Comments on: Oprah For Teenage Readers: Where Are You?

By: The Story Siren

The Story Siren — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 02:09:12 +0000

Oh, I totally agree on the portable content! I just heard from some of the reviewers that they are sending pdf’s now for review. Not sure I’m too keen on that. It’ll be interesting to see how that will play out.

By: mb

mb — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:54:31 +0000

@The Story Siren — That directory is crazy. Thanks for pointing to it. I am not hating on Pulse-IT. I just like portable content that is all.

By: The Story Siren

The Story Siren — Wed, 24 Jun 2009 00:46:06 +0000

This was a very interesting post. I’d love to see an advocate for YA literature. But I’m not sure it would work as well as it has for Oprah. I mean Oprah’s target age range is huge. Her “fans” will continue to be her fans because they will relate to her now when they’re 27 and still when they’re 37. It would be hard to find an advocate for teens like that because there are to many fads. One minute this person is cool and then six months later, nobody cares about that person anymore. Does that make sense, I can’t seem to explain myself clearly for some reason. It’s been a long day.

There are advocates for YA literature now! I’m totally agreeing with Dan here and his grassroots level here. Sure I’m not as well known as Oprah, I’m not even hardly known, but I’d like to think there are people out there that take my reading recommendations to heart. I belong to a huge community of YA literature advocates, but we’re not solely on YouTube, we’re on blogger and wordpress too. Check out the YA Book Blog Directory… there are over 200 book related blogs there: http://yabookblogdirectory.blogspot.com/

And I for one, happen to like that publishers have programs to get teen feedback. Simon and Schuster didn’t just launch Pulse-It, they’ve had that program for years, they just recently changed the make-up of the program so that it could reach a larger audience. What’s wrong with that? They send you the books, you give them your thoughts….? Maybe I’m just misinterpreting your dislike?

By: mb

mb — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:13:22 +0000

@Emily — Wow. Yathenaeum looks pretty great. Pretty much fits the bill doesn’t it?

By: mb

mb — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 23:05:43 +0000

@Dan — thanks for your thoughts. As usual you are completely correct. This reads as too harsh on the teen sites. A teen social-network (by definition) needs to be closed. And I can totally see how this got pitched internally at S&S and was approved. It makes sense. And I actually don’t mind S&S’s website redesign and I think HarperTeen’s redesign this past January was well done.

I simply landed at Pulse-It and got that yet-another-social-network vibe then my mind jumped to videopodcasting — which isn’t really the same thing.

Speaking to Pulse-It directly I would say this…
*the PulseIT board is an awesome idea
*a presence online for board members to meet is genius
*if it will be open to other kids, it needs to be findable (it needs a dedicated url)
*if it will be open to other kids the content is the best advertisement, don’t hide it behind a registration wall (try before buy)
*make it about the kids not about the Simon product. If the kids want to embed, share, or text content let them. Don’t enforce your rules on their habits.
*staff-up and iterate. The post about too many sign-ups is a great thing. Now throw resources at your success and get better quickly.

Getting back to your comments Dan, your observation about grassroots is also well taken. I don’t mean to come across as so cynical honest

By: Dan

Dan — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:56:20 +0000

Hey Mark. Heaven knows I’m not a huge fan of S&S’ jumbled online presence but I think you’re being a bit harsh on them re: Pulse-It. We want/need publishers to experiment and you’re criticizing them for not getting it perfect right off the bat. It’s a process. And kudos to them for trying. Getting anything right for teens (well anyone) that doesn’t feel cynical is difficult at the best of times and takes time and resources. Hopefully S&S will learn what works and what doesn’t as they go.

(And btw, how can publisher set something like this up without inserting themselves between writer and reader? Damned if they do, damned if they don’t…)

Also I have sympathy for them covering their ass by approving members for a teen community. No publisher on earth wants to be accused of giving a free ride to predatory types. Maybe approving people is not a perfect solution, but it is such a minefield that I can see why they did it…

Anyway, with the difficulty in making something cool that is also safe and parent approved, it’s not hard to see why people are reluctant to take on the kind of project you’re talking about… And honestly teen readers, librarians, and teachers do a great job at organizing at a grass roots level…

By: Dr. Jennifer Austin Leigh

Dr. Jennifer Austin Leigh — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 18:02:29 +0000

Thank you for this great story! The big pubs ARE getting it wrong. I’m trying to right that wrong. I’m creating an open forum on my site, http://www.drjennforgirls.com where teens can create their own book club and share their thoughts. It goes live soon, I promise.

Everyone says teens don’t read anymore. I disagree. They are reading my book and others like it, along with great ficton that keeps them entertained.

The book club will be up and running soon.

By: Daisy Whitney

Daisy Whitney — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 17:22:16 +0000

Wow! I just happened to click on this story and was delighted to see my name in it. This is such a brilliant idea and I have been toying with various incarnations. Please email me at daisywhitney@gmail.com if you want to talk more!

By: Emily

Emily — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 16:00:08 +0000

Check out non-publisher affiliated http://www.yathenaeum.com

Some teens in Miami started it almost two years ago and it has great blog posts, links to authors sites, contests, book reviews etc. And the girls run the whole thing. If you love YA, it’s the site for you, I promise. It gets good traffic too – so comments are top notch.

Read and enjoy!