NEWS: HERE'S THE DEAL!

Stephen L. Duncan's THE REVELATION SAGA, pitched as a sweeping adventure with elements of Raiders of the Lost Ark and Harry Potter in which seventeen-year-old Gabriel Adam - an archangel born as a human - must travel to England in a plot to stop the second war between Heaven and Hell, to Emily Steele at Medallion Press in a deal by John Rudolph of Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

HUGE CONGRATS: AUTHOR MINDY McGINNIS

It can be woeful journey, this business of getting published.  No wonder that while doing so, many of us hopefuls band together, hand-in-digital hand, to give support, encouragement, and when needed, a shoulder to cry on.  I've made several friends, some of which I've even shared bacon-infused whiskies with, such as Alexa Martin (Girl Wonder, Hyperion 2011), Rachel Hawkins (the Hex Hall series, Hyperion 2011) and Lindsay Leavitt (Princess for Hire series, Hyperion 2010). 

One particular place that I've called home over the years is a website called AgentQuery Connect.  There, a few of us 'veterans' have forged wonderful friendships together as we queried onward, went from agent to agent, or dipped our toes into the shadowy process of submission. 

Well, this year is shaping up very nicely for our group.  First, Sophie Perinot had wonderful success with the sale of her upcoming book The Sister Queens.   Today, it is my pleasure to offer congratulations to Mindy McGinnis!  The press release, per Publishers Marketplace: "Mindy McGinnis's NOT A DROP TO DRINK...to Sarah Shumway at Katherine Tegan Books, in a good deal, at auction, in a two-book deal, by Adriann Ranta at Wolf Literary Services (World)."

It's a great success story and couldn't happen to a nicer person.  To give you a little persective on what a dream-come-true this is, Mindy went from a YA librarian to this:

Nice deal is $1 to $49,000
Very nice deal is $50K to $99K
Good deal is $100K to $250
Significant deal is $250K to $499K
Major deal is $500K and up

Who says the publishing industry is dead?

The Great (YA Gender) Divide

***AN ABRIDGED HISTORY***

Once, boys and girls both read, and read often.

So, I’m a guy. A dude. I play sports, grill meat, and sometimes, under the influence of beer-flavored beer, I’ve even been known to chest bump.

But I also write fiction.  And not just fiction – young adult fiction. 

On the way to becoming a YA author, I noticed something strange about my masculine circumstance.  When I first started out – learning to query, learning to write and edit – I stumbled into these e-relationships online with others who were endeavoring to take the same path.  We found common ground, usually in genre, and supported each other in the journey toward publication.

***AN OBSERVATION***

Ninety percent of my YA author e-relationships are with women.

I know, that really isn’t evidence of anything, but it got me thinking.  What about the male-oriented stories?  A quick browsing of the YA section of any bookstore will show you just how feminine the genre has become.

This isn’t a bad thing, but for me it is slightly alarming on a business level.  Publishers publish to make money, but if the balance of YA books being published is overwhelmingly for teenage girls, does that mean teenage boys aren’t reading?

***A CONFESSION***

I didn’t read much as a teenager.

Sure, I took in the occasional Crichton book and tried to understand Clancy military thrillers, but I was more drawn to Spielberg movies and comic books.  Today, there are even more distractions with video games and the internet.

As I've aged, my reading habits have changed, grown.  Right now, I’m reading Alexa Martin’s GIRL WONDER.  Alexa is a good friend and has written an amazing account of what it must be like to be the new girl at a new high school.

***A REASURING ANNOUNCEMENT***

I like girl-oriented YA.

Though Alexa would definitely welcome me, and even though a guy like me can enjoy and see the literary merit of GIRL WONDER, I am probably not among Alexa’s target audience, though it begs the question - do I need to relate to the subject matter of a book to enjoy it, and if not, why not target me as a potential reader?

Looking at the many amazing books in the YA section makes me wonder if teenage boys would read more if they were targeted more.

Certainly, these thoughts are void of the complications and economics of marketing, but still...

***HERE IS A SMALL FACT***

Teenage boys like to read.

Some authors know this.  And some of them are men.  Look at the works of John Green or Andrew Smith.  Heck, even J.K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series was aimed at boys.  So then, what about YA is so standoffish to teenage boys?  Is it marketing?  Is it this new feminine cultural definition of YA?  Is it the more boyish distractions of video games and sports?  

I’m not certain, honestly.  But I think this is an issue that needs to be addressed.  There is a bigger market out there that would support more teenage boy readers.  We just need new ideas on how to approach them.

(Paragraph headings are totally "borrowed" from Markus Zusak’s THE BOOK THIEF.  I'll give them back.  I promise.  Premise was inspired by Andrew Smith's recent observations of gender in YA.)