YABookgate

[Piga Dgrifm]

So if you have gangster blood running through your veins, your fate is pretty much sealed?
That red pill came out of left field.

All the black people in her books are poor, live in the slums, and are either in a gang or know a lot of people who are, often they are doing &/or dealing drugs. The whiteys are all posh and wealthy.

If you don't like her books, you are a racist.

 

[Syaoran Li]

If you were going to self-publish a YA series explicitly aimed at boys, what would be the best way of going about at it?

Like what platforms would work best and how would you go about writing the characters, setting, and overall genre?

 

[SnarkySperg]

If you were going to self-publish a YA series explicitly aimed at boys, what would be the best way of going about at it?

Like what platforms would work best and how would you go about writing the characters, setting, and overall genre?

Someone awhile back pointed out adventure books were more boy-centric, so hearkening back to the days of that genre might work. Fantasy is popular.

Being that I was never a teenage boy I'm not sure what to tell you exactly, but I can tell you as a general rule to make relatable characters. Make characters the reader can look up to, root for, and strive to be like. Not Gary Sues, but characters who are inherently good despite imperfections. Setting would kind of depend on genre. Doing slice of life would mean school, home, etc. Doing fantasy might mean traveling through the mountains or the countryside.

 

[Reverend]

Someone awhile back pointed out adventure books were more boy-centric, so hearkening back to the days of that genre might work. Fantasy is popular.

Being that I was never a teenage boy I'm not sure what to tell you exactly, but I can tell you as a general rule to make relatable characters. Make characters the reader can look up to, root for, and strive to be like. Not Gary Sues, but characters who are inherently good despite imperfections. Setting would kind of depend on genre. Doing slice of life would mean school, home, etc. Doing fantasy might mean traveling through the mountains or the countryside.

Even the hardy boys were fuckups and those were written back in the 1920s for gods sake and people loved them. I had access to all of them growing up and they were fascinating reads full of adventure, mystery, and I could honestly relate to Frank and Joe as they stumbled through their own adventures in book after book. The writer's made me BELIEVE that I could be them sans the falling into pits, kidnapping, and ghost houses and they were FUN.

I didn't hate myself the way the modern YA author's do where I feel like I should be slitting my wrists and be ashamed of who I am if I'm the wrong color, creed, voted for someone, etc.

 

[Secret Asshole]

If you were going to self-publish a YA series explicitly aimed at boys, what would be the best way of going about at it?

Like what platforms would work best and how would you go about writing the characters, setting, and overall genre?

If you want to avoid the absolute clusterfuck that is fantasy and sci-fi YA, you're really only left with mystery and adventure. Which are kind of old-school nowadays. As for platforms? Amazon is typically regarded as the best way to self-publish. But there's a lot of info out there on how to do this, algorithms and shit. As for characters and settings? Just go with your gut. The YA genre is a minefield and sticking old school can play to your benefit.

My one piece of advice: GOOD FUCKING CHRIST, FOR ALL THAT IS HOLY, HIRE A GOOD COVER ARTIST. Please. Bite the bullet and pay a good cover artist for your book. Cover art still dictates a lot of book sales, ESPECIALLY if you're a new author. If you have a shit cover, it will look unprofessional and people will overlook it. Yes its shitty, but its the reality of self-publishing. I cannot tell you how many self-published books leeched off an artist friend and its just...ugh. Slop. Also, make sure you look at the work and reliability of the artist you're hiring. Its not just a commission you're asking for.

EDIT:
That being said, I can't really see myself writing YA specifically. Maybe more 'Light Novel' type deals ala Japan, but as for Western YA it is too incomprehensibly FUCKED for me to want to. Plus I like writing violence and naughty words too much.

 

[GenociderSyo]

Eva was an interesting YA book i ran into as a kid. A girl wakes up with her brain suddenly in a gorilla because she was in a car accident and would have died otherwise. She ends up going to live with a bunch of other gorillas because she cant live as a person now and gets the joy of going through gorilla "heat".

Think it wins oddest book I've ever read.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

My one piece of advice: GOOD FUCKING CHRIST, FOR ALL THAT IS HOLY, HIRE A GOOD COVER ARTIST. Please. Bite the bullet and pay a good cover artist for your book. Cover art still dictates a lot of book sales, ESPECIALLY if you're a new author. If you have a shit cover, it will look unprofessional and people will overlook it. Yes its shitty, but its the reality of self-publishing. I cannot tell you how many self-published books leeched off an artist friend and its just...ugh. Slop. Also, make sure you look at the work and reliability of the artist you're hiring. Its not just a commission you're asking for.

Hiring those artists who make the romance covers sounds remotely better than getting something like a shitty filter thrown over a photograph, that's for sure. I prefer looking at something that looks like it could be hung in a museum:

compared to "Slapped this together within an hour for you, fam, follow my Instagram":

(And yes, they're described as "Instagrammable" like it's a good thing, holy fucking shit.)

Gag me with a spoon. I thank my lucky stars every day I can be my own writer and cover artist. (Though I might have to be forced to hire one...)

Eva was an interesting YA book i ran into as a kid. A girl wakes up with her brain suddenly in a gorilla because she was in a car accident and would have died otherwise. She ends up going to live with a bunch of other gorillas because she cant live as a person now and gets the joy of going through gorilla "heat".

Think it wins oddest book I've ever read.

What the fuck.

 

[Piga Dgrifm]

Eva was an interesting YA book i ran into as a kid. A girl wakes up with her brain suddenly in a gorilla because she was in a car accident and would have died otherwise. She ends up going to live with a bunch of other gorillas because she cant live as a person now

DAS RACI--

and gets the joy of going through gorilla "heat".

[God has left the chat.]

 

[GenociderSyo]

What the fuck.

DAS RACI--

[God has left the chat.]

Why yes yes he has...

Eva

and the devil found the amazon link for me.

Edit : And the super devil found the pdf to share the scene with you all... Remember this is a children's book where the main character is 13 years old. It is on READING lists for children to read I ran across it in the 90s because my school had me read it for a book report.

"Eva’s diary was full for three days after that, and then for the next ten she’d be in estrus. This happened once every thirty-five days—your sex parts on your rump swelled up and became tender and the males got excited about you. There were pills Eva could have used to suppress it, but they made her feel sick and low. Being in estrus didn’t bother Eva herself much—far less than she’d expected—and the males at the Reserve wouldn’t have done anything unless she’d let them, but they’d have hung around and begged, and she’d have felt she was making a difference between herself and the other females by shooing them off—and anyway, Mom wouldn’t have dreamed of letting her go to the Reserve like that. By the time estrus was over it would be school again."

 

[Kabuki Actor]

[islam]

All the banality of hygiene, with all the shock of severe injury! Truly, an inspiring author.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

and the males at the Reserve wouldn’t have done anything unless she’d let them, but they’d have hung around and begged, and she’d have felt she was making a difference between herself and the other females by shooing them off

Gorilla feminism, everybody. Shooing away the aggressive horny males from having a release as Nature intended and teaching consent to the other animals!

This was published in 2008 btw.

 

[Zbk3VmLfujjzjxBd43tL]

Even the hardy boys were fuckups and those were written back in the 1920s for gods sake and people loved them. I had access to all of them growing up and they were fascinating reads full of adventure, mystery, and I could honestly relate to Frank and Joe as they stumbled through their own adventures in book after book. The writer's made me BELIEVE that I could be them sans the falling into pits, kidnapping, and ghost houses and they were FUN.

I didn't hate myself the way the modern YA author's do where I feel like I should be slitting my wrists and be ashamed of who I am if I'm the wrong color, creed, voted for someone, etc.

Because the Hardy Boys were aimed at boys. You wanted to hang with them/be them and be clever as hell, exploring and solving mysteries and shit. That's what a lot of male-oriented YA is/was. Nothing wrong with a good power fantasy assuming the power fantasy is competently written. Which brings us to the pitfalls of such writing which these days is more or less found in Asian webnovels/LNs where the protagonist gets a visit with Truck-kun and is isekai'd to some RPG fantasy world where they have god-tier powers, hang out with hot chicks, and own a big-ass mansion because they're rich.

It's dumb, but at least it's not about teaching that all wypipo/men are racist rapists out to oppress anyone who isn't like them and that all women/minorities are nothing but helpless victims and no matter how hard they try the patriarchy/white supremacy/whatever will win in the end like most Western YA seems to be these days.

 

[GenociderSyo]

Gorilla feminism, everybody. Shooing away the aggressive horny males from having a release as Nature intended and teaching consent to the other animals!

This was published in 2008 btw.

It is actualyl from 1988, it just keeps getting republished.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

It is actualyl from 1988, it just keeps getting republished.

Oh derp. Amazon didn't state its edition number, but then I was wondering what the 2004 and 2002 Amazon reviews were even blathering on about, so I got tripped up.

 

[GenociderSyo]

Oh derp. Amazon didn't state its edition number, but then I was wondering what the 2004 and 2002 Amazon reviews were even blathering on about, so I got tripped up.

Yep its ahead of its time....gorillagate....

 

[Piga Dgrifm]

Harambe didn't die for this.

 

[AnOminous]

Because the Hardy Boys were aimed at boys. You wanted to hang with them/be them and be clever as hell, exploring and solving mysteries and shit. That's what a lot of male-oriented YA is/was. Nothing wrong with a good power fantasy assuming the power fantasy is competently written.

It's not like Nancy Drew, the female counterpart, was any less absolutely perfect, brilliant, good looking and ideal. Plenty of kids of both sexes grew up reading both of them.

 

[Kari Kamiya]

Who would win in a sleuthing fight, Nancy Drew or Trixie Belden?

 

[Reverend]

Who would win in a sleuthing fight, Nancy Drew or Trixie Belden?

Dame Pesos

 

[Elwood P. Dowd]

Not strictly YA, but I need to post this somewhere before I get a brain aneurysm. What a pompous, arrogant, fucknoodle. What I get for following John Scalzi. Who, of course, retweeted this.

30+ Tweets and the conclusion seems to be "Because I said so, and if you think otherwise you're a reactionary." No wonder Science Fiction sucks these days. And no wonder short fiction is in even worse shape.

https://twitter.com/NMamatas/status/1263873190066966528

Threaded:

https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1263873190066966528.html?refreshed=yes

Archive:

Thread by @NMamatas: 1. There are maybe 3000 people in the English-sp…

archived 22 May 2020 18:39:12 UTC

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People will still be reading Lovecraft in ten years. This knucklehead's anthology?