Saturday, February 7, 2009

YA Thriller or YA Mystery?

Ok, so we just figured out how to use the polling function on our blog, so sadly you can expect lots and lots of annoying polls over the next couple of weeks. Thank you to everyone who commented and participated in the great F-Bomb debate. You've given us a lot to think about and we're honestly still torn (and really, so were the poll results!). Hearing from parents and teachers who can't (or don't want) their children reading this kind of language has definitely made us think twice about including it even once or twice.

So, onto our next big debate. We're getting dangerously close to query time for Gmail and one of our big discussions lately has been around whether we should market Gmail as a YA mystery or a YA thriller.

According to Publisher's Weekly, "in a thriller, the heroes are in a race to save the world from known villains out to destroy it; in a mystery, a sleuth seeks to solve a murder committed by an unknown killer whose identity the reader tries to figure out before it's eventually revealed."

Here's the thing, in Gmail everyone thinks Ava is already dead, but Kate believes she is alive, so it's kind of a mix.

What do you think? Is Gmail more of a Thriller or a Mystery? Is there one genre that's more appealing to agents or editors right now? Are you more likely to read a book if it's labeled as one or the other? Can't wait to hear what you guys think in the comments or via the poll.

2 comments:

Elizabeth Encarnacion said...

Market it as a mystery thriller. Or a thrilling mystery. It's not like you have to check a box when you submit. And editors don't really think that hard about the distinction between the two.

lisa and laura said...

Thanks Liz! It's so nice to have an expert opinion on this sort of thing. Sometimes I think the details bog us down a little bit...

P.S.
My word verification is "badverbs." Is someone trying to tell me something?

*runs off to do a search on "ly" adverbs on Gmail*

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