Sunday, August 7, 2011

Abigail McAden: Creating Popular Fiction



Abigail McAden is the Paperback Publishing Director of Scholastic and Editorial Director of Point.

One of the best ways to hone your genre talent is to read, read, read.

Read deeply into the genre you’re drawn to.

This will give you the knowledge of the rules. Then you can bend them, subvert them, etc.

You can really do anything as long as your reader believes you.

Question: How do the badly written books end up on the shelf?

-Some are bought on proposal and the book doesn't deliver.

-Some times a book is bought because it fills a need.

-Sometimes it's means taking a look at why the book is doing well (not necessarily for the great writing).

-Readers also have very different tastes.

Sometimes you run out of time.

It can be really disappointing if a book isn't what you're expecting.

On submissions: A lot of people have a fabulous set up but then the rest of the manuscript doesn't deliver.

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