I found this article in the NYT to be fascinating about how adult and children’s titles are sold. The gist of the article is that James Patterson wants his books upfront in stores so that adults have an easier time of find the books.

Personally, though I’ve had plenty of readers comment on how much they enjoy Maximum Ride on my blog, I’ve yet to have a teen/kid recommend the book to me. Its almost only been recommended to me in person by people far older than me. I do think that the author’s name impacts that adult reader appeal a lot.

The article also mentions how they are restructuring the cover and inside flap text to be more interesting to readers of all ages, instead of just following the standards of a YA book.

Another thing I learned from the article, is that he does write with an uncredited writing partner. Makes me wonder how much of the words are his, and how much its just his name selling the book? But I’ve never read his adult titles, so I wouldn’t know.

Anyways, its always interesting to look at how books are altered to appeal to different readers. Just the simple change in size to a mass market from a children’s TPB will automatically make adults more interested in picking the book up.

The Final Warning comes out this month!

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