Today's lesson is...
Yakko: It’s that time again!
Wakko: To make bizarre faces?
Dot: To encourage kids to send us candy?
Yakko: No, it’s time to learn today’s lesson! And to find out what it is, we turn to the Wheel of Morality! Wheel of Morality, turn, turn, turn, tell us the lesson that we should learn.
-Animaniacs, Best 90s Cartoon Ever
Actually, it’s time to answer a question about New Adult that hasbeen cropping up with astonishing regularity. I answered a few here, but the most pressing concern seems to be from writers seeking to query manuscripts that may fall under the “new adult” umbrella.
If I have a New Adult manuscript, how do I query it?
First, I would like to clarify something: New Adult is not a genre. Why is it not a genre? Because nothing has been published under this banner yet. Cap’n Sweet Valley and I are in the midst of finding, culling, and cultivating books to fill a category that may or may not be successful. There are many marketing directions we can take with this (including an imprint), but as of yet, nothing is finalized. We are letting the books we choose to publish dictate the direction of where this may evolve in the future: it may become its own genre the way YA is now it’s own genre, but nothing is definite.
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I like the alliterative quality of that blog title. Anyway, last night on YAlitchat, I announced the requests for full manuscripts from the 18 partial winners from the New Adult Contest. They are as follows:
- Elissa Hoole THE DHARMA BUM BUSINESS
- Kristan Hoffman TWENTYSOMEWHERE
- Luke Tennis BERNARDO THE DAREDEVIL
- Rae Carson REBEL PRINCESS
- Nicole Beattie POE
Anyhow, I was about to blog some more about New Adult and querying agents but time slipped away from me (busy day at the office). However, have some good news! MAGIC UNDER GLASS is getting a new cover! It just goes to show how awesome the blogosphere can be.
Some housekeeping! Cap’n Sweet Valley and I have reached a decision on which manuscripts from the partial winners we would like to see and I will be giving the names on tonight’s #YAlitchat on Twitter, after an interview with literary agent Elana Roth. Hosted by the lovely Georgia McBride, make sure to stay until the very end!
After I announce the full manuscript requests, I will be sending out emails to those whose partials we requested, thanking them for their participation and our reasons for passing (if we’ve passed). The list will be posted here tomorrow, so watch this space.
Also, Cap’n Sweet Valley and I are so close to being able to announce deal news, I don’t even know what to do with myself.
MAGIC UNDER GLASS
Bloomsbury seems to be on everyone’s shit list right now, owing to the second time they’ve white-washed a cover. The first fiasco involved Justine Larbalestier‘s very excellent LIAR, which was thankfully rectified. But as Aja Romano pointed out, Larbalestier is an established author with an established online following–enough to warrant a change in cover. Poor Jaclyn Dolamore may not be so lucky.
I’ve written before about my reaction to LIAR’s white-washed cover, as well my distaste for minority “problem novels”. My feelings are pretty clear: I’d like to see a novel with a protagonist who is incidentally a minority (either a person of color or queer). I want the protagonist’s narrative to be informed by but not defined by their minority status. I want his/her narrative to stand alone from the “minority experience”.
Finding that in fiction is becoming less and less difficult, as is evidenced by Larbalestier’s LIAR and Dolamore’s MAGIC UNDER GLASS. It’s the covers that are something else.
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New post at Running Roommates!
One can consider skiing cross-training, right? Also, I just have to point out the hilarity of what I was wearing (non-ironically) this weekend. Picture below the cut.
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