Thanks so much to everyone for joining in as we celebrated the publication week of THE SECRET YEAR with a teen diary contest and shared the books that were our favorites when we were teenagers.
After 650+ entries, five finalists, and hundreds of votes: we have a winner.
And what with it being THE SECRET YEAR week and all, how appropriate that the winning teen diary entry is about teenagers with a secret.
CONGRATULATIONS to Jenny!!!
Jenny and finalists, please e-mail me to discuss your prizes.
Thanks again to everyone who entered and participated!
Now then. There was actually some news in publishing this week and over the holidays, so let’s get to it.
It was end of the year prediction time before New Year’s, and among those chiming in was Bob Miller, publisher of HarperStudio, with a best of times, worst of times roundup. Some of his predictions: publishers will focus on lowering overhead even as they face pressure to consolidate, big publishers focus on fewer titles even as there more self-published books out there, and authors with track records will receive still bigger advances even as the advances for everyone else shrinks. Definitely worth a read.
Agent Janet Reid looked back on the manuscript-reading year that was 2009 and added up all the reasons she ended up passing on manuscripts. And meanwhile, from the other side, Del Rey editorial director Betsy Mitchell posted about the reasons she passed on agented projects. (via FinePrint)
Looking forward to this new year is The Millions, who has a great roundup of the most anticipated books in 2010. (And by the way: are we all agreed we’re saying “Twenty-Ten?” Or are some people still saying “Two thousand ten?” Help me out here.)
Also looking forward is Pimp My Novel: twas the season for the holidays and book sales, but now tis the season for returns.
And amid all the doom and gloom you normally read about the publishing industry and how we’re all going to disappear and be replaced by Amazon’s latest algorithm, you might be surprised to know that, book sales at outlets Bookscan tracks were only down 3% for the year in 2009. Sky: not falling after all!
You need a subscription to see it, but Publishers Lunch has a seriously awesome roundup of the new eReaders that are about to hit the market, including one by Samsung, a “Dualbook” with two facing screens, the Alex (partnering with Borders), and perhaps most intriguing, one called the Skiff that has a large screen and bends. If you don’t have a subscription to Publishers Lunch: get one.
The Guardian UK also takes a look ahead at what an e-book future might look like, with ideas ranging from the perennial favorite Netflix-style book renting system to a “playlist” idea for books. Yeah…… don’t know. Netflix-style book renting systems have been tried but have a hard time competing with libraries (many of whom already have e-book lending programs), and my “playlist” is comprised of the many books I downloaded on a whim and haven’t had time to read yet. (via Neil Vogler in the Forums)
In publishing advice news, Janet Reid has fifteen things you need to know before you query, editor Cheryl Klein has tips on how to write a great query letter, author Adrienne Kress posts about how yes, the odds are long, but that doesn’t mean you should be sweating them, and agent Rachelle Gardner reminds you that yes, we do give advice on queries so we can spot your work, but at the end of the day the book is the most important thing.
The winners of the Literary Lab genre wars was announced! Congrats all.
Almost finally, my client Natalie Whipple has a comprehensive post on how she tackles the revision process, which has an incredible list of questions she asks herself as she’s revising, and which you will likely find extremely helpful as you edit redline revise.
And finally finally, I’d just like to give another heartfelt thanks to everyone for participating in the contest and spreading the word about THE SECRET YEAR! It’s been a lot of fun, and I was so impressed by the talent on display in those teen diaries.
Have a great weekend!
MeganRebekah says
I didn't get a chance to vote yesterday, but Jenny's was my favorite of teh finalists!
Congrats Jenny!!
Jenny says
Yay! I'm so excited. Thanks so much, Nathan. This was a blast. And a BIG thanks to everyone who voted–both for me and ALL the other finalists and to Nathan for reading EVERYONE who did such a fantastic job (whew, makes me tired thinking about it!). The comments that came with the voting were fun to read and informative.
Michelle says
Congrats, Jenny! Won't you let us all in on "the
secret?" 🙂
Dara says
Yay Jenny! Congrats 🙂
Thanks for having this contest Nathan–it was a lot of fun.
virg_nelson says
Congrats Jenny and thanks Nathan for the fun contest! *happy dance for making honorable mention*
T. Anne says
A weekends worth of reading, thanx for the links.
BTW, I like twenty ten. It sounds so very futuristic. Does that mean the future is now? Sorry, I couldn't resist.
Huge congrats to Jenny!
Rowenna says
Congrats, Jenny! Any thoughts of developing the idea further? It could make a great short story 🙂
Natalie Whipple says
Congrats, Jenny! And Jennifer! Can't wait to read The Secret Year.
Tara says
Congratulations, Jenny, well deserved! I hope we see more from you one day.
Congrats to all the other finalists and honorable mentions as well.
Nathan, it was a real surprise to me when my entry was chosen especially among so many strong submissions. Thank you for this contest and the opportunity to remember how much I enjoy writing. It was very inspiring.
I look forward to reading The Secret Year, so one last congratulations to Jennifer Hubbard!
Matilda McCloud says
Congrats, Jenny!!!
Thanks for the contest, Nathan. I've never written YA before, but I enjoyed writing a teen diary entry…
Looking forward to reading The Secret Year…
Josin L. McQuein says
Congratulations Jenny!
The amount of information you gather and post each week is amazing, Nathan. And for once, I'd seen most of them already myself 😛
Janet Reid's tally post was awesome (and a bit daunting – yipes, tiny numbers)
Sky Not Falling deserves to be a title itself. Yay good news for publishing.
Rachelle Gardner's post was great, though probably not so much for the author asking for detailed feedback. (No one "needs" to be published no matter how much they want it…)
And I've been reading Natalie's blog the last few days (found it through your tweet on Twitter) – great information there (I didn't place in your contest *cries*, but I won hers *squee*)
Marilyn Peake says
Congratulations, Jenny!
Kristi says
Congrats to Jenny and all the finalists! Now I'm off to read Natalie's post as revisions are my life right now — Happy Friday!
Anonymous says
Interesting. Hear what Leo has to say about publishing:
https://twit.tv/ces5
He talks about book publishing about half way through.
Very interesting since he's like the leader in new media.
Ars Technica did a pretty good round-up of eReaders:
https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/news/2010/01/the-e-book-wars-of-2010-display-technology.ars
The world is definitely changing. But will publishing get a clue or find itself trying to catch-up like the music industry did a decade ago.
As for all the posts about agents turning down a lot of submissions, I wonder if the world is shifting to a publishing model, where the Internet decides what is good and what is bad collectively. I still think that Digg is a sign of the future. Content aggregators are going to pave the way to find good content.
As for sales being down only 3%, how far down were they in 2008? And much did the Twilight series of books help out that number?
lotusgirl says
Congrats, Jenny!
I love my Pub Lunch. Esp. the new deal round-up. I recommend it to anyone who's serious about writing. I'll definitely have to check out the Janet Reid post on querying, since I'm about there. I find her query shark posts very helpful.
Nicole says
Congrats Jenny!
I like Josin's idea: Sky Not Falling would make a great title. Or blog name. Or fake Native American name. Hmm.
It's definitely Twenty-Ten. If it was Nineteen-Eighty, it's Twenty-Ten.
Have a great weekend!
Kristi says
Back again to add that Natalie's post is amazing! It's a must read for anyone in the midst of revisions. I'm in the tedious, last phase she described and she's right — you know you're in that stage if your eyes are crossing.
Amy says
Congratulations Jenny!! I couldn't vote yesterday cos I'm essentially anonymous, but I wanted to vote for yours! And Tara's was a close second for me. But all in all – VERY strong finalist entries; I had a tough time deciding. You should all be very proud.
Wish I could access that Publishers Lunch story as I have found myself switching from "you can pry my book from my cold dead hands" camp to the "I need one of those things!!!" category. (I was reluctant to get an iPod at first, too…)
ciara says
in light of all these posthumous publications mentioned on the millions a few questions nathan if you don't mind? what's the process when that happens? is it published unedited? edited without the authors involvement (obviously)? how do you feel about that?
limabean says
Congratulations, Jenny! Yours was definitely my favorite.
à la vanille says
Like what everyone else is saying: Congratulations Jenny!
Mira says
Jenny – congratulations! Your entry was wonderful! 🙂
Nathan, this is an awesome post today – there is so much here. Lots of wonderful weekend reading.
So, maybe you should wait abit before the next contest, Nathan, this one was so amazing, it made the earth move. Some people think we had an earthquake, but I know it was your contest…oh, and the debut of Jenn's book, of course. 🙂
I hope everyone has a great weekend!
Lady Glamis says
Wow, such great links. Thank you so much for including ours for The Lit Lab! And congrats to Jenny!
Anonymous says
Congratulations Jenny! Do let us know if this is part of a WIP!
I would so like to read more!
Would also like to add my thoughts on this contest:
There were so many of the entries that really got to me. I didn't read them all, but wow.
Some were so dear and beautiful that they were haunting.
With others,I almost got sick from the amount that were angry at their mothers, and I know it comes with the turf of teenage angst, but whoa Nellie, that was a lot of mom angst.
I was saddened by the amount of entries that were dealing with horrendous circumstances, like horrid, non-meaningful sex, drugs, incest, and neglect. (Time to turn that S.A.D. light back on.)
In the end, I was completely relieved by the finalists. Some darn good shootin' writing out there.
Myrna Foster says
Congratulations Jenny!
And Nathan, thank you for this post!
Eileen Wiedbrauk says
RE: 2010
GrammarGirl at QuickandDirtyTips says wither twenty-ten or two-thousand-ten is fine, though polling shows that most people want to revert back to the nineteen-ninety way of pronouncing the year.
Happy twenty-ten!
Dan H. says
Nathan, please do these types of contests again and again . . . it was fun!
Congrats to the finalists and very congrats to Jenny!
Bonnie says
Nathan, you can learn about twenty-ten vs two thousand ten in Grammar Girl's latest podcast: https://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/how-do-you-pronounce-2010.aspx.
Ray Rhamey says
On "twenty-ten:" no one would have said one thousand nine hundred ten instead of nineteen ten.
author says
Jenny's caught my attention. The others were good but I remember being in that desk, doing about the same thing.
Kelly R. Morgan says
Congrats Jenny!
Twenty-ten.
The stats are interesting. They keep me driving for one of the increasingly fewer slots for debut authors.
Off to read Natalie's post since being in revision land applies to me 🙂
Hannah says
Congratulations Jenny – loved the entry, a very deserving winner.
I'll be calling this year 'two thousand and ten' as I called last year 'two thousand and nine'. And I think if this was going to be a century of 'twenty-___' then we would have started with 'twenty-one'.
But it seems that might just be me.
Jen C says
Definitely Twenty-Ten. If we don't take steps to introduce the Twenty now, soon we'll be saying "Two Thousand and Seventeen" and that's gonna suck. We need to save syllables, people!
PS even the newsreaders here are saying Twenty-Ten, so I take that as being cemented.
Anonymous says
0-ten
Anonymous says
or '10
Swifty says
CONGRATS JENNY!!!!
Ellie says
The horror of those debut author stats…. I think I'll stick to Blogger, thanks.
Krista G. says
Congratulations, Jenny!
And I just wanted to add that Nathan's client Natalie Whipple has had a whole week of great posts on revising. If you're about to embark on that epic adventure, check them out.
Laura Martone says
Like Megan, I didn't get a chance to vote yesterday either. Besides, I liked all of them – it was kinda tough to decide.
So, congrats, Jenny! You should be especially proud for being singled out amid such tough competition!
P.S. Thanks, Nathan, for generously holding the contest… as always, you managed to pull together some superb talent.
Elaine 'still writing' Smith says
I am glad. Jenny's was my favourite. It was simple, teenlike and had that final hook that had me wanting to know more.
Elaine 'still writing' Smith says
What about the decade being called the Twenty-tweens? :s
I have heard this used.
ryan field says
Congrats to the winner.
This was a hard vote to cast. I wound up casting mine for Jaime B. mainly because of the fact that the entry started off with "Dear Pop Pop,"
This sounds like a silly way to vote, but I thought it was interesting. A teenager normally wouldn't call a grandfather "Pop Pop" in public because of peer pressure. But in a diary, where everything is so safe and secure, they wouldn't think twice. YA's are innocent, and this example, to me, was the perfect example of showing instead of telling.
Ann M says
Congratulations, Jenny! And to all the finalists. These contests are such fun and so helpful!
Nate says
Nathan, fantastic blog this week! Jenny, wow! Made me feel 13 again (except for the zits!) 😉
MzMannerz says
Wow, I voted for the winner! That doesn't happen to me often!
Congrats, Jenny.
I say both Twenty Ten and Two Thousand Ten. I only detest Two Thousand and Ten, the same way I don't like to hear people say January the fourth and such. It's just January fourth.
Or, actually, eighth.
Jen C says
I just say Jan Fourth. It is occurring to me that I might be incredibly lazy.
Mira says
Hmmm.
I say the 4th of January. If I could find another word that fit, I'd throw it in. Abundance and vast excess in word flinging – that's my motto.
So, I vote for calling it two-zero-two-zero.
I really like the article by Rachelle Gardner. Spot on, I thought.
Mira says
Or even two-zero-one-zero.
Ink says
Whew. Thought I missed a decade there for a second.
Mira says
Lol.
Bryan, let me know if that works the opposite direction. Because then I might say 1990 so we can all get younger.
The article by Adrienne Kress is FANTASTIC! I felt like standing up and cheering. Bravo!