Publishing Industry Lowdown (August 15-19)

It’s that day again–time for Sooz’s YA and MG Publishing Industry Lowdow. The general idea is that I share the biggest news in the young adult and middle grade publishing world each Friday–big deal*, important changes, etc.

Note: My source for deal news is Publishers Marketplace, which requires a paid subscription. As such I’m only sharing part of the information here–basically, just author names and pitches. If you want to know deal sizes (e.g. advances), editors, publishers, and agents, I highly recommend you sign up for PM–it’s totally worth the cost!

Now, let’s get started!!

Deals

MELVIN BEEDERMAN, SUPERHERO and SECOND BASE CLUB author, Greg Trine’s middle grade  ADVENTURES OF JO SCHMO, a new chapter book series starring a 9-year old girl from a long line of crime-fighters, living a normal fourth-grade life until she receives a mysterious package with a superhero cape, and her own crime-fighting adventures begin, in a four-book deal.

Lindsay Kincaide’s young adult WAITING FOR THE RAPTURE, about an orphaned gay teenager’s spiritual and personal coming of age in a small town where he lives with his two older brothers and an autistic younger brother with whom he shares a special bond.

Kate Karyus Quinn’s young adult debut ANOTHER LITTLE PIECE, about a girl who wakes up wandering the roads of Oklahoma knowing that she is occupying another girl’s bodyand that she has killed the girl whose body she is in who then returns to the girl’s parents in upstate New York to uncover who she really is, and who else she has killed, in a two-book deal.

Jonathan Friesen’s middle grade ALDO’S FANTASTICAL MOVIE PALACE, about a young girl whose scarred face drives her into the dark refuge of her mother’s 1930s movie theater, where she discovers both a portal into another world and an enemy much more sinister than her mocking peers, in a two-book deal.

Author of Morris Award winner THE FREAK OBSERVER, Blythe Woolston’s young adult BLACK HELICOPTERS, about a girl raised to be a weapon who straps on a vest of explosives and sets out to kill and be killed until her plan goes wrong, in a two book deal, for publication in Spring 2013.

Author of the NYT bestseller MISS PEREGRINE’S HOME FOR PECULIAR CHILDREN Ransom Riggs’s untitled young adult sequel, continuing the story of the children on the remote Welsh island, incorporating a new set of vintage photographs to guide the story.

WE HEAR THE DEAD author Dianne Salerni’s young adult THE CAGED GRAVES, in which a 17-year-old returns to her hometown, where “the dead don’t stay where you put them”, to marry a young man she’s met only through letters, an unpromising engagement complicated by another suitor and by her family’s entanglement with a legendary treasure, and rumors about why her mother was buried in a caged grave.

Suzanne Selfors’s young adult SMELLS LIKE PIRATES, a rollicking third adventure in the Smells Like Dog series, following ordinary farm boy Homer and his treasure-sniffing sidekick, Dog, as they race to outsmart an old enemy and find a long-lost pirate treasure, for publication in Fall 2012.

Mary Cronk Farrell’s young adult PURE GRIT, about 99 P.O.W. nurses and how they survived World War II despite overwhelming odds.

WUFTOOM author Mary Thompson’s middle grades ESCAPE FROM THE PIPE MEN! and EVIL FAIRES LOVE HAIR.

Eric Devine’s young adult TAP OUT, in which a boy thinks nothing can save him from being poor, his mom’s abusive boyfriends, and the meth gang that’s decided he’s their new delivery boy, except his new friends at his Mixed Martial Arts gym.

Suzanne Phillips’s young adult LINDSEY LOST, about two top-performing siblings, one of whom is murdered in small town America, for publication in Fall 2012.

(Source: Publisher’s Marketplace*)

Other News

For all my teen readers out there, don’t miss out on voting for the Top Ten Teen Books of 2011. This poll is created every year by the ALA, and teens pick the titles on the list and also vote for the final winners. You’ve got until September 15th to vote.

Plagiarism SUCKS, and a recent scandal has unfolded for Cynthia Eden and her novel Deadly Heat. On fanfiction.net, a “writer” copied Cynthia’s novel almost word-for-word, but she replaced the characters’ names with “Edward” and “Bella”. Many people (including me) contacted fanfiction.net to help get this story pulled down–and it finally happened on Tuesday.  Honestly guys, this has gotta just plain suck for Cynthia. Can you imagine having your novel posted online like that? To have it pawned off as someone else’s? Not cool.

Chips + adventure? Oh yes, says the Vermont publisher who creates Choose Your Own Adventure. They’re teaming up with Frito-Lay to offer free CYOA books to those who eat Frito-Lay chips. I can’t lie: I’m not so thrilled. Yeah, we’re getting kids to read (maybe), but we’re also teaching them unhealthy eating habits. Of course, Book It–the reading/Pizza Hut initiative–was super successful with ME as a child…

The Great Game Changer that is Amazon has now introduced a pretty cool app for students which lets students shop for and compare textbook prices. It’s called the “Amazon Student App“. Meanwhile, ever up to the challenge, B&N has it’s own student-sneak-attack: the Nook will be for sale at B&N stores on college campuses.

Forbes released a list of the highest paid authors for 2011. James Patterson comes in as #1 (he’s made $84 million dollars since last summer) followed by Danielle Steele ($35 million) and Stephen King ($28 million). I don’t know about YOU all, but those numbers make me kinda sick…and kinda praying I will reach such lofty status one day (dream big, er…right?).

You tell me: Is there any industry news-bite I missed? Do you have an significant news you want to share?

*Note: Because Publishers Marketplace requires a paid subscription, I’m only sharing part of the information here–basically, just author names and pitches. If you want to know deal sizes (e.g. advances), editors, publishers, and agents, I highly recommend you sign up for PM–it’s totally worth the cost!

Marni Bates’s FAUXMANCE, in which a teenager dives into a music hottie’s cruise ship stateroom due to seasickness and they send the Hollywood gossip machine into overdrive by innocently spending the night together; then he has to make their fauxmance look real to save the band’s family-friendly image, to Megan Records at Kensington Children’s, in a nice deal, for publication in 2012, by Laurie McLean at Larsen/Pomada Literary Agents (World).

Andrew Smith’s WINGER, about a fourteen-year-old at boarding school who grapples with living in the dorm for trouble makers, falling for his female best friend who thinks of him as just a kid, and playing wing on the Varsity rugby team with some of his frightening new dorm-mates, and ONCE THERE WERE BIRDS, a futuristic novel with echoes of the Wild West, about a teen boxer who escapes from a prison school for boys and is followed by a younger kid who is determined to stick with him, but who has his own secret agenda and something to prove, to David Gale at Simon & Schuster Children’s, for publication in Spring 2013, by Laura Rennert at Andrea Brown Literary Agency (World English).

ljrennert@mac.com