How five authors are changing the YA world (This week in books)

This week! Books!

I really loved this feature in Elle on five amazing authors who are reshaping the young adult fiction landscape: Tomi Adeyemi, Akwaeke Emezi, Elizabeth Acevedo, Angie Thomas, and Nic Stone.

Daniel Frank took a look at the most beloved and most hated classics according to Goodreads users. The Godfather at 4.37 and Moby-Dick at 3.49 is…………… quite something.

The writing world lost a legend as Mary Higgins Clark passed away a few weeks back. Her books sold over a hundred million copies, in addition to being a really lovely person by all accounts.

Two new features on Amazon that are worth taking a gander at. First, the Guardian took a deep dive on the information that Amazon collects as you’re reading via the Kindle, including everything you highlight and the words you look up.

And Amazon has been quietly removing books promoting Nazism for sale despite arguing in the past that they would sell the good, bad, and ugly. While few non-Nazis will likely mourn the loss of these books from the marketplace, Amazon doesn’t appear have a clear policy on which books should be allowed or banned.

This week’s American Dirt story is brought to you by Hillel Italie at the AP, who reports on publishers reviewing their diversity efforts and hypothesizing on some of the barriers that have so far resulted in the current state of affairs.

I always enjoy seeing how literary agents pitch books to publishers (they write query letters too!). Here’s agent Amanda Jain’s pitch for Not Ok, Cupid by Anna Kaling.

A judge allowed Choose Your Own Adventure‘s infringement lawsuit against Netflix and Black Mirror to move forward over the “Bandersnatch” episode.

And here’s a helpful Twitter thread on freelance pitch guides:

Pitch guides are super useful for both freelancers and for editors because it (ideally) helps make sure they get the pitches they want.

Here's a list of pitch guides that I've scrounged together, hope it helps:#freelance #journalism

— Thomas Manuel (@notrueindian) February 11, 2020

This week in bestsellers

Here are the top five NY Times bestsellers in a few key categories. (All links are affiliate links):

Adult print and e-book fiction:

1. Golden in Death by J.D. Robb
2. Crooked River by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
3. American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins
4. Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
5. The Museum of Desire by Jonathan Kellerman

Adult print and e-book nonfiction:

1. Open Book by Jessica Simpson with Kevin Carr O’Leary
2. A Very Stable Genius by Philip Rucker and Carol Leonnig
3. Profiles in Corruption by Peter Schweizer
4. Educated by Tara Westover
5. Why We’re Polarized by Ezra Klein

Young adult hardcover:

1. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
2. All the Stars and Teeth by Adalyn Grace
3. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
4. Children of Virtue and Vengeance by Tomi Adeyemi
5. A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson

Middle grade hardcover:

1. Little Legends: Exceptional Men in Black History by Vashti Harrison with Kwesi Johnson
2. Little Leaders by Vashti Harrison
3. Epoca: The Tree of Ecrof by Ivy Claire. Created by Kobe Bryant
4. Refugee by Alan Gratz
5. The Wizenard: Training Camp by Wesley King. Created by Kobe Bryant

This week on the blog

Don’t forget that you can nominate your first page and query for a free critique on the blog:

• Nominate Your First Page for a Critique on the Blog
• Nominate Your Query for a Critique on the Blog

In case you missed them, here are this week’s posts:

• Interview on writing novels and believing in yourself
• When editing, start with the problems before jumping to solutions
• Invite the reader into the story (Page critique)

Comment! of! the! week! goes to Ken Hughes, who reminds us of a great Neil Gaiman quote that relates to problems and solutions when editing:

Good rule of thumb. Like Neil Gaiman said, “When someone tells you what’s not working, they’re almost always right. When someone tells you how to fix it, they’re almost always wrong.”

And finally, I really enjoyed this article on Banksy and how his legacy will be remembered in the art world.

Have a great weekend!

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