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[CCBC-Net] FANTASY FICTION
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From: Sylvia Engdahl <sle>
Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2001 00:36:03 -0800
SharynN at aol.com wrote:
Hello, Sharyn!
I'm eagerly looking forward to the Firebird edition of _Enchantress_ because I believe this is the answer to getting it -- and other fantasy and science fiction that's previously "fallen through the crack" -- into the hands of teens. In my opinion, teenagers will not read books that are shelved with children's books, as all previous editions have been. A few copies of the Collier edition did get into the adult SF/fantasy sections of some bookstores, but the Collier marketing didn't aim for wide distribution except through children's book channels, and therefore it wasn't found by many of them.
The books mentioned here by Ginee Seo, such as Phillip Pullman's and some of Diana Wynne Jones', have mass market paperback editions and are thus automatically shelved with adult fantasy and SF, which is where teens look. I think that's why they have become popular with older readers. The new hardcover edition of _Enchantress_ is beautiful, and I think its jacket will attract teens who come across it in libraries that have sections actually patronized by teenagers (most of which include adult titles intermixed with YA titles); but much as I love it
-- and as delighted as I am that it's reaching a large new audience of 11- to 13-year-olds -- I don't believe teens will discover it in bookstores where it is shelved in the children's and/or Newbery Honor section (and this is why I am worried about the _The Far Side of Evil_ being found by an audience for which it's appropriate if promoted in hardcover as a sequel). Most teenagers don't buy hardcover books in any case, although _Enchantress_ did appear briefly on the Top Ten Sellers list of the unfortunately short-lived Teen People Book Club, of which it was a May selection. I have often heard that teens prefer paperback books, even apart from cost.
But they don't want books they think wouldn't interest adults--and indeed, fantasy and science fiction novels not of interest to adults
(albeit not necessarily to the genre-oriented SF audience) really aren't substantial enough to be worth reading by teens, either. Furthermore, there are a lot of adults, including myself as well as many who write to me, who don't care for the type of science fiction most often issued in genre-oriented adult fantasy/SF lines and who are looking for books enjoyable to people without that kind of background. So the approach represented by Firebird seems to me an ideal solution to more than one long-standing problem.
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 Fri 16 Nov 2001 02:36:03 AM CST
Date: Fri, 16 Nov 2001 00:36:03 -0800
SharynN at aol.com wrote:
Hello, Sharyn!
I'm eagerly looking forward to the Firebird edition of _Enchantress_ because I believe this is the answer to getting it -- and other fantasy and science fiction that's previously "fallen through the crack" -- into the hands of teens. In my opinion, teenagers will not read books that are shelved with children's books, as all previous editions have been. A few copies of the Collier edition did get into the adult SF/fantasy sections of some bookstores, but the Collier marketing didn't aim for wide distribution except through children's book channels, and therefore it wasn't found by many of them.
The books mentioned here by Ginee Seo, such as Phillip Pullman's and some of Diana Wynne Jones', have mass market paperback editions and are thus automatically shelved with adult fantasy and SF, which is where teens look. I think that's why they have become popular with older readers. The new hardcover edition of _Enchantress_ is beautiful, and I think its jacket will attract teens who come across it in libraries that have sections actually patronized by teenagers (most of which include adult titles intermixed with YA titles); but much as I love it
-- and as delighted as I am that it's reaching a large new audience of 11- to 13-year-olds -- I don't believe teens will discover it in bookstores where it is shelved in the children's and/or Newbery Honor section (and this is why I am worried about the _The Far Side of Evil_ being found by an audience for which it's appropriate if promoted in hardcover as a sequel). Most teenagers don't buy hardcover books in any case, although _Enchantress_ did appear briefly on the Top Ten Sellers list of the unfortunately short-lived Teen People Book Club, of which it was a May selection. I have often heard that teens prefer paperback books, even apart from cost.
But they don't want books they think wouldn't interest adults--and indeed, fantasy and science fiction novels not of interest to adults
(albeit not necessarily to the genre-oriented SF audience) really aren't substantial enough to be worth reading by teens, either. Furthermore, there are a lot of adults, including myself as well as many who write to me, who don't care for the type of science fiction most often issued in genre-oriented adult fantasy/SF lines and who are looking for books enjoyable to people without that kind of background. So the approach represented by Firebird seems to me an ideal solution to more than one long-standing problem.
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 Fri 16 Nov 2001 02:36:03 AM CST
