Jul. 21st, 2008

brdgt: (Audrey Reading by iconomicon)
Essay: I’m Y.A., and I’m O.K.
By MARGO RABB, The New York Times, July 20, 2008

When my agent called to tell me that my novel, “Cures for Heartbreak,” had sold to a publisher, she said, “I have good news and bad news.” The good news: an editor at Random House had read it overnight and made an offer at 7:30 a.m. The bad news: the editor worked at Random House Children’s Books.

My agent recounted the story of my novel’s sale, its rejections and close calls, and its particularly close call with editors at two Random House adult imprints. Both had wanted to buy it until the editor in chief decided the novel would be “better served” by the young adult division.

My literary novel about death and grief, which I’d worked on for eight years, was a young adult book?

Apparently, I had unintentionally slipped across an increasingly porous border, one patrolled by an unlikely guard. “The line between Y.A. and adult has become almost transparent,” said Michael Cart, a former president of the Young Adult Library Services Association and a columnist for Booklist. “These days, what makes a book Y.A. is not so much what makes it as who makes it — and the ‘who’ is the marketing department.”

Read More... )

Profile

brdgt: (Default)
Brdgt

December 2018

S M T W T F S
      1
2345678
9101112131415
16171819202122
23242526272829
3031     

Most Popular Tags

Page Summary

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Page generated Jul. 1st, 2025 02:19 am
Powered by Dreamwidth Studios