I've been thinking a lot (believe it or not) about book number two. I'm not quite ready to start working on it as promoting book number one is pretty much a full time job right now, but I know I want to try to write YA fiction. Who knows if I'll be any good at it or if it will even sell, but I want to try. And I think the process both writing and promoting it will be much more fun (no endnotes and connecting with teen readers). This AP article was really helpful in laying out the challenges of writing and selling YA books and figuring out what reading level to write to. From the article:

Although there aren't any hard numbers, publishers say young adult is a hot category at a time when bookstore sales declined about 3 percent last year. However, determining whether a book should get a young-adult label is more art than science, and brings with it an array of complicated issues for authors, publishers and retailers. Young-adult branding can be a double-edged sword.

"A big part of the reason publishers are so excited about this market is that it's never been easier to find and stay connected with teen readers," says Michael Norris, a senior analyst at Simba Information in Stamford, Conn. Author Web sites, blogs, MySpace pages and mobile phone campaigns, he adds, can reach a big audience.

...Many publishers think that teens like to "read up," which means that they don't want to shop in a section of the store focused on teenagers. Yet retailers say their young-adult sections are pulling in the kids. Their offerings often go beyond the formulaic. Craig Schiff, an 8th grader in Larchmont, N.Y., says he has bought and read such books as Watership Down and Lord of the Flies, in young-adult sections. "I'm not reading books about teenagers," he says. "I like good books."

To Doyle's dismay, potential young-adult editors told him in explicit detail how they intended to "shape" his book for their readership. Their advice included: Tell it in the first person, increase the female quotient and write chapters in which male and female narrators alternate. This carefully manicured approach, he was told by one publishing house, was "what we usually do."

My idea would probably appeal to middle readers (tweens), but I want to just write it as if I'm writing the best book I can write (if it ends up appealing to more people, great), and not write to a specific formula.

Anyway for any YA writers or potential writers, the article is worth a read.

Update: Tracy at Scholastic just sent me this very informative older piece from Publisher's Weekly on this topic.

Posted by anastasia