Today I chat with John Green, whose first book, Looking for Alaska, has recently been published by Penguin (who gave him a two-book deal in addition to his debut). John also contributes regularly to programs on NPR such as "All Things Considered."

What's the difference between writing a YA book and an adult novel?
These days, the distinction between YA books and adult books is, at least to an extent, marketing. So insofar as it's just the marketing decision of your publisher, there isn't much of a difference at all. But my favorite YA books have a lot less narrative distance between the story told and the storytelling than my favorite adult books. "The Plot against America," for instance, is about a kid - but it's not a YA novel, because there's all kinds of distance between the narrative and the kid.

Oh, and also, when you write for teenagers, you are pretty much encouraged not to write adult characters, which is great for me, because I am totally uninterested in writing about adults, except for myself and occasionally my girlfriend.

What have you learned from working with editors and agents?
I sold "Looking for Alaska" without an agent, but I have one now, because I feel uncomfortable talking about money. She lives in London, so to be honest I've talked to her about five times in my entire life, but she is really good at talking about money, which is precisely what I want from an agent.

What I've learned working with Julie Strauss-Gabel at Penguin is that a good editor can make all the difference for a book, and that you should choose wisely if given a choice. I happen to have a great editor from the old school of publishing: Rather than just sending manuscripts to copyedit, she works tirelessly with her authors on revision. And, just as importantly, she did a wonderful job of getting the word about my book to people in house, getting sales and marketing and publicity excited about it. It's absolutely vital to have that kind of support.

How did you start writing for NPR?
I had a work-related correspondence (I work at a book review journal) with a woman named Amy Krouse Rosenthal, whom I knew of through her writing for "Might." And I guess she thought some of my emails were funny, because one day she wrote and asked me if I had written anything about 2 minutes long that would work her for occasional show, "Writers' Block Party," on WBEZ. I lied and said I'd written a couple things, and then went home that night and wrote a couple things. She liked one of them, a piece called "Nine Girls I've Kissed and What I Learned about Them from Google." That was in early 2002. I wrote another piece for Amy, and then started contributing to another show on WBEZ, and then eventually got to record a piece for "All Things Considered."

How do you know how to write pieces that would be good for the air?

I don't. I have no idea what would be good for the air. But I've always read my writing aloud to myself. I read "Looking for Alaska" out loud a couple dozen times, probably, trying to listen for places that didn't sound consistent. What I later learned is that when you're writing for the radio, you have to dispense with flashy writing and abundant adjectives in favor of action verbs and funny jokes. Writing for the radio needs to be very, very tight, because people get bored easily and go listen to the new Nelly song. This is off-topic, but God. I love Nelly.

What have you learned about reading your pieces aloud for the radio?
That I sound pretty stupid on the radio. I just do what read it the way my producers tell me to read it and hope my voice doesn't crack. But it always DOES crack, and then I beg to re-record it, but they say how it makes me sound "genuine" and "funny." What no one understands is that I don't want to be genuine and funny. I want to be hot. I want to be the kind of voice you wish would whisper sweet nothings in your ear at night. But, alas, I sound like the poor man's Ira Glass.