#SCBWIWWA14: State of the State of Publishing with Justin Chanda

In a lively hour, S&S publisher Justin Chanda offered up these insights:

• Ebook sales are leveling off and have not sucked the life out of publishing. 
• Apps are not books!
• Picture books are chugging back to life with strong, identifiable characters and shorter text. Funny books are working well.

About diversity: Authors are given a great responsibility to reflect the world kids live in. We have far to go, but publishing is progressive. So while working to move forward, let’s celebrate what’s out there, too.

Write your book. Don’t write to trends or worry about the Common Core. Publishers are experts at bringing books to kids, and story always comes first.

Interesting Article

Thanks to Jim Whiting for sending this New York Times article! The article talks about how the kids of e-book-loving adults still prefer paper for their own books. It also brings up the subject/debate about if anything is lost by taking a picture book and converting it to an e-book.

A great piece to check out!

Writing "Edgy" Fiction

Thanks to Liz Mills, for sending this link to Cynthia Leitich Smith's blog. Cynthia interviews Ricki Thompson, author of CITY OF CANNIBALS, who gives her thoughts and process on writing "edgy" fiction.

As an artist, I have a responsibility to speak the truth. And the truth is, teenagers live in an “edgy” place. What could be edgier than attempting to balance on the tenuous cusp of adulthood? When teens aren’t engaging in “edgy” behavior, they’re likely thinking, fantasizing, or reading about it. How can I write for and about teens if I don’t write “edgy?”

To read more from this author, check out Cynthia Leitich Smith's blog.

Race in the Industry

Publisher's Weekly recently had a post about race in the children's literature industry. The author, Elizabeth Bluemle, writes:

It is our responsibility—as people who create, produce, and distribute the lion’s share of books that reach and teach and entertain children—it is our highest calling to provide written, illustrated worlds that embrace and prioritize all children, books that resemble the playgrounds and classrooms and homes of this country and the rest of the world.

A great post to read, which features artwork from our own Kevan Atteberry, and other illustrator friends.

Another post addressing race is on She Writes. The article talks about how there is segregation among authors in bookstores. The author, The Salonniere, writes:

What's needed, of course, is a more conscious and intentional approach to diversity, not for diversity's sake, but for quality's sake.

Check out both of these posts for more on this timely issue.

How healthy is the children's book market? #scbwiwwa

Sara Crowe: Contemporary market is harder (dystopian, paranormal bigger right now). She views contemporary fiction as really important, though.

Michael Bourret: Children's book market healthier--more sales. Healthier worldwide, too. Clearly people in the industry have lost jobs, though.

Edward Necarsulmer: There is still room for really good contemporary work. It's finding axis between commercial appeal and literary demands. Find a story where something actually happens that accompanies that great voice.

Elizabeth Law: The market always has hot spots, but the bestseller list isn't all about any one thing. Watch out about blaming the marketplace or what's trendy instead of looking at your writing.

Jordan Brown: There is no secret ingredient you can stick in your manuscript and have a bestseller. It's how you work with the elements. The ebook thing is "kind of scary." Up till now, electronic has meant free. Not necessarily the case here. The Kindle device says, "We want to buy stuff. I want to buy books with this."

Lynne Polvino: There might have been overpublishing going on before economy soured. Even good books weren't selling. They're being more selective, now. We should be more selective about what we send and hone craft even more.

Another reason to seek an agent

Slush piles are starting to melt because publishers no longer want to pay to wade through them, according to the Wall Street Journal. (And yet, the same story claims Writers House gets 100 queries a month. Per day, maybe.)

Anyway, it's an interesting read and covers both screenwriting and books. Here's the intro:

In 1991, a book editor at Random House pulled from the heaps of unsolicited manuscripts a novel about a murder that roils a Baltimore suburb. Written by a first-time author and mother-to-be named Mary Cahill, "Carpool" was published to fanfare. Ms. Cahill was interviewed on the "Today" show. "Carpool" was a best seller.

That was the last time Random House, the largest publisher in the U.S., remembers publishing anything found in a slush pile. Today, Random House and most of its major counterparts refuse to accept unsolicited material.

Check out the rest.

Angels are the new vampires

Anne Rice talks to the Guardian U.K. about all the angels we're seeing in books these days. The most interesting bit, though, is her take on why Twilight is compelling:

"I felt that it reflected the deep desire of young women to have the mystery and protection and wisdom of older men," said Rice, whose own vampire novels have featured the cruel but sensual Lestat – a long way from Meyer's abstinent vampire family the Cullens. "I think many girls mature much earlier than boys, and they are frustrated when they approach young boys for love or protection. Hence the fantasy of a wise and protective vampire coming into the life of a young girl who, of course, appreciates him in a special way."

Read the rest.

Do free sample chapters sell books?

The short answer? Yes.

Some other interesting nuggets from the Frankfurt Book Fair:

• Women are spending nearly 70 percent more time browsing books online than men do.
• The most popular genre of books browsed online is romance novels, followed by books for tweens/teens and business books.
• The peak time for browsing romance titles is 11pm – 1am, in contrast to 4pm - 11pm for tween/teen books and 9am – 5pm for business books.
• An average reader spends more than 15 minutes browsing a book. They also preview an average of 46 pages of each book they browse.
• Adults are more likely to share links to content via email, while younger readers prefer to share within social networks like Facebook and MySpace.

Some takeaway for us: If we're scheduling chats or other online events with teen readers, shoot for that 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. window. And, make sure you have a Facebook presence--a fan page, perhaps--as well as a MySpace profile. It pays to be where your potential audience is.

You'll never guess the new trend in romances

Bonnet rippers! Yes, Amish romances are selling...like whoopie pie (which is an Amish invention for those of you insufficiently steeped in trivia).

Here's a Wall Street Journal article on the topic.

And yes, this is about the adult market, but fierce, unrequited yearning has been known to do well with teens, too. Hmmm.