Great article in the NYT:
Authors Taking Risks Isn’t Kid Stuff
Quote:
For a young adult audience, authors have to be at the top of our game. Were competing with Facebook and smartphones, DVRs and iPods -- not to mention SATs and extracurriculars. We have to capture and hold our readers’ (limited) attention on Page 1 and sustain it until the end. Young adults are willing to accompany an author just about anywhere -- to a dystopian future or the ancient past -- but they will not tolerate anything extraneous or self indulgent.
We may not yet be getting the big advances that our "grown-up" counterparts earn. But our rewards are in our in-boxes: blunt, heartfelt, often misspelled e-mails from kids who tell you exactly what they think.
“U write prtty good violence for a girl,” said one reader. Another: “Keep it up. U r not as lame as some people.”
My favorite e-mail, however, is from an adult.
"Did you know your book is in the children's section?"
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