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New York, 3:29 PM
Sat Nov 21
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10/12/09
As a YA, I have to say I advoid the YA section like the plague. It has nothing to offer me, even when I was 14 I stayed away. A pretty cover is nice, but I needed something with more substance. The most memorable book for me during hs was 1984 by Orwell. OH lets not forget T.S Eliot, it defined me. However we all need to start somewhere, I read babysitters club in grade 2 and my brother read Franklin and Captain underpants.
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It finally dawned on me that reading--turning symbols on a page into words that mean something--is a skill like any other, and doesn't come easily to everyone. I'm really on-board with whatever motivates reluctant readers to _practice_ that skill.
Plus, once they'd gotten over the feeling that reading was boring and hard, I had a lot easier time convincing them to read books I liked.
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10/12/09
Besides which, I don't have a problem holding businesses to higher standards than "making money." I think that the auto industry should hold itself to a higher standard in terms of the environmental impact of their factories and products, just like all factories that are currently fucking up the planet.
More importantly, businesses that produce things like books and movies aren't just making a product--they are making the culture that absorbs that product, as well. When you make a book, it isn't going into a vacuum, it's responding to a marketing need while creating said need. Before Twilight, people weren't sitting around like, "God I wish I could read a mediocre book about whiny girls and the sparkly vampires they love." It wasn't until that product became available that there was a need for the product. The publishers of Twilight are responsible for the cultural response to the book--because without them, it could not have happened.
But then, since I hate capitalism and all the horrors it has wrought upon humanity, I've never found "but that's how capitalism works!" to be an adequate response to criticism of sketchy business practices. Just like I don't think Photoshopping models on magazine covers is ethical or appropriate, because it feeds into a system that makes women hate themselves, even though it sells more magazines to have a pretty thin woman on the cover than a fat person.
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10/12/09
*ducks*
Serialized TV is written by many people, often to great effect. In the case of a long running series of books, ie Nancy Drew and SVH, one person would (in my opinion), get burnt out after the first 10 or so books. And the stories of perpetual teenagers would likely get stale. A revolving staff of writers keeps the stories and characters fresh, allowing kids to keep enjoying them.
This isn't great literature, and it's not meant to be, but it can be a first step. I read SVH before I found Vonnegut, Ferlinghetti, Dorothy Parker, Hemingway, etc.
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(Except, I loved the shit out of SVH and Nancy Drew when I was but a wee-thing. I think, though, that had more to do with the quantity, and not the quality - as an avaricious child reader, I was so glad to have so many books to read, back to back.)
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10/12/09
I'm overreacting, of course. Yesterday in the grocery store I saw an SAT vocab book about Twilight. I nearly vomited.
(Good luck on your book! I review YA books for a site so maybe someday I'll review yours!)
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Anyone?
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I have no illusions about the purity of my art. Just put money in my bank account, please.
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Look, I defend 'quality literature' for teens every day, and I pitch it to teens non-stop, and I know that it exists, nay flourishes, in an unprecedented way right now. (I promise you, The Astonishing Life of Ocatvian Nothing is as nuanced, artful, complicated, and rich as ANY adult book published this year. Just for instance!) But teens should be able to read trash too, and God Bless Alloy for figuring out how, on occasion, to package books into products. It's good news for libraries and good news for teens!
10/12/09
totally agree. We all need a beach read, or a "my week sucked so let me escape" read.
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I do think I probably read more books featuring characters I could relate to when I was younger than I do now, but I also think if I found out any of the historical fiction I read was inaccurate, I would have been offended by the condescension.
08/11/09
Of course, the fact that the sales and marketing people would feel that a white girl would sell better than a black girl is disturbing. I would imagine that the feeling was that with a black girl on the cover, the book would get segregated into the "African American Literature" section of stores, instead of the much better selling general section. And since this book is by Scott Westerfeld's (of "Uglies" fame) wife, Bloomsbury is probably hoping to break this book out in a big way. So they wanted it to appeal to a mass audience. That says something about our society in general, but is not entirely Bloomsbury's fault.
08/11/09
Do what I have done. Reject the traditionally remote and cloistered model of the "arteeste" and become as well-schooled in business as your co-workers. It ain't that hard. On any given night, I can meet a slew of Wall Street types who aren't half as smart as we are. Talk the talk, back it up, make the decisions, convince the people in your work force (by speaking to them in their terminology) that you are the person to trust. It takes time, it takes energy, it takes proven results, but, in the end, it is so worth it, to have these established relationships in the workplace.
And then the improved artwork and cover designs will follow. Communication is the key. I'm only as good as the others in my workflow, that includes those in the approval process. If I have a shitty sales rep who has cover approval as part of my design process, then guess what I do? Make them a great creative director.
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08/11/09
Well, all of this is determined by a lot of factors - how much the house paid for the book, for instance, factors in to how much promotion is put behind it. Other factors, like promoteable authors (ie, Lauren Conrad), newsworthy subjects, etc. all contribute. Publishers know whether they are going to be throwing a lot of support behind something before they are designing the cover. So Larbalestier is not really correct. The fact that the house wanted to break out the book in a big way most likely contributed to the fact that they didn't want a black girl on the cover. The support determines the cover, not the other way around. This even contributes to whether or not a cover has effects on it like foil or embossing.
But I was not trying to take responsibility away from the publishing house in my previous comment. I was just trying to point out that publishing is a business, publishing houses need to make money, and African American literature is, unfortunately, still seen as a niche market. To make big money on this book, they wanted it to get front of store promotion, and be shelved alongside the other YA books.
(And just to be clear, I don't work at Bloomsbury, so this is of course all speculation on my part.)