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[CCBC-Net] Enchantress from the Stars
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From: Sylvia Engdahl <sle>
Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 15:54:02 -0800
Monica R. Edinger wrote:
It is very true that _Enchantress_ would not have been reissued without Harry Potter
-- and I have been told specifically that Harry Potter is the reason foreign publishers are now buying the rights when they never showed any interest before.
This has nothing to do with the actual content of the book, or any other fantasy or science fiction book. It is the result of the fact that bookstores have discovered that it's profitable to carry hardcover fantasy (and by extension, science fiction) for
older children and teens. In the past, they didn't do so; the Atheneum editions of my books were marketed almost exclusively to libraries, although individuals could obtain them by special order and some children's specialty stores may have carried them
. Now general bookstores, even chain stores, are seeking teen fantasy! A hardcover reissue of a book like mine would have been unthinkable before this development, since -- as I'm sure most of you know -- libraries are much shorter of money than they we re in the early 70s when it was first published.
Another significant influence of Harry Potter, as I believe someone here mentioned, has been the length of book acceptable in the Young Adult field. _Enchantress_ has always been at the outside limit of length for a YA book; when I wrote it, I thought it might be unpublishable on that account. I submitted it to Atheneum in the first place because they had published the longest children's book I could find in the library. And since, as book production costs have risen and young people's attention span has
shortened, there has been even more emphasis on brevity. Harry Potter has demonstrated that kids will read long books and buyers will pay what they necessarily cost. Since fantasy and science fiction novels need more words to develop setting and premis es than contemporary novels, this has opened the door to more of them than could be economically issued in the past.
Sylvia
_____________________________________________________________________
Sylvia Engdahl - sle at sylviaengdahl.com
Author of CHILDREN OF THE STAR and ENCHANTRESS FROM THE STARS
Visit my Web site, http://www.sylviaengdahl.com
_____________________________________________________________________
Received on Mon 12 Nov 2001 05:54:02 PM CST
Date: Mon, 12 Nov 2001 15:54:02 -0800
Monica R. Edinger wrote:
It is very true that _Enchantress_ would not have been reissued without Harry Potter
-- and I have been told specifically that Harry Potter is the reason foreign publishers are now buying the rights when they never showed any interest before.
This has nothing to do with the actual content of the book, or any other fantasy or science fiction book. It is the result of the fact that bookstores have discovered that it's profitable to carry hardcover fantasy (and by extension, science fiction) for
older children and teens. In the past, they didn't do so; the Atheneum editions of my books were marketed almost exclusively to libraries, although individuals could obtain them by special order and some children's specialty stores may have carried them
. Now general bookstores, even chain stores, are seeking teen fantasy! A hardcover reissue of a book like mine would have been unthinkable before this development, since -- as I'm sure most of you know -- libraries are much shorter of money than they we re in the early 70s when it was first published.
Another significant influence of Harry Potter, as I believe someone here mentioned, has been the length of book acceptable in the Young Adult field. _Enchantress_ has always been at the outside limit of length for a YA book; when I wrote it, I thought it might be unpublishable on that account. I submitted it to Atheneum in the first place because they had published the longest children's book I could find in the library. And since, as book production costs have risen and young people's attention span has
shortened, there has been even more emphasis on brevity. Harry Potter has demonstrated that kids will read long books and buyers will pay what they necessarily cost. Since fantasy and science fiction novels need more words to develop setting and premis es than contemporary novels, this has opened the door to more of them than could be economically issued in the past.
Sylvia
_____________________________________________________________________
Sylvia Engdahl - sle at sylviaengdahl.com
Author of CHILDREN OF THE STAR and ENCHANTRESS FROM THE STARS
Visit my Web site, http://www.sylviaengdahl.com
_____________________________________________________________________
Received on Mon 12 Nov 2001 05:54:02 PM CST
