott's
A Wish After Midnight despite all the good reviews it's had. I was nervous because it's self-published and I've had some bad experiences with self-published books. Midnight does show a few (minor) signs of not coming from an established publisher such as the margins and line spacing too tight. However, within a couple of pages I stopped being bothered by them, and a few pages after that I stopped seeing them at all because I was lost in the story.
I feel like A Wish After Midnight was designed with me in mind. Because it does so many things I love as well as working ...
Posted by Justine at 12:48, September 30th, 2009 under New York City/USA, Reading, Young Adult literature |
Pixelfish wants to know what a problem novel is. My own definition until fairly recently was: "a contemporary realist YA novel that I don't like because it's preachy and condescending and defines teenagers in terms of their 'problems' (which half the time I would not define that way) and most teenage readers hate." (Here is a
more useful definition.)
The problem with my definition, other than it's way too personal, is that it's not true. During the past few years of talking to teenage readers and school librarians I've learned how incredibly helpful many find problem novels. Readers told me over and over again that they were able to find someone like themselves in the main character dealing with ...
Posted by Justine at 13:06, September 28th, 2009 under Liar, Young Adult literature |
If you haven't already read
My Life as a Rhombus by
Varian Johnson I'm really going to have to insist that you do so. As usual I won't be revealing too much about the plot mostly because I think any plot summary makes
Rhombus sound like a problem novel, ((I have a huge prejudice against problem novels which I may have to reconsider since the last few books I read that could be considered problem novels were all fabulous.)) which it really isn't. It's a character study of a wonderful, smart, engaging, confused teenager, who's a total maths geek and wants to go to Georgia Tech to become an engineer. ((I kind of wish I'd gone to ...
Posted by Justine at 11:09, September 24th, 2009 under Reading, Young Adult literature |
Several months ago, the agent Kristin Nelson got in contact with me via my agent to ask if I would take a look at the debut novel of one of her clients with a view to blurbing it. I agreed to do so, mostly because I love
Nelson's blog, but warned that I rarely blurb cause I only do so when I'm excited about a book. I am picky.
But the book---
Megan Crewe's Give Up the Ghost---hit all my sweet spots. For starters it was a ghost story. I adore a good ghost story. Secondly, it wasn't the same old, same old ghost story. It surprised me. It was fresh, original and sweet and I cried when it ended. ...
Posted by Justine at 10:49, September 23rd, 2009 under Praising, Reading, Young Adult literature |
Back in early August, Doret Canon of the wonderful blog,
The Happy Nappy Bookseller, wrote to thank me for linking to her and ”put in a request for a YA novel featuring girls playing sports. Any sport will do.” I misread her as asking for recommendations for such YA novels when she was in fact asking me to write ‘em. (What can I say August was kind of mental for me.) I was ashamed to discover that all I could think of was Catherine Murdock’s Dairy Queen series and my own How To Ditch Your Fairy. It transpired that Doret knows more about YA sports books than anyone else on the planet. We soon got to talking about books, ...
Posted by Justine at 0:30, September 22nd, 2009 under Basketball, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Young Adult literature |
Maybe I'm being unfair, but Dwight Garner's
New York TImes review of LeBron James' & Buzz Bissinger's Shooting Stars gave off the distinct reek of Eau de Condescension (via
Mitali Perkins):
“Shooting Stars,” a new collaboration between LeBron James, probably the greatest basketball player alive, and Buzz Bissinger, the author of “Friday Night Lights,” is a different kind of book. It avoids speaking about James’s professional career with the Cleveland Cavaliers (he was the National Basketball Association’s most valuable player last season) almost entirely. And since James skipped college, well, ixnay on that too.
"Ixnay"? Seriously?
“Shooting Stars” reads like a better-than-average young-adult novel, “Stand by Me” with breakaway dunks and long, arching three-pointers. I suspect it will find its best ...
Posted by Justine at 12:23, September 9th, 2009 under Ranting, Reading, Whingeing, Young Adult literature |
I have never ever wanted to learn to fly, yet
Sheri L. Smith's
Flygirl almost had me calling up flight schools. ((I suspect you need to know how to drive a car before you move on to planes. Not that I actually want to learn to fly or drive a car for that matter. Nasty smelly things.)) Ida Mae Jones lives to fly. So much so that she passes as a white woman in order to become a
WASP during World War II. The book is about race, class, gender, about friendship, obsession (for flying), love, and family.
Cut for mild spoilerage:
Posted by Justine at 13:12, September 8th, 2009 under New York City/USA, Praising, Reading, Young Adult literature |
Most aspiring writers ask the right questions. I worry that
my last post, which is an
echo of
many earlier posts, gives a different impression, so I feel the need to say it loud and clear: the vast majority of aspiring writers who contact me ask smart, sensible, interesting questions. It's really only the ones who are more in love with the idea of being a writer than with actually, you know, writing who ask the wrong questions. Mercifully, they are massively outnumbered by the people who love writing.
During my events at the
Melbourne Writers Festival I wasn't asked any wrong questions. My audiences were smart and full of excellent questions. The encounter ...
Posted by Justine at 6:42, August 28th, 2009 under Fans & readers, Reading, Sydney/Australia, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
Laura Atkins recently gave a paper, "
What’s the Story? Reflections on White Privilege in the Publication of Children’s Books," at the
IRSCL (International Research Society for Children's Literature) congress. She's calling for
comments and suggestions from people involved with children's publishing.
Her paper is
here. You can leave comments and suggstions
here.
Please don't go over there to deny that white privilege exists because a) that's simply not true and b) you'll be derailing what's already turning into a very useful conversation. Thank you.
Posted by Justine at 19:01, August 15th, 2009 under Publishing business, Young Adult literature |
Sometimes when people read a book of mine and tell me it reminds them of some other book, especially if I have not read that book, I get in a snit. I am well aware that this reflects very poorly upon me. Please don't judge. ((Well, not too harshly.)) So when I was told that Liar was reminiscent of
Jacqueline Woodson's If You Come Softly ((And I'm very embarrassed by this but I can't remember who told me.)) my first reaction was pursed lipped muttering to myself about the special petal-ness of Liar and how it's not like any other book ever. ((Which is utter rubbish. Any book that was not like any other book ever would be completely ...
Posted by Justine at 1:11, August 11th, 2009 under Praising, Reading, Young Adult literature |
As previously mentioned I've discovered a slew of marvellous blogs because of the storm surrounding the cover of Liar. I've already mentioned
Color Online and the
Happy Nappy Bookseller as well as
Reading in Color and
Taste Life Twice, all of them wonderful informative blogs. I'm not sure how I lived without them.
But I also came across some blogs that have almost nothing to do with YA books. My current favourite is
Journal of a Baby Power Dyke in Training---best blog title ever, right? (Why did I not come up with a cool title for my own blog? What was I thinking?)
This post made me nearly combust with laughter. It is currently my ...
Posted by Justine at 7:14, August 7th, 2009 under Bloggery, Young Adult literature |
Because I'm in transit, ((These two guest posts are timed to post while I'm travelling. If your comments get stuck in moderation you'll have to be patient. Sorry.)) I asked
Ari if she would step in for me, and she kindly said yes. Thanks, Ari!
I'm back! So yesterday I gave you a list of books about poc that I think you should read, although I'm sure I left off some great books by accident. If you want some more lists check out Susan's at
Color Online for specifically sci-fi check this out the
Happy Nappy Bookseller's list and for bi-racial, multi-racial poc
go here.
Also I want to share some information with you ...
Posted by Justine at 7:47, July 28th, 2009 under Reading, State of the World, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
Because I'm in transit, ((These two guest posts are timed to post while I'm travelling. If your comments get stuck in moderation you'll have to be patient. Sorry.)) I asked
Ari if she would step in for me today and tomorrow, and she kindly said yes. Thanks, Ari!
A little bit about Ari MissAttitude: I'm a teenager who loves to read, dance, laugh, listen to music and just live! I also love my fine brown skin =) I started my blog
Reading in Color because I would visit teen book blogs and I never saw reviews of books with poc (people of color). This frustrated me so I decided to start my own blog in an attempt to slightly ...
Posted by Justine at 7:24, July 27th, 2009 under Praising, Reading, Young Adult literature |
In the last few weeks as people have started reading the US ARC of Liar they have
also started asking why there is
such a
mismatch between how
Micah describes herself and the cover image. Micah is black with nappy hair which she wears natural and short. As you can see that description does not match the US cover.
Many people have been asking me how I feel about the US cover, why I allowed such a cover to appear on a book of mine, and why I haven't been speaking out about it.
Authors do not get final say on covers. Often they get no say at all....
Posted by Justine at 12:02, July 23rd, 2009 under Liar, New York City/USA, Publishing business, State of the World, Young Adult literature |
One of the best books I've read so far this year is Eric Luper's
Bug Boy and today is the day it is released out into the wild!
When's the last time you read a page turning book about horse racing in the 1930s told from the point of view of a young up and coming jockey? A book that's about a dirty and corrupt industry and some of the people who get involved with it out of love for the horses and for the life. Yes, there's even some romance in it.
I love historicals and this one is particularly fine. Run out and get it now! Or if you're broke, get someone you know has money to buy it ...
Posted by Justine at 8:30, July 21st, 2009 under Young Adult literature |
Danah Boyd is an ethnographer who's done a great deal of work on teenage use of the internet in the USA. Her work is absolutely fascinating and I think every writer of Young Adult books should be reading it.
She recently gave a talk about
race and class in the MySpace v FaceBook divide. You all need to read it, like, NOW:
If you are trying to connect with the public, where you go online matters. If you choose to make Facebook your platform for civic activity, you are implicitly suggesting that a specific class of people is more worth your time and attention than others. Of course, splitting your attention can also be costly and doesn’t necessarily mean ...
Posted by Justine at 0:07, July 15th, 2009 under Bloggery, Research, State of the World, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 12:02, July 9th, 2009 under Ranting, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 15:54, July 1st, 2009 under New York City/USA, Praising, Reading, Young Adult literature |
Lately I've read quite a few books people have been raving about and been really disappointed. So it was a relief to read two books that I loved, Sarah Rees Brennan's Demon's Lexicon and Coe Booth's Kendra. Today I'll be talking about DL, next week I'll talk about the fabulously brilliant Kendra.
Demon's Lexicon is told from the point of view of a sociopath. Nick does not get other people. He doesn't understand what they're thinking, why they do the things they do, or why they talk so much. He's a classic case of a character who's fabulous in a book but I would run a mile if I ran into him in real life. He has no qualms killing! This ...
Posted by Justine at 15:02, June 26th, 2009 under Reading, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 13:14, June 24th, 2009 under State of the World, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 13:14, June 18th, 2009 under Book challenges, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 12:50, May 20th, 2009 under Publishing business, Ranting, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 8:38, May 11th, 2009 under State of the World, Words & Language, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 12:42, April 23rd, 2009 under Publishing business, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 16:08, April 15th, 2009 under Bloggery, Frippery, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 8:43, April 5th, 2009 under Food, New York City/USA, Praising, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:05, March 30th, 2009 under Bloggery, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy, New York City/USA, Publishing business, Young Adult literature |
Our NYC Teen Author Festival event last night at the Mulberry Street Branch of the
NYPL was unbelievable. Over a hundred people showed up. Standing room only. And many of them were actual teenagers---YAY!---who asked incredibly good questions including one we'd none of us ever heard before. But more on that that below.
The event was to celebrate everything that Joe Monti has done for YA literature in the US of A. Joe used to be the YA buyer for Barnes & Noble. In that role he went out of his way to champion a whole host of fabulous books that otherwise might otherwise have disappeared. He was a supporter of Scott and mine and played a huge part in ...
Posted by Justine at 12:08, March 19th, 2009 under Cons & Other Gatherings, New York City/USA, Praising, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 16:19, January 26th, 2009 under 1930s NYC novel, New York City/USA, Praising, Young Adult literature |
Yup, it's my annual what-I-did-this-year skiting post. I write these mostly for myself so I can easily keep track. Hence the
last day of the year category. Thus you are absolutely free to skip it. ((I would if I were you.))
This year was exceptional. I'm still pinching myself. My first Bloomsbury USA book, How To Ditch Your Fairy, was published and seems to be doing well. I was sent on my first book tour, which was fabulous. It's insane how much fun I had and how many fabulous schools, book shops and libraries I visited in California, Michigan, Missouri, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Texas. Thank you to everyone who came to see me while I was on the ...
Posted by Justine at 0:20, December 31st, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Book tour, First Kiss, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Last Day of the Year, Love is Hell, New York City/USA, Sport, State of the World, Sydney/Australia, Vainglory, Writing goals & milestones, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 5:19, December 26th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Magic or Madness trilogy, Mangosteens, Praising, Reading, Sport, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:02, December 23rd, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Sport, Travelling, Unicorns, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 4:49, December 20th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Bloggery, Praising, Sydney/Australia, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 0:06, December 18th, 2008 under Bloggery, Book tour, Publishing business, Writing life, Young Adult literature |
One of the conversations that I have most frequently with my good friend,
Diana Peterfreund, is about our different writing methods. She's an outliner; I wing it.
Tis most excellent fun talking writing with her precisely because we could not be more different. So different that we frequently wind up talking at cross purposes. Last time we had this discussion we got hung up on the phrase "first draft". Turns out that what she means by "first draft" is not what I mean.
Because Diana outlines she figures out much of the novel before she begins writing. I figure things out as I write the first draft. Thus my first drafts---zero drafts really---are frequently messy conversation spines. A large part of ...
Posted by Justine at 2:52, December 17th, 2008 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, Words & Language, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 20:03, December 14th, 2008 under Reading, Unicorns, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Quite a few people lately have been asking me for book recommendations. They want to know what new YA they should be buying for the holidays. Sadly, I am in less of a position to help than usual.
For most of this year I have been solely reading books about (or published during) the 1930s. The only non-1930s books I've read have been manuscripts I've critiqued for friends. This means I have not read Hunger Games yet. Or the second Octavian Nothing or the National Book Award winner, Judy Blundell's What I Saw and How I Lied or Coe Booth's Kendra which I hear is every bit as good as the wonderful Tyrell. Or anything, really. Nor will I be ...
Posted by Justine at 19:13, December 5th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Research, Writing goals & milestones, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, December 3rd, 2008 under Cons & Other Gatherings, Scott's books, State of the World, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, December 2nd, 2008 under Magic or Madness trilogy, Publishing business, State of the World, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 13:20, November 21st, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Book tour, Cons & Other Gatherings, Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, Liar, New York City/USA, Scott's books, Writing process, Young Adult literature |
Yes, there will be a zombie-un***rn story. I hope you're happy. Because personally I think that's a bit gross.
No, I can't tell you the names of any of the contributors. But trust me, they are all fabulously excellent writers.
Yes, it is a YA anthology. It will be edited by the marvellous Karen Wojtyla. That's right, me and Holly, who are editing the Zombie versus Uni***ns anthology, will in turn be edited. It's, like, a whole editing chain.
Sorry, the anthology is closed.
Yes, there will be lots of different kinds of zombies. Not just your regular Romero types.
I have no idea about the uni***n side of things. I doubt there's more than one kind. And if there is, who cares? Hmmm, ...
Posted by Justine at 8:54, November 18th, 2008 under Unicorns, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 16:00, November 17th, 2008 under Unicorns, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, November 11th, 2008 under How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Unicorns, Young Adult literature, Zombies |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, October 24th, 2008 under Fans & readers, How To Ditch Your Fairy, New York City/USA, Travelling, Vainglory, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 0:00, October 16th, 2008 under New York City/USA, Publishing business, Ranting, Reading, Sydney/Australia, Young Adult literature |
Posted by Justine at 12:54, October 15th, 2008 under 1930s NYC novel, Praising, Young Adult literature |
