Young Adult Digital Romance: an informal chat with Harlequin's MD

KATE CUTHBERT - Managing Director, ESCAPE Publishing, imprint of Harlequin

interviewed: Kaz Delaney  Report Notes: Jacky Duffy.

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Kaz Delaney and Kath Cuthbert

Q:   What genres do you publish?

A:   YA; Romance ; Fantasy ; New Adult

Q.   What are the taboos with YA?  No tab 'A goes into slot B' sex; no graphic description; focus on the emotional responses.

• parents control the credit card - so these digital-only books must be approved by parents and librarians first (the gate-keepers) - although some teenagers are trading with Amazon vouchers.
• New Adult can have more explicit relationships (MC: 18-24 years)

Q.   What are your biggest sellers?

A.   King Hall - a series like Harry Potter goes to Uni: most fan mail is for Finding Home.

Q.  How many sold copies is a lot?

A.   14,000

Q.   Do you re-publish best sellers to paper backs?

A.   Not necessarily, New Adult is always digital.

Q.   How do you market?

A.   We find most YA readers use YouTube reviews.

Q.   How much research do Harlequin do?

A.   We have 'warehouses of the stuff' - getting to the teenagers to do this research is really hard.

Q.   How do we subit to you?

A.   Send to EscapePublishing.com.au

• we take unsolicited manuscripts.
  
• two week turn around on first three chapters
  
• if/when we ask for more, it will take longer
  

“Just remember here are rules, and rules are meant to be broken. Break them like a boss.”

#SCBWIAusNZ2014

Day 1 Book Launches at SCBWI 2014 Conference

Day 1 Book Launches at SCBWI 2014 Conference...

Launching The Cuddliest Hug by Meredith Costain (Koala Books/Scholastic)

Launching Pearlie the Spy (Penguin) by Gabrielle Wang. With the story's villain (aka Frane Lessac)

Corinne Fenton launching Celia and Nonna (Ford Street) by Victoria Lane. Illustrator, Kayleen West.

Publisher, Lisa Berryman launched Pamela Rushby's new book, The Ratcatcher's Daughter.

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Session: ROOM TO READ ... helping children in the developing world

Session: ROOM TO READ ... helping children in the developing world...

Report by Roving Reporter, Sarah Mounsey ...

Wendy Rapee, board member of the CBCA, spoke about the organisation Room to Read which is helping to educate children in the developing world.  She started her talk explaining that she believed that she was already preaching to the converted as every person in the room had been touched by story and reflected on her experiences of reading with her grandmother and being “transfixed” by stories as a child.  Room to Read aims to give these experiences to children in ten developing countries in the world.  Wendy spoke emotively about what the organisation had achieved already and what some of the plans were for the future.

Since 2000, Room to Read has built over 1600 schools, established more than 16,000 libraries and published 1000 children’s books in 27 languages.  The local language books are not sold but given to children in the ten countries.  They are also working with authors and illustrators in these countries and helping them to grow and develop.  Wendy discussed that lives can be changed through education and literacy and this creates a ripple effect that can lift desperate people from poverty.

Wendy also briefly discussed a special fundraising campaign created by author, Tristan Bancks to help promote ‘Destination Literacy’.  The goal of this is to reach ten million children by December 2015.  There are many ways we can all get involved.  For more information go the Room to Read website.

Extra report from Roving Reporter, Dimity Powell...

I loved how Wendy stated that everyone has that certain someone or something that encourages or touches them in some way with a book or story when young. For her it was her grandma and her family who impressed upon her the importance of story telling and magic of books.

It's inspiring how Room to Read aims to touch under-privileged children from impoverished and developing countries with words. They work with kids to improve their literacy through exposure and by developing a love of books and supporting burgeoning authors to create stories themselves. The ripple effect is world changing.