Andrew K. (kuligowskiandrewt) -
The second edition of Wild Ink provides approximately 200 pages of valuable information about writing for the young adult market covering areas such as selecting topic and tone, understanding genres, marketing your book to a publisher OR choosing to publish independently, and other topics that are applicable to ALL writers, not just YA authors. The author, Victoria Hanley, also recognizes that non-fiction is also an area that YA writers AND YA readers are interested in, and unlike most such books, provides information on that area.
I stress YA, because the author makes it clear that the book is aimed at the author seeking to write to the Young Adult market. However, most of this book is valuable to ANY author, even those aiming at adult readers.
As I said, Wild Ink provides approximately 200 pages of valuable information. Unfortunately, Wild Ink is 300 pages long. The last 1/3 of the book provides input from a number of successful YA authors. On the surface, that sounds extremely useful. However, because it appears that each contributor was sent a common template of questions to answer, this section has a droning same-ness about it. I quickly found that this material did not adequately hold my interest, and I struggled to finish it in the hopes that I would find the occasional gem among the words.
This is a good book, and it's worth the investment of time and money necessary to go through it. I recommend that the reader selectively pick and choose among the multiple authors included in Chapter 11, rather than trying to read through the entire chapter.
RATING: 4 stars, based on the first 2/3rds of the book and ignoring the last 1/3rd.
DISCLOSURE: I was awarded this book free of charge via the Goodreads FirstReads program. It is hoped that recipients will provide an honest review of their book, but no commitments are sought nor offered.
I stress YA, because the author makes it clear that the book is aimed at the author seeking to write to the Young Adult market. However, most of this book is valuable to ANY author, even those aiming at adult readers.
As I said, Wild Ink provides approximately 200 pages of valuable information. Unfortunately, Wild Ink is 300 pages long. The last 1/3 of the book provides input from a number of successful YA authors. On the surface, that sounds extremely useful. However, because it appears that each contributor was sent a common template of questions to answer, this section has a droning same-ness about it. I quickly found that this material did not adequately hold my interest, and I struggled to finish it in the hopes that I would find the occasional gem among the words.
This is a good book, and it's worth the investment of time and money necessary to go through it. I recommend that the reader selectively pick and choose among the multiple authors included in Chapter 11, rather than trying to read through the entire chapter.
RATING: 4 stars, based on the first 2/3rds of the book and ignoring the last 1/3rd.
DISCLOSURE: I was awarded this book free of charge via the Goodreads FirstReads program. It is hoped that recipients will provide an honest review of their book, but no commitments are sought nor offered.
