Blocked By VOYA Magazine

When I was younger, my mom taught me that when someone was bothering you, it was important to make it clear that you'd like that behaviour to stop. If it didn't, then it was best to disengage and interact with that person as little as possible. Starting fights doesn't often solve anything.

I've followed that ideal for most of my life. So when the initial mess with VOYA came up, I, like others, made my displeasure clear, offered criticism, and then watched as they stubbornly refused to change or take responsibility for wrongdoings. VOYA Magazine stooped so low as to block and gaslight those offering criticism, respond to industry professionals with sarcasm and rudeness, as well as respond to attempts to help them with insults.

Normally, I'd follow my mother's advice and walk away, but I can't this time. Not when a magazine that claims to be the "Voice of Youth Advocates" turns around and spits on not only their audience, but those they claim to "advocate" for.

If you haven't heard of the madness, it all began when VOYA Magazine published a review of Kody Keplinger's RUN (which they've since deleted), in which they claim the book should be for mature junior and high school readers due to a bisexual main character and swearing. The main issue, of course, being the implication that the mere existence of a bisexual character warrants a "warning." The real problem is best outlined by the author herself:

Nowhere in the review does it mention the straight sex. What makes the book mature was the mere fact that Bo expressed that she liked girls as well as boys. 

Tristina Wright (@TristinaWright) sent an email to VOYA after reading the review, and the following response from VOYA staff sent the internet into a frenzy.

The whole exchange makes me cringe hard. Of course, people make mistakes, right? Nothing a simple apology wouldn't fix. But the event only spiraled from there. 

Emails and tweets piled up from various writers, bloggers, publicists, publishers, agents, editors, basically everyone and their grandmother, expressing that this was not okay. The biphobic comment was awful, but VOYA's blatant disrespect towards one of their readers was inexcusable. Naturally, people wanted an apology. Instead of giving one, VOYA Magazine decided it was better to just block people and try to sweep the matter under the rug. 

An email response from VOYA. Deflect, deflect, deflect. 

The rage flames grew higher, and rightly so. Among other offenses, VOYA misgendered someone and continued to do so after being told to stop. 

They responded to valid concerns and criticisms, and offers of help with sarcasm and rudeness. 

Lied about apologizing to Tristina for insulting her and her child. 

They claimed that genderqueer is simply "twitter lingo." 

Naturally, this PR catastrophe bothered a lot of people in the community and there was a lot of blowback. After all, this kind of ignorance and bigotry is not accepted and cannot be allowed to run unchecked. So, VOYA released first a half-assed, victim-blaming apology: 

"The LGBTQ Community has taken offense" is the polite way of saying "The LGBTQ Community is forcing us to say this but frankly we've done nothing wrong." Surprisingly, this didn't go over well with the community (it's like they think we're stupid or something), and so VOYA released a longer, more eloquent, victim blaming apology: 

You'll notice VOYA now blames the community for not stepping forward sooner. The biphobic comment was noticed, by many, including the author herself and her publisher. But for them to speak out on the issue would have been seen as a major taboo (as the golden rule for authors involves never responding to a review). The fact that all this came out during BiWeek had less to do with us "searching to destroy our enemies in a public forum" (as VOYA has accused), and more to do with the fact that people were actively seeking out reviews about books with bisexual characters. An advocate looking to celebrate BiWeek came across the problematic review, and it was the magazine's horrible behaviour that blew the backlash to epic proportions. 

After all, this could have all been avoided if VOYA Magazine had acted like a professional, thanked Tristina for her feedback in the original email, and then edited the problematic line. Instead, they've proven that they don't care and they won't change. For all their apologies, they just don't care what the LGBTQ community has to say. 

As of Sunday night, days after all this hit the fan at high velocity, VOYA is still attempting to cover themselves with lies while censoring and blocking those raising issues. Hannah Moskowitz, a prominent member of the YA and LGBTQ communities, just this morning was blocked from VOYA's Facebook page with all her comments deleted. For all their apologies, they continue to dig themselves deeper and deeper into a hole. 

Like my mother always taught me, I'll be walking away from VOYA and making sure I never associate with them. But that's not enough. It's not enough for one major reason. 

VOYA Magazine is the Voice of the Youth Advocate. They claim to advocate for youth, all youth, and yet they've shown the exact opposite. They've shown to all those who look to them for advice, such as librarians, educators, bloggers, reviewers, etc., that bisexuals are something to be warned against. That bisexuals are the other, that though they are allowed to exist, they are "mature content." 

How many queer teen lives has VOYA affected in their screenings of f/f YA novels? How many innocent books were marked as "too mature" simply because there was a mention of LGBTQ? In comparison, why was Kody Keplinger's first book, The DUFF, not rated mature by VOYA despite the rampant (straight) sex all throughout the novel? 

VOYA cannot be allowed to be "an advocate for youth" if their advocating is selective. Bisexual, lesbian, and genderqueer youth deserve to be advocated for just as much as straight youth. I work in child welfare, and I've seen first hand all kinds of "youth advocates." I've seen those who would throw themselves on a grenade if it would give one vulnerable youth a better life, and I've seen "advocates" who would gladly throw children on grenades if it helped them get a better salary. 

VOYA Magazine is the latter. They are an advocate that only wants to exploit youth, young adult fiction, and what it may see as an "easy cash cow." 

Teens don't need fake advocates. They need people who care. Not people who brush off the realities of issues facing a large portion of their audience, of those they "advocate for." 

After all, would you want your youth advocate posting things like this in a public Facebook account? 

Lisa is the co-owner and review editor at VOYA. Definitely seems like she cares about youth and their rights. 

I refuse to stand by and allow VOYA to continue like this. I won't be able to sit comfortably wondering how many more queer youth are hurt by their unchecked abusive behaviour. 

I'm here to ask you, all of you, to make them accountable for this. It's time to boycott VOYA. I ask not only that you sign the petition to boycott, but to actually stand by it as well. 

Queer youth need to know that they have those that stand with them. That they don't need a content warning. That they don't need to be silent. 

BOYCOTT VOYA. 

PublishAmerica is a Scam.

Can I rant? Can I whine and complain and bitch to you guys? Well, ready or not, here goes.

Very few things can make me angry, like really angry, especially in this business. Really bad query letters? They make me laugh. Rude authors? They're a dime a dozen. Receiving no reply for MONTHS at a time? Frustrating, but not the end of the world.

PublishAmerica, on the other hand, makes me MAD. These guys are not just crooks, they're assholes. They're scam artists, they're dirt bags, and just all around horrible people. They have no problem crushing the dreams of writers, taking their money, locking them into contracts. And then, if you dare ruffle a feather or demand your rights back, BAM, they'll sue you for every penny you're worth.

There is NOTHING redeemable about this company and the people in it.

PA's slogan is "We treat authors the old fashion way-- we pay them" and nothing could be further from the truth. The number ONE rule of publishing is, if you are taking the traditional publishing route, you should pay ABSOLUTELY NOTHING OVER THE COURSE OF YOUR JOURNEY. Your agent's pay will be taken out of your advance/royalties. They don't see a penny before your book is sold. Publishers shouldn't be taking any money from you, either. Quite the opposite-- they're buying your book from you. Their job is to back you up, and help promote the book. The amount the publishing house puts into promoting your book is THEIR choice. They chose that amount based on their prediction of book sales. You giving them money will not make that promotion budget go up.

PublishAmerica's website alone makes me mad. It's poorly done, for one. For another, head to the online bookstore.

See what we have there? $69 dollars and YOUR BOOK "will be submitted to our print and distribution partners for Mexico, Colombia, Argentina and Spain. Your book will also be prominently displayed at the Guadalajara Book Fair which will be attended by our partners as well."

Not good enough for you? Try this one on for size: For $29 dollars, "We'll let the president, John Boehner, Harry Reid and your local Congressman, AND your local TV, know."

WOW. You're going to get MY BOOK to the PRESIDENT? And all I have to do is pay $29?

$89 for "Your book will be displayed and promoted in our booth, immediately visible for all visitors. We will send you a photo, live from Germany, that will show your book at the Fair, for your home hall of fame."

OH BUT IT GETS BETTER. Because under all these "promotions" we get this baby: "This is an introductory offer. Prices will go up after this week."

THAT'S RIGHT. PRICES WILL GO UP. ACT NOW.

PublishAmerica is a SCAM. All they do is force you to hawk over your cash so they can bind your manuscript and sell it back to you. Yet they deny, deny, deny that they are vanity publisher. They SAY they put books in bookstores, yet the only place we can actually find these books (except on rare occaions) is the PA online bookstore. The worst part is these guys have no restraint. They aren't a quiet publishing scam, they go in for the BIG ONES.

Recently, PA stated that for only $49 they would get your manuscript to JK Rowling.

WHAT!?!?!?!?!

These guys are batshit CRAZY, I tell you. Of course, Rowling's lawyer's retaliated with a silent cease and desist notice. PA shot back with a cease and desist of their own.

PA stated this in their return cease and desist: "First, PA has done nothing to harass your client or invade her privacy. The simple fact is that your client’s Edinburgh residence is public knowledge; she even publicizes this fact on her own website!!! Accordingly, PA did nothing wrong by repeating that fact in its promotion. If she wants to keep her residence private, perhaps she should not publicize that fact."

So it's all right to lie and say you can get a manuscript to JK Rowling because her address is public knowledge? Did PA intend to walk up to her doorstep, ring the bell and demand she read the manuscripts? They say they used the address because it is "public knowledge" and "By revealing only well known information about your client that is generally available to the public, PA specifically contradicted the impression that it has some direct line of access to your client."

So what they're saying, is DESPITE the fact that their promotion stated that they would get the book to Rowling ("bring your book to the attention of Harry Potter’s author next week while our delegation is in her hometown, and ask her to read it and to tell us and you what she thinks.”) they then double back and say the wording contradicts itself, saying only that they would be in the same town as Rowling. Therefore, if the author's book didn't make it to Rowling, they can simply put it down as unfortunate "happenstance."

The promotion has since been taken off their website, but the promotion to get your book to the president still stands.

WHY can PublishAmerica get away with this? Because their lawyers are good, their contracts are airtight, and they're not afraid to be bold and fight to destroy writer's dreams.

I really hope, hope, HOPE that one day, they fuck up. Hear that, PA? I hope you keep pushing the boundaries, keep pissing off authors like Rowling. Because someone needs to sue the pants off them and win. This company needs to COME DOWN.

But until that time, writers have to learn to protect themselves. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE do your research. It is of VITAL IMPORTANCE that you know what you're getting into when you query agents or publishers. There are scam artists out there, like PublishAmerica, but there are also just plain bad agents. You wouldn't buy a house or a car or go to Hawaii without knowing what you're getting into. UNDERSTAND the business, at least for what stage you're at.

There are many great resources for writers out there. Predators and Editors is one, which lists agents, agencies and publishers alike, telling you who has sold, who's recieved bad reviews, and who are really the star players. More great ones are Query Tracker and Agent Query. I used Agent Query RELIGIOUSLY when I was querying. Great resource. We also have Absolute Write, which is just an all around amazing place to be. If you're unsure about an agent, check our if they're part of AAR or AAA(UK).

If you want to see more personal horror stories from authors who have been screwed over by PublishAmerica, then look here.

Otherwise, I think I've spammed all of you with links enough for today.

Remember Writers: The most important thing is for you to be informed. This is YOUR career, so you'd better know what you're doing.

Peace,

-Katie

Boys in Young Adult

So, normally I don't post about movie adaptations, not because I don't like them but because I'm pretty passive about them. When The Last Airbender came out many fans complained that the characters lacked the cultural diversity that gave the cartoon its flavor. To this, I shrugged and said, "So long as they can play the part." I get upset when Hollywood white-washes, but honestly, as long as they play the part and play it well, usually I'm okay with it.

Usually.

However, this made me pause. This is the first image of Gale and Peeta for the Hunger Games movie:



Is there anything there that makes you pause? Take another look if you don't see it.

I get really sad when Hollywood casts adult actors to play teenagers. For the most part, women who are cast to play teenage girls can usually pull it off. Of course they look mature, but the costuming and make-up departments work to make them look younger, and they do a good job In fact, I thought Katniss looked rather cute. But the boys? They don't look like teenagers. Rather, several aspects have been accented that actually make them look older, but were done because it also makes them look "sexier."

Notice the lovely arm hair and bulging muscles. Gotta love Peeta's nice, firm chest.

News flash: teenage boys don't look like that. Even those that play sports and go to the gym every day don't look like that. Being a teenager means coming with a bit of awkwardness and scrawniness from the childhood they're leaving behind. Also: can I add that both Peeta and Gale come from District 13? A very poor district? And though Gale had some training and went out into the woods, part of Peeta's charm was that he was an underfed baker's son. He was the underdog. That was why it was so much more awesome that he won.

But I'm not here to complain about the Hunger Games movie. I'm excited about it, and will definitely see it, despite my reservations about casting. I'm here to talk about body image with boys.

When we hear body image, we first think of girls. After all, they are a huge target for media. But do we ever stop to think about the damage that images above do for boys?

First of all, what does this image say to boys? This says that underfed, starving TEENAGE boys should look this hot. That to be considered attractive by girls, guys need to have the tight muscles and unruly hair. Oh, and of course, they can never smile. ;)

Both in movies and in some young adult fiction, boys have become nothing more than a prop for the main girl. Their feelings are disregarded, their body is buff and unrealistic, and their role revolves around the girl. They seem to have no personality outside of their feelings for the girl.

Normally I ignore movie posters with the buff boys. Living in North America, you grow accustomed to the way the media portrays certain things, even if you don't agree. But I worry for the Hunger Games movie, because it has a direct tie back to writers in the young adult section. This movie poster props Gale and Peeta up as eye candy, pieces of meat to be ogled. I read and enjoyed the Hunger Games, and Peeta and Gale were so much more than that. Their roles in the story have since been reduced to "Team Gale" and "Team Peeta" as if their characters have no other worth than who Katniss would choose to be with.

Writers, editors, readers, agents, we all want to see more boys reading young adult. Not just to appeal to more readers but so boys can have a chance to enjoy fiction that they can relate to as teenagers. But how can they relate to propped up card-board cut outs who's only value comes from their role in the romance?

Yes, the media is heavy to blame here, and I can't blame Suzanne Collins or her agent or her editor for the way Gale and Peeta are going to be portrayed. They have no control over it. But the problem with boys stretches into the books as well. (I'm not saying Hunger Games does this.) Often we see boys in young adult fiction who have been reduced to the lowest common denominator. The nerd. The best friend. The bad boy. The token gay guy. More and more boys are being shoved into categories while at the same time writers are taking girls out of those categories and making them more unique and rounded.

We've got a double standard here. When we see a boy who is juggling two girls, do we side on "teams" and root for the girl we want him to pick? No. He's just called a "cheater" or a "player." And yet when we have a girl who is in the same situation, juggling two guys and being COMPLETELY UNFAIR ABOUT IT, we expect the boys to wait patiently while the girl sorts out her feelings. How is this fair? More so, how do we expect to lure boys into young adult if the male characters' happiness is solely dependent on whether or not he's chosen as the girl's boyfriend?

Where are the boys like Etienne St. Clair, who has a life and problems outside of Anna? Where are the boys like Christian, who doesn't even notice Clara despite how much she threw herself at him? Where are the boys like Tucker, who won't put up with waiting around until Clara figures her things out?

Romance is great, but if your male characters are only around to prop up your female ones, you have some serious work to do. Boy readers will appreciate if you put the effort in, and so will girls. They want to know what's going inside their heads. Yes, girls enjoy seeing the cliched bad boy or best friend waiting in the wings for them, patient, nothing more than cardboard cut outs, but those are just guilty pleasures. If you move past that, your characters will be richer and your story will be so much better.

Peace,

-Katie

Writers and Negativity

So, recently I had a few friends ask me for a copy of my book, Shell. I have no problem of giving away copies of my book, but this time I chose to say no, because the book is currently on submission and I thought it would be best to wait and see if the book was published or not.

Naturally, people get huffy when you say no. They don't understand why I wouldn't want to. Suddenly, they think I'm in it for the money.

This baffles me every time I hear it. I guarantee no writer will ever say this. If I was in life for the money, I would have gotten into business. Or marketing. Or tried my hand t driftwood sculpting. Writers DON'T make that much money. Most writers don't make enough to live on. Not, "Oh, I'm not paid enough." More like, "I HAVE $12 DOLLARS AND I HAVE TO PAY MY ELECTRICITY BILL AND RENT."

Yes, there are writers who make it big. And honestly? NOBODY REALLY KNOWS WHY. People pretend to know why Harry Potter was so big or how the Twilight phenomenon came about. They nod their heads and smoke their pipes and say, "Mm, yes, we expected that to come along. Precisely as anticipated."

The truth? Nobody knows what makes a bestseller besides: write a good story. So, those writers that do enter into this world to make money? You have a better chance of winning the lottery. And odds are it won't leave you cursing out your laptop when it breaks down and you're under deadline.

So, writers? Honestly, not in it for the money. Even YA writers, even though there seems to be a strange misconception going around the YA writers are "trend writers" and are "trying to chase the popularity of YA right now."

Uh, no.

No.

*clears throat* No.

Are you a writer? Yes? Are there types or writers you don't have respect for? Maybe they're YA or MG authors. Maybe they're mystery or romance writers. Maybe they're nonfiction writers. If there's a certain *type* of writer that you look down on, then I'm sorry for you.

As writers, we have a great community. And that community should be supportive. We are NOT in competition with each other. Even if you think we are, we're not. Someone who picks up a YA fantasy book but ignore yours? They like YA fantasy, and odds are they may pick up your book too. Between genres? We're not at war with each other, and we need to stop acting like it.

No matter what you write, you work hard at it, and we can't compare writing a MG fantasy to an adult contemporary. There is no comparison. They both have pros and cons and they're both not easy. If you compare genres or "difficulty level" of types of writing, then you are no different from children holding up their picture and saying they did better to a parent who really doesn't care.

It may seem like writing romance or a children's book or a contemporary is easy, but that's because it's our job to make it look easy. Writers get good at what they do so it seems effortless. But it's not. And as fellow writers, we should understand each other's pain.

Which leads me to another point. Writers who dehumanize agents and editors, saying they only want what's hot, who are only interested in money, who are plain "rude" for rejecting them, come on. I shouldn't have to say this. There are plenty of agent/editor blog posts where they say WE ARE HUMAN. WE LOVE THIS JOB. WE DO WANT YOU TO SUCCEED. Agents and editors are people too, people who LOVE this business, otherwise they wouldn't be in it. Like writers, agents and editors are usually sensitive people, because many of them are writers themselves.

This business is tough, and sometimes you need to rant. It's hard to deal with rejection and waiting and the struggle. But it's absolutely intolerable if you decide to take out your frustrations on agents, editors, or fellow writers.

We are not in high school. We are not dealing with office politics. We are all grown-ups here, and sometimes certain writers need to get their heads out of their asses and realize they are not the only people who love this business. Realize that writers write what they are called towards, even if you don't enjoy their genre. Agents and editors are doing the best they can, and they don't want to be rude. They don't like sending out rejection letters, but they cannot feasibly represent every author who emails them.

And I think this brings me to my point of this post:

If you are a writer that brews negativity, that just can't get over their spite and jealousy for fellow writers, that thinks agents and editors only care about money, this is your warning.

Get over yourself, or get out of this business.

The road to publication is long and frustrating, and if you're negative about the business, it will only drag you down. It WILL alienate you from your fellow writers. It WILL make editors less inclined to work with you. It WILL put off your agent. You will drown in this business. The thing about writing (and art in general) is there is a lot of put downs, and a lot of roadblocks. And if you can't pick yourself up and move on, you will never get anywhere.

So if you're a negative writer, look at yourself and ask: is this where I should be? Is the joy I get out of this worth dealing with all the bad things?

Can I put aside my anger and frustration and jealousy and love what I do?

I want you to succeed. But if you're just going to drag everyone else down into your pool of negativity, then you can go succeed elsewhere, because we don't want you here.

"Is This Okay...?"

I can't count the amount of times I've encountered a writer who asks, "I'm writing a young adult novel. Is it okay if I have guns/sex/swearing/drugs/underage drinking? I don't know if it's right/allowed/will get me rejected." There are a million ways to phrase this question, but in the end, it all comes down to:

"Is this too edgy for YA?"

*sigh*

When I was a teenager (At 19, I'd like to think I still count as a teenager, even though I'm a legal adult) the thing that would piss me off more than ANYTHING else in the world was to be treated like a child. Or that I was stupid. I hated when adults thought they had to "protect" me or "shelter" me. I hated that conversations would get censored around me. It was as though everyone around me thought that if I heard the word "fuck" I would die right then and there.

It made me feel like I was stupid. Like they were belittling me just because I was between the ages of 13 and 18.

And I still feel that anger whenever I hear a variation of the question: "Is this too edgy for YA?"

Seriously?

SERIOUSLY?

I'm only going to say this once, so listen up and listen good:

NOTHING IS TOO EDGY FOR YOUNG ADULT.

Want to know what teenagers are doing? They're fucking. They're testing out drugs. They're drinking. They're swearing. They've handled weapons at SOME POINT, and most of them LOVED IT. Even those goody-goody kids that you know and love in your life, that you think, "They can't possibly be doing it." Well, news flash, they are. And if they haven't yet, they're talking about it, and they know someone who's done it.

An editor or agent will NEVER turn you down because you have a swear word, or a character using a gun, or even a love interest who is a hardcore heroin user. If you have to ask if these subjects are going to get your book rejected, YOU ARE NOT READY TO QUERY YOUR NOVEL. Think I'm kidding? I'm not. If you think that any of these topics are taboo, you have to stop whatever point you're at in publishing, and go read more YA books, go read more agent blogs, read, read, read. Because you have clearly not read enough young adult to be able to publish a book in it.

When you ask yourself, "Is this too edgy for young adults?" you're actually asking, "Are my readers smart enough to understand why I'm doing this?"

Nothing makes me angrier than people who assume teenagers are stupid. Or aren't mature enough. Or can't handle it. They aren't. They are. And they can.

"But Katie," I can hear you saying. "I'm not worried about the kids, but the parents. What if they won't buy my book for their kid because they don't like the content?"

Then, again, I have to say: You're missing the point, and: quit writing and start reading.

We aren't writing for parents. We aren't writing to impress school boards. We're not writing to be bought. We are writing FOR TEENAGERS. If their parents won't buy it for them, you know what they'll do? 9/10, if they want it bad enough, they'll buy it themselves. Or they'll read it at a library. Or they'll find it, somehow, because they are not babies, and they don't need to be protected.

The ONLY question you should be asking yourself regarding edgier content is: Is this what the story needs?

Is your character a pot head? Then he's a pot head. Are you making him a pot head just to be edgy? Then you're ruining your story.

Editors/agents won't reject you because you wrote about a sex addict. They will, however, reject you if you shoved that sex addict part in just to try and stir up controversy.

So write what's right for the story. If that involves writing a clean romance (hate that term) then do it. If it involves gun toting, pot smoking teens, then do it. Do what works for the story, and don't censor yourself, assuming that your readers are brain dead morons. We didn't become writers to all write PC, Disney rip-offs where everyone has a happy ending. We tell stories, good or bad, tragic or beautiful, fucked up and insane. We write to reflect life, in all its gritty, ugly glory, and things like sex, drugs and rock and roll are part of life.

Stop asking "Is this too edgy for YA?" and start asking "Is this right for the story I'm writing?"

Peace,

-Katie