Selling to Teens and Kids

I am never going to be a wildly successful YA or kidlit author because I'm weirded out by marketing to my readers.

An article on reaching teen readers and another on children's departments in bookstores turned up on the New England Society of Children's Writers and Illustrators listserv this evening. There is absolutely nothing wrong with making bookstores desirable places so that customers will want to visit them, and there is nothing wrong with finding more efficient ways to sell books. It's a normal thing to do.

Nonetheless, I just feel so creepy about taking money from kids. When I'm at schools and students ask where they can buy my books, I tell them and then add, "But you can go to the town library and try to get the librarian to buy it."

I hope no one who works for my publisher reads this.