Looking Back on CWIM: The 1997 Edition
An Interview with Rob Thomas...

Ah, the one with the lime-green dinosaur cover. It really popped on the bookstore shelves! Weighing in at just over 360 pages and in it's second (and last) hardcover edition, this CWIM included a new and short-lived section of Multimedia markets with submission information from children's software and CD-ROM producers.

What I love most about this edition is that it turned me on to what is still my favorite YA book ever, Rats Saw God by Rob Thomas. (I like the original cover illustrated by Chris Raschka much better than the updated version I linked to.) Thomas followed up his first book with several others then turned to TV, writing for shows I loved like Dawson's Creek and Veronica Mars which he produced. Every few years I pick up his debut novel and re-visit Steve York, Dub, dadaism, and the astronaut. Here's an excerpt from Thomas' First Books interview by my former assistant editor and frequent muse Anne Bowling:

"Getting published for the first time opens a lot of doors. I think the first deal is the toughest," says Rob Thomas, author of the young adult novel Rats Saw God. "Once you've got a book out there, you're in better shape--it's just a lot easier to get publishers to read your work."

With Rats Saw God, Thomas had his work more than cut out for him. Not only was he pitching a first-time novel, but his included substance abuse and explicit sexuality--not the usual territory for the more routine Sweet Valley High-style young adult fare.

"My book is edgy in terms of drug use, and language, and sexual content, and I think it really kind of pushes what can be done in young adult fiction," Thomas says. "I was really considering trying to market the novel as adult fiction."

To young adult novelists, Thomas says focus on the product and write the best book you're able to write. "The best I felt about the process was when I was writing, and not thinking about getting published, or about the audience, or about what was selling or not selling, " he says. "People who talk to me about publishing seem to be putting the publishing cart before the writing horse. So many writer who talk to me about publishing haven't written. Or they've started writing, and they already want to know who to talk to to sell the book. I think your first effort needs to be write a really good book. And selling it will take care of itself."

Looking Back on CWIM: The 1996 Edition
An Interview with Chris Crutcher...

I was flying solo for the first time as editor of the 1996 CWIM. The book was over 400 pages long, $22.99, had a new trim size--and was hardcover! I included three features on agents, a feature interview with Eric Kimmel, and Karen Cushman was among the "First Books" author interviews.

Among the Insider Reports in this edition was an interview with author Chris Crutcher. His oft-banned books pull from his experiences as a family therapist and are at once comic, tragic and honest. This excerpt from his 1996 CWIM interview offers some interesting comments on the YA market at the time:

Chris Crutcher loves to tell stories, and if his tales are enlightening to the reader, great. Otherwise, he is simply happy to entertain. He doesn't flinch that USA Today puts him behind only Twain and Salinger as author of the most banned books in America. His books make people think and argue, and that's exactly what he wants. Whether the subject is sexual molestation (as in Chinese Handcuffs), free speech (as in Staying Fat for Sarah Byrnes) or the growing pains of adolescence, he hopes that this stories inspire readers to understand different viewpoints.

Although billed as a writer of young adult novels, and sometimes even as a sports fiction writer (which couldn't be further from the truth), Crutcher fights against categorization. Out of necessity, he defines himself as a writer of "coming of age" novels. "I seem to have gotten into a place that I didn't know existed, " he says. He cautions other writers of "young adult" fiction that sales are "pretty much by word of mouth, school journals and magazines. Early on, you're not going to get into any bookstores. Serious adult lit is going to get in."

He urges novice writers to starts at the beginning--write a good story. "The better you're able to tell the truth and pull no punches, that's how you get into the passion of the book, the intimacy of the character." Don't get too caught up in how others will respond. "You want no constraints on yourself as a storyteller."

First Books Lowdown: My Unscientific Findings on New-Author-Friendly Publishers...

Every year since I've been blogging, I've put out a call for debut authors for my First Book feature and every year I post about which publishers are publishing the debut authors who contacted me. Here's the scoop for this year (all of which are in random order because I don't like to alphabetize)...

Publishers who are publishing one of the debut books in my pool:

• Flux
• Carolrhoda
  
• Flashlight Press
• Scholastic
• Houghton Mifflin
• Albert Whitman
• Dutton
• Blooming Tree
• Holiday House
• Pelican
• HIP Books
• Clarion
• Bloomsbury
• Feiwel & Friends
• Candlewick
• Raven Tree Press
• Delacorte
• Capstone

Publishers who are publishing two or more of the debut books in my pool:

• HarperCollins
• Walker
• Putnam
• Random House
• Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky
• Farrar, Strauss & Giroux
• Simon & Schuster
• Sterling

This year Putnam ties previous two-time winner HarperCollins at five a piece, so they each get a Friendly-to-New-Authors Gold Star!

Only a handful of the debut authors who contacted me said they have agents--I'm sure more do and didn't mention it--and some of those agented writers didn't get their agents until after the first book deal. I heard from plenty of unagented writers.

About half of the authors who contacted me are YA writers, the other half picture books, MG and chapter books, with PBs as the majority.

If you're among the YA authors (or even if you're not) check out Publishers Weekly's report, What Do Teens Want?, a survey of teen über readers. Lots of statistics and charts! (I tweeted a link to this yesterday and was retweeted like crazy.)

Now back to the tough/fun job of deciding who to interview.

readergirlz and YALSA's Operation Teen Book Drop...


If you' don't get readergirlz newslettter, you may not have heard about Operation Teen Book Drop. readergirlz (YA authors Dia Calhoun, Lorie Ann Grover, Justina Chen Headley and Mitali Perkinshave) have teamed with YALSA "to build awareness for April 17, 2008, Support Teen Literature Day" and organized Operation TBD: "a massive, coordinated release of 10,000 publisher-donated YA books into the top pediatric hospitals across the country."

readergirlz invites others to celebrate Support Teen Lit Day with them. Here are their suggestions:

• Download a readergirlz/YALSA bookplate for Operation TBD found on the readergirlz website.
• Blog and bulletin about Operation TBD and your upcoming participation, and place the "I Rock the Drop" icon on your site.
• Announce your participation by joining the readergirlz MySpace group forum and posting on the TBD threads.
• On April 17th, leave one copy of a YA novel in a teen gathering spot in your community. Place it where the book will be found, taken, and read (i.e. a coffee shop, the park, a community center, a bus stop.) And make sure you've placed an Operation TBD bookplate inside!
• Party with the readergirlz and YA authors on their online two-hour book bash hosted at the readergirlz MySpace forum on April 17th from 6-8pm PDT/9-11pm EDT. You can win books and prizes, chat with other book lovers, and celebrate literacy.

A Manuscript in the Morning...

My best friend/former roommate/co-worker Megan called me first thing this morning. "I have something for you," she said. Intrigued, I ran up the stairs to her office. When I got there she pointed to a big stack of paper held together by a big binder clip. "I finished my book."

Fueled by a steady diet of Scott Westerfeld and Stephanie Meyer, Megan started writing her YA novel on June 16 with a goal of writing 500 words a day--which she exceeded, producing her 65,000 word first draft in four months, during which time she took a research trip as well.

I'm very excited to be the first one to read it. And I can't wait until we're ready to start submitting it. It will be fun to put CWIM to the test.

Editor Interview: Ben Schrank...

Before joining Razorbill in 2006 as President and Publisher, Ben Schrank wrote novels, served as fiction editor at Seventeen, and edited bestselling YA series (Gossip Girl and The Clique). Now at the helm of Razorbill, an imprint of Penguin Young Readers Group that specializes in young adult and middle grade books, Schrank oversees 30 plus titles a year, mostly contemporary commercial fiction

What attracts you to writing and editing material for a YA audience?

I love the arc that happens in a story for young readers-kids learn and change so fast and working on embodying that experience in novel form is what keeps me interested in the area.

Spud, A Wickedly Funny Novel by John van de Ruit that was a huge seller in South Africa will be released in the U.S. by Razorbill this month. How did the book end up at your imprint? Please tell my readers what you love about the title.

Susan Petersen Kennedy brought it back from Penguin South Africa and thought it would be right for us. We read it and loved it and while we waited to publish, it grew into a phenomenon in South Africa that shocked everyone involved. There are now bus tours of Michaelhouse, the boarding school that John van de Ruit went to and based the story on. I love the book because it's funny and true and it teaches us a lot about ourselves and shows us a way of life that a lot of us know nothing about.

Why do you think Spud (which is being called the "South African Catcher in the Rye"), will appeal to readers in the U.S.?

It's a universal story. As I noted above, it's hilarious and honest and I have to believe that U.S. readers will relate to Spud, will love the voice, and will embrace both its foreignness and its charm.

What makes a book-and an author-right for Razorbill?

We love a book that is conceptually strong and has a voice that supports the concept. The book demands attention from the reader. The author supports the book, builds a great website, understands what the publisher can and can't do, and remembers that we're all in it because we love books.

Your website says "you can count on our list to be short and razor sharp." Why a short list?

We're a small group and we want to give our books the care they deserve. We never want to sign off on a cover we don't love or let a book go into the bookstores that we don't think is perfect. A short list gives us better control and keeps us, well, sharp.

I see at least a couple of debut books featured on Razorbill's website (Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why and Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead). How can a new author break in at Razorbill? Do you consider only agented work?

A new author breaks in because their novel is great. There's no other reason. We've only bought agented work up to this time, but you never know...

Can you offer a few pieces of advice to aspiring YA authors?

The market is a shifting target that changes all the time. Don't write for it. Write to please yourself. If you are relentless and work hard, the reader will come to your work.