What We Want
In previous posts about New Adult, I realized that I tried to articulate the category with broad generalizations (target audience, voice, etc.), but never got down to the specifics of personal taste. Personal taste is pretty important in this industry; it’s important to read broadly, but to also have opinions about what you read.
White-Harp acts as a neck pillow while I work. She's not exactly pleased by this arrangement.
Bear once asked me if I would ever turn down something I knew would sell and I said, “Yes, if I didn’t like it,” to which he just shook his head and said it was a stupid business practice. I couldn’t come up with a rational argument at the time, but the honest truth is, publishing isn’t a rational business–it’s a business of taste.
I put it this way: I can’t sell something I don’t like. Meaning, if I don’t like something, I can’t bring it to an editorial meeting and say, “Let’s buy this book! I hate it!” It’s the same when you recommend books to friends; it’s hard to walk up to a friend with a book you didn’t like and say, “Read this! I hated it!” So today I will enlighten you all to Cap’n Sweet Valley and my personal tastes (noting that, of course, this falls under the general umbrella of “fiction and nonfiction for twentysomethings”).
