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From: Kathy McCullough <kathy_at_kathymcculloughbooks.com>
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 13:48:29 -0700 (PDT)
While reading the posts this month, I’ve been thinking about the same issues mentioned by Stacy and Rosanne. I write young adult books, but my two books skew young – the primary readers have been 11-14 (and some older kids if they read younger). It does feel like this is a lost category, since I’m shelved with older YA in bookstores and libraries, and my books are officially “12 and up” like many other YA. They have gotten into the right hands due to handselling, but I still feel like my core audience can’t find me. At the West Hollywood library near where I live, there is a Tween section, but this doesn’t really work either, since those readers tend to be 8 and 9 year olds reading up, and my book is too old for them. When my book was first sent out by my agent, I did have a couple of publishers ask if I would age the character down from 15, to 13 or 12, but I would have lost the voice, key “older” elements in the book and important backstory events.
I’m not sure what the answer is. In some bookstores, I’ve seen middle grade separated into 7-9 and 9-12. Is separate YA sections (11-14 and 14-up for example) the answer? In libraries, middle grade, like YA, is lumped together, so older and younger MG books are mixed up, but this doesn’t seem to be as big of a problem. Pre-teens and teens don’t want to read books for “little kids” anymore because it’s uncool, while little kids don’t feel the stigma of BEING little kids. ;) As YA has skewed older and older, I have been seriously thinking of just giving up and writing middle grade, since my sensibility as a writer is younger. Yet, the ideal age of my reader is 12. I don’t want to lose them! I will say that the kids themselves seem to know what books match their sensibility. The challenge as an author is knowing how to make sure that ideal reader can find your books. Kathy McCullough http://kathymcculloughbooks.com
Date: Fri, 18 Oct 2013 13:48:29 -0700 (PDT)
While reading the posts this month, I’ve been thinking about the same issues mentioned by Stacy and Rosanne. I write young adult books, but my two books skew young – the primary readers have been 11-14 (and some older kids if they read younger). It does feel like this is a lost category, since I’m shelved with older YA in bookstores and libraries, and my books are officially “12 and up” like many other YA. They have gotten into the right hands due to handselling, but I still feel like my core audience can’t find me. At the West Hollywood library near where I live, there is a Tween section, but this doesn’t really work either, since those readers tend to be 8 and 9 year olds reading up, and my book is too old for them. When my book was first sent out by my agent, I did have a couple of publishers ask if I would age the character down from 15, to 13 or 12, but I would have lost the voice, key “older” elements in the book and important backstory events.
I’m not sure what the answer is. In some bookstores, I’ve seen middle grade separated into 7-9 and 9-12. Is separate YA sections (11-14 and 14-up for example) the answer? In libraries, middle grade, like YA, is lumped together, so older and younger MG books are mixed up, but this doesn’t seem to be as big of a problem. Pre-teens and teens don’t want to read books for “little kids” anymore because it’s uncool, while little kids don’t feel the stigma of BEING little kids. ;) As YA has skewed older and older, I have been seriously thinking of just giving up and writing middle grade, since my sensibility as a writer is younger. Yet, the ideal age of my reader is 12. I don’t want to lose them! I will say that the kids themselves seem to know what books match their sensibility. The challenge as an author is knowing how to make sure that ideal reader can find your books. Kathy McCullough http://kathymcculloughbooks.com
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Received on Fri 18 Oct 2013 03:48:50 PM CDT
