Posts Tagged ‘Justin Chanda’

Young-adult novelist and book blogger Brittany Geragotelis has inked a deal with Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers to re-launch her self-published title, Life’s a Witch. In addition, Simon & Schuster will publish a sequel to the book and a prequel in three eBook installments.

The deal was negotiated by publisher Justin Chanda and Marsal Lyon Literary Agency’s Kevan Lyon. Senior editor Alexandra Cooper will edit. Geragotelis (pictured, via) released Life’s a Witch as a free serial eBook on Wattpad, drawing more than 18 million readers. She also published Life’s a Witch as a print-on-demand paperback book through CreateSpace/Amazon.

Here’s more from the release: “Simon & Schuster will follow up by publishing this prequel as a book in December 2012. Then Life’s a Witch will be relaunched in Fall 2013, and the sequel to Life’s a Witch will be published in Fall 2014.”

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Becca Fitzpatrick has inked a deal with Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers for the fourth and final title in the Hush, Hush Saga.

The not-yet-titled book will be released in fall 2012. Publisher Justin Chanda negotiated the deal with Inkwell Management literary agent Catherine Drayton. The deal includes North American, audio, and eBook rights.

The third book, Silence, comes out today. Fitzpatrick (pictured, via) had this statement in the release: “I am excited to be writing a fourth book in the Hush, Hush Saga. I can’t bring myself to say goodbye to these characters yet, and truly believe that their best adventures are yet to come.”

Writer Moira Young is set to debut with her dystopian teen novel, Blood Red Road in June 2011.

Here’s more from the release: “Written in a poetically minimal writing style and already optioned by Ridley Scott’s production company, Scott Free, Blood Red Road is the epic journey of Saba, a girl from the wastelands known as Silverlake.  After her twin brother, Lugh, is abducted by four cloaked horsemen, Saba is forced to leave Silverlake to rescue him.  What she finds is a lawless, ugly reality where the Wrecker civilization has long been destroyed.”

Publisher Justin Chanda and associate editor Gretchen Hirsch negotiated the deal with literary agent Gillie Russell from Aitken Alexander Associates. The deal includes audio rights.

The New York Times generated hundreds of comments last week, reporting that picture books don’t sell very well anymore.

The article offered a few explanations, including the increasing pressures of school-issued standardized testing and parents transitioning their children from picture books to chapter books at an earlier age. Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers publisher Justin Chanda explained: “There’s a real push with parents and schools to have kids start reading big-kid books earlier. We’ve accelerated the graduation rate out of picture books.”

Teacher Monica Edinger offered a rebuttal in the Huffington Post. She saw an increase of chapter book presence in her fourth grade classroom after Harry Potter & the Goblet of Fire came out. At the same time, she encouraged her students to read whatever it is they desired; some clung to J.K. Rowling‘s boy wizard, while others reverted back to their beloved picture books.

Edinger wrote: “So, yeah, I think there is a trend for kids to read longer books younger, at least in the sort of community I teach in. But I don’t get the sense that this causes them to abandon picture books earlier. Rather, they read both…So while kids seem to be reading chapter books younger they are also enjoying picture books when they are older. Good news, I’d say.”

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