Living on the Edge

Tip of the Day: Check out this interesting article in USA Today about a super successful traditional author turned indie author.

I had a great time at the Joliet Author Fair last weekend! It was my first event since my new book, Just Your Average Princess, came out and it was fun getting to sign it. And fun seeing friends and family, and people who've read my other books come back for the third one.

I talked to a lot of teens and parents at the fair and while talking to them today's topic came to me= Edgy Books. I don't get them. I mean, of course I get them as in understand their sometimes very deep topics like rape, incest, drug abuse, bulimia and so on. I get that some teens identify with the characters in the books or they're just interested in learning about people that go through these various issues. What I'm not getting are the books that almost seem to be going for the shock value. The ones that use the F word every other sentence or have the main character have sex three times before the end of chapter one. What is that about? And who is buying these books? I know someone is because the publishers keep buying them and putting them out there. But here's the thing, and I'm not exaggerating, I'd say probably 3 out of every 5 parents/teachers/librarians that I talk to straight up ask me "Is there swearing in your book?" "Is there sex in your book?". They ask these questions in the first minute or two of our conversation. And they always seem relieved when I say no. So obviously this is a concern on most of their minds. If this is the case, why are there still so many overly edgy books? Who's buying them? Is it the teens buying them and their parents just don't know? What's your take on this?

Kristina, Miss Author in Action

What is "Edgy" Exactly?

Tip of the Day:Comment at my personal blog for a chance to win Denise Jaden's debut novel LOSING FAITH.

The term "edgy" gets tossed around a lot in our industry ("The book is really edgy." "I'm looking for something more edgy for my list.") And to me it always seems to mean that there is a certain amount of language and/or sex and/or a really rough topic that makes some people uncomfortable in the book.

I'm not edgy-- not my writing anyway. Ok, not me either. I'm like the anti-edgy. :-) I would certainly say my books are pretty clean and sweet. But then isn't edgy subjective to each reader? Would one person find my book edgy and another find it tame? When I was doing copy edits last week I noticed the phrase "I'd bang that" got flagged for language in my book. In the book I go on to have the main character yell at the person who said that phrase but still. Someone might think it was too much.

With my first book, The Espressologist, the first thing I did during edits was go through the the entire book, cleaning out every single swear word. I hadn't even really realized I had so many swears in the book to tell you the truth. But I took them all out except for one-- one that I thought really needed to be there. It was the B word if you're curious. Anyway, imagine my shock about six months after the book came out when I stumbled upon a review of the book where the reviewer said she enjoyed the book but be forewarned readers, it was full of swear words. Wh--? I KNEW there was only one. So I was slightly annoyed but I read on and noticed someone had commented what are you talking about-- there are no swears in the book. The reviewer said she felt "Oh My God" was a swear and that I used it frequently. Ah. I had no idea people would feel that was a swear. Ok, I still don't think it is one but whatever. Everyone has their own opinion.

So what is edgy to you? And what are the various degrees? Can something be a little edgy? Or super hard core edgy? What would that even mean? Whats the "edgiest" YA book you've ever read?

Kristina, Miss See Me On the Shelves