Lyga (pictured) started off writing novels for an adult audience. When those particular manuscripts did not sell, he began penning stories for a teen audience. He established his publishing career with the release of his hit young adult novel, The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy and Goth Girl. Check out the highlights from our interview below…

Q: How did you land your first book deal?
A: I had written a couple of adult-ish novels that no one seemed to want to publish. It’s not they were bad — plenty of people liked them — they just weren’t sparking anyone’s interest. But a bunch of editors and agents who read them said, “Not yet — show me the next one.” The next one was completely different from those adult books — a YA novel about a bullied, comic book-obsessed dreamer. But I proudly showed it off to every agent and editor I could, and this time the reaction was pretty astounding. Within a few months of finishing the book, I met my agent at a writers’ conference. Within six months, she’d sold The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl. It was sort of a whirlwind.

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.

Today we have a new set of 2011 literary resolutions from writers. Share your resolutions in the comments section or on Twitter.

Stunt nonfiction writer A.J. Jacobs: “My literary new year’s resolution is to read some a novel or two this year. I’ve spent the last few months reading health and medical books for my new project, and I think reading something fictional sounds a strange and exciting prospect.”

Mr. Peanut author Adam Ross: “I had a busy 2010, true, but I only read 16 books. I’m betting, though, that if I’d visited Facebook only once a day (I’m a confessed Scrabble addict), as well as Twitter, nytimes.com, cnn.com, and espn.com, I’d have doubled that figure. We live in an acutely distracted age that constantly pummels our best sense of reality (I won’t even get started here on my BlackBerry). So in 2011, I’m going to budget my computer time more rigorously. There’s too much to read before I die.”

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New Career Opportunities Daily: The best jobs in media.