You might as well hang this sign by the YA section in bookstores these days.
This morning on Twitter, Cindy Pon directed me to a very interesting discussion at Enchanted Inkpot about “boy books” and “girl books” in YA and why there seems to be a discrepancy between boy-oriented fiction and girl-oriented fiction.
The dearth of boy books in YA is an on-going discussion, with question of “Why aren’t there more boy books?” arising again and again.
The thing is, there are a lot of boy-oriented books, but they’re not being bought in the same numbers as girl-oriented ones.
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So this blogging more initiative. It’s not being very successful at the moment, due to the fact that I simply have not had the time. La Redactora is busy enough for ten editors, not to mention things have been moving along with Cap’n Sweet Valley.
News! Cap’n Sweet Valley has acquired two more titles, this time in the nonfiction category.
- WORKING GIRL: The Fabulous life on Thirty Grand by Laurel House
A comprehensive guide for young women in their twenties and how to live on a very terrible salary. I found this incredibly useful. Publishing might be my dream job, but it, uh, doesn’t exactly pay millions. Included are tips on how to keep healthy, exercise, diet, what to do if you realise you need to break up with your college significant other, dating etc.
- THE WOMEN’S PILL BOOK
Um, this doesn’t exactly fall into the category of fiction and nonfiction for twentysomethings, but pills and pharmaceutical industries are kind of Cap’n Sweet Valley’s pet/personal interests. A reference guide to drugs on the market, specifically tailored for women: from everyday colds to hormonal therapy.
Anyway, the biggest news of all: The website is live for SWEET VALLEY CONFIDENTIAL!
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The hardcover of SILVER PHOENIX by Cindy Pon
Recently there have been rumblings in the blogosphere about the re-jacketing of Cindy Pon‘s book SILVER PHOENIX that have been brought to my attention. Reactions have been mixed, from outrage to support, with many bloggers pointing to the re-jacketing as yet another example of publishing cover racefail (the first being Justine Larbalestier’s LIAR and the second being Jaclyn Dolamore’s MAGIC UNDER GLASS).
This is a bit of sensitive subject and I was a little wary of writing about it. It isn’t the topic; I’ve blogged about race and cover matters before and I try to champion novels with POC themes, settings, and characters whenever possible, but this situation requires delicacy for a few reasons.
- This is not directly analogous to situations in either LIAR or MAGIC UNDER GLASS.
- I am not Cindy Pon’s editor or publisher so I obviously don’t know all the details.
- Despite my best intentions to keep neutral, there may be some finger-pointing (not at Cindy or her publisher).
- What I say may come off as a little defensive even though I don’t mean it that way.
- Contrary to what we want the outcome to be, in this situation, we as the concerned reader may not be able to effect much change.
Those reasons aside, I did feel I was qualified to say something about this topic based on these reasons:
- I work in editorial.
- I am a woman of Asian descent.
- I ain’t happy about this either.
Above is the original cover for SILVER PHOENIX. The re-jacketed cover is below the cut.
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Pardón, estaba incomunicada la última semana porque estaba muy ocupada por mi trabajo. He ayudado una otra redactora a St. Martin’s Press con sus autores y no tuve tiempo para escribir en mi…blog? (¿Cómo se dice “blog” en español?)
Sorry, I have the habit of reverting to high school Spanish when I get a wee bit stressed. (Of note, I love that “editor” in Spanish is redactor(a). Henceforth I wish to be known as a redactor.) I’m a little rusty.
So, JJ, you might ask, what have you been up to? Oh nothing much, I might say, just running around the Flatiron Building like a chicken with its head cut off. I have been assisting another editor here with her list while her assistant is on maternity leave. Said editor is a genius, with multiple bestsellers on her list who need a lot of maintenance. I’m still working primarily with Cap’n Sweet Valley, but now I’m on another floor (but in an office!). Now that SWEET VALLEY CONFIDENTIAL is about to go into production, I’m getting my exercise running up and down two flights of stairs at least 12 times a day.
Because I myself haven’t contributed much to the publishing blogosphere lately, might I direct you to this awesome series of posts on LGBTQ stereotypes in YA fiction by Malinda Lo? Today she blogs about gender perceptions, expression, and performance and how gender identity and sexuality do not have a 1:1 correlation.
Anyway, while I’ve been buried up to my eyeballs with work, I’ve also been reading my face off, so expect to be seeing reviews of the following soon:
- TENDER MORSELS by Margo Lanagan
- THE ART OF SEDUCTION by Robert Greene
- A CONSPIRACY OF KINGS by Megan Whalen Turner
- ILLYRIA by Elizabeth Hand
- MATCHED by Ally Condie
- DELIRIUM by Lauren Oliver
- ASCENDANT by Diana Peterfreund
- THE REPLACEMENT by Brenna Yovanoff
But I do intend to talk more about craft and writing, especially now that I’m learning from Redactor Genius. So here’s my question, oh blogosphere: What writing topics would you like me to cover? Publishing business you can read about elswhere; I’m mostly here to talk editorial (redactorial?) stuff. So shoot. Leave suggestions in the comments!
Back when I was first starting to blog, I used to make weird puns in my titles. I am bringing back my inner 17-year-old for today’s post. Anyway, where have you been, JJ? you might ask. (Or not. You probably don’t care.)
I was here. Book Expo America. And at social invents related to BEA.
BEA itself was amazing. I managed to attend the Young Adult Editor Buzz panel (featuring St. Martin’s Press’s very own Jen Weis) and steal a few galleys and ARCs, including MATCHED, which I have been anticipating for the past 6 months. (It won’t be out until the end of the year though so MUAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.)
However, the highlight of my day at the trade show this year was managing to fangirl Arthur A. Levine. He was also at the Young Adult Editor Buzz panel, but he happened to be leaving the Javits Center at the moment my coworkers and I were leaving and we had the amazing privilege of sweating our way to the subway with the man who essentially defined children’s literature for my generation.
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