The More the Merrier? by Keren David

A small but beautiful indie children’s bookshop. The owner has a pile of new releases for teens stacked on his desk. ‘My problem is that there just isn’t room on the shelves,’ he tells me.

A few casual conversations with editors who publish YA and MG titles. They use almost exactly the same words. ‘There’s just too much good stuff out there.’ 

A chat with a school librarian. ‘I’m finding it increasingly difficult to keep up with all the new releases.’

And then, my own experience A TBR pile that grows by the day. A sneaking feeling that my latest book is jostling for space with rather more books than  my previous books had.

Advance copies, packaged to catch the eye

So I put up a few questions on Twitter and Facebook, to try and find out if my instinct was right. Are there too many YA books published in the UK?  I asked.  Can you keep up?The replies were fascinating. 

Fiona Noble previews children and YA titles for The Bookseller. She’s noticed a sharp increase in the books sent to her this year so far, and September is another huge month.  She expects a bumper Spring 2016 as well.  The increase, she says, is in home-grown teenage fiction - the UKYA that British authors and bloggers have put so much work into promoting. It seems the industry has taken notice. ‘The US is still dominant but the big increase in YA published seems to be coming from UK authors,' she said.  She estimates that UKYA titles have increased by 30% since last year.

This is great for British writers -  and readers -  but Fiona pointed out the downside: fewer reviews, less shelf space. Her colleague Anna James thought it was an industry-wide problem, not confined to YA. She finds it impossible to keep up with all the new releases she’d like to read, which makes her sad. ‘I think it's in line with too many books being published generally in all age categories and genres.’ Indeed, statistics show that the UK has more books published per person than any other nation. 

Most people who replied rejected the ‘too many’ line, although a few felt that there were too many similar YA books, and one reader said, bluntly ‘Yes, and they’re crap.’

More typical was blogger @emmaswriting who tweeted: ‘Impossible to keep up, but I love the diversity. There are YA books for everyone being released! Too bad I can't read them all!’ and @IamRachA201 who said:  There are loads of books, but they're all so diverse and i wouldn't give up that variety- plus that's what readathons are for.'

For booksellers, the increase in titles is good for customers, although several used the word 'overwhelming,' and mentioned shelves crammed to capacity. 

Laura B Main Ellen, lead children’s bookseller for Waterstone’s Piccadilly  said: ‘As a bookseller don't think there's too much, readers need choice and variety. Can feel a little overwhelming from blogger point of view though.’  

Independent bookseller Cat Anderson of the Edinburgh Bookshop sells YA to customers aged 8 to 80, and has had to increase shelf space for YA books to accommodate the growth in titles. ‘ A quick survey showed our customers are not influenced by social media. All choices down to me and word of mouth. This makes it tough on me to keep up. What if I'm denying my customers something truly awesome?’

The pressure on space means she’s having to rotate titles more frequently than before.

‘Far more are sitting unsold than previously so they have to go.’

She loves publishers who make their advance copies stand out with special packaging -  Hot Key was singled out for special praise -  showing me pictures of books tied up in twine, and Benjamin Zephaniah’s Terror Kid which came in a police evidence bag. Basic information about the likely readership for a book was also appreciated.  ‘Covers are SO important to us,’ both in ARC and finished copy. 

‘YA is awesome but I feel like I'm perpetually missing out on something,’ she said. ‘We're missing the quieter quirkier voices championed by booksellers because there's so much noise.’

Librarians can also struggle to keep up. Matt Imrie, a Carnegie judge this year said: ‘The term "Golden Age of Young People's Literature" gets bandied about a lot but it is so true for quality, quantity & availability!’

But he warned: ‘With so many public library book selections having moved to supplier selection many quirky 'niche' YA books will be missed.’

How do librarians decide which books to read?  Rachel Maskelyne used to rely on reviews and shortlists, but finds her priorities have changed since joining Twitter.

‘When lots of people tweet about a book you want to read it to be able to join in the conversation. I find myself being pulled into the publication hype surrounding a book without really stopping to think if the book will appeal to me or suit my taste. I've found myself skimming and reading books quickly to keep up and it has taken away a little of the enjoyment to be honest. I've really struggled in the last week or so to find a book to hold my attention and I think I need to slow down and be more selective.’

Jim Dean, the hard-working blogger who does so much to promote new books, with his monthly #countdownYA and his various blogs, has also noticed an increase in books. He’s disappointed though that relatively few feature the diversity that we hear so much about when YA is discussed. He calculates that only 12% of 385 teen books published in the UK this year feature diverse main characters (his diversity categories are People of Colour, Transexual, LGBT, physical and mental health issues). Only five books had main characters fitting into two or more of those categories, my This is Not a Love Story is one, with James Dawson’s up-coming All of the Above; Patrick Ness’s The Rest of Us Just Live Here; Jandy Nelson’s I’ll Give you the Sun and Leah Thomas’s Because You'll Never Meet Me.    This suggests that while we hear and talk a lot about diversity, in practice, most of the books out there are super-cautious about truly reflecting our diverse world.

So, what does this all mean for writers? Is it good news that so many of us are getting published? Yes, it has to be, surely?  As Holly Smale, writer of the best-selling Geek Girl series put it, ‘More readers, more buyers, more money = more published.’

But she agrees that the pressure to succeed is greater, adding:  ‘Easier to get in, harder to stay in maybe.’

The growth in UKYA is something to celebrate, I think, but it does make it harder for authors to make a living. All those books are also competing for the shortlists that get us noticed, and the foreign deals that earn us money. How can we translate more books into more sales and more readers? 

We need booksellers to reflect the increase in numbers by selling like Cat Anderson does -  in more space, and to all age groups. We need the publishing industry to come together more, to promote UKYA as a distinct brand.  Why have posters for John Green’s The Fault in Our Stars, which has already sold ten million copies, when you could be promoting a ‘Best of British’ selection, which could bring new readers into bookshops to discover so many more writers?   We need events, awards, readathons and blogs. More review space in newspapers would be nice too.  The Bookseller's YA Prize which showcased a wide range of YA fiction was an inspired idea. At YALC this month, publishers have a chance to promote all the books they produce, not just those of the authors handpicked for the panels. We've also seen more author-led events, and I think that's only going to get bigger. 

And we authors need some luck and tenacity, and the ability to sell without being obnoxiously in-your-face. We need to get our books noticed and talked about, while not forgetting that boosting UKYA as a group helps all of us.  Most of all we need to write quirky, individual, books that stand out. 

Because it’s hard to get noticed in a crowd.

(PS. My new book This is Not a Love Story is out! Best for 14+,. Amsterdam setting, unconventional love triangle, ground-breaking because it features British Jewish teens. And bisexuality. Heart-warming, modern, fun. Great cover. I can tie it up in twine if you want me to.) 

In the beginning... by Savita Kalhan

The opening few lines of a book are probably the most important the writer writes. They represent the key to the door, the invitation for the reader to step through and enter the story. Openings are the hook. Obviously the rest of the story must live up to the opening, but without the hook of the beginning, the rest of the story might not get a look in.

Opening lines may set the scene, the tone, the style, the action; they are a unique hook individual to the author, and running through them will be the voice that defines the author – and if you like that author’s voice you come back for more, for more stories by that author. As a reader, if I love one book by a particular writer, I’ll want to read everything else by that writer. “...there's one thing I'm sure about. An opening line should invite the reader to begin the story. It should say: Listen. Come in here. You want to know about this.” Stephen King

I have an odd habit of writing opening lines, opening paragraphs, and occasionally opening chapters. I’ll work on them when I’m in between books and projects, rewriting them, refining them; I’ll add to the collection too if I’m feeling inspired. I’ve got a whole file of them, full of ideas for stories in a variety of genres, full of characters and a world of voices. I’ll use some of them in creative writing workshops, allowing the pupils to choose an opening paragraph to continue a story. Often I’ll use them myself. I’ve been doing it for a long time. It’s the way I find my next book, the next voice. Having them on the back burner feels very much like having a safety blanket. I don’t really plot a book, I’m not a plotter but a panster, who lets the opening paragraph take me on a journey. The back burner simmers away until one of the openings reaches out and grabs me, ripe and ready to become something more. I used to think that this habit was peculiar to me, until I talked to a few other writers, and recently I read that Stephen King agonises over his opening lines. So maybe I’m not that odd after all! I bet many other writers share the agony over the opening lines... 

Here are a couple of mine: “It’s tough being the new kid, but when you’re not the only one it’s not so bad. The problem was Sam was always the new kid and always the only one...” The Long Weekend 
“I sat staring into space. It was empty, the way space should be, vast, endless, and empty. Except it wasn’t vast and endless. There were four walls and a small window. I was lucky to have a cell with a window...” The Poet, A short story. 

 Here are just a few of my favourite opening lines:
 “Once upon a time...” 
 “Kidnapping children is never a good idea; all the same, sometimes it has to be done...” Island of the Aunts by Eva Ibbotson 
 “There was a hand in the darkness, and it held a knife.” The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman 
 “Where’s Papa going with that ax?” Charlotte’s Web by E B White 
 “If you’re interested in stories with happy endings, you’d be better off reading some other book.” The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket. 
 “Against the white cliffs, the girl in the red dress was as vivid as a drop of blood.” Cruel Summer by James Dawson. 
 “They come to kill me early in the morning. At 6 am when the sky is pink and misty grey, the seagulls are crying overhead and the beach is empty.” Almost True by Keren David 
 “When Ben got home from school, he found something good, something bad and something worse...” The Catkin by Nick Green 
 “My life might have been so different had I not been known as the girl whose grandmother exploded...” The Vanishing of Katherina Linden by Helen Grant 

Here’s a link to a fun first lines quiz from The Guardian to mull over while you’re having a break: http://www.theguardian.com/books/quiz/2010/mar/24/first-lines-quiz

 What are your favourite first lines?

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