Jo's OWN Words/Harry using Crucio/I am about to Rant/Danger Designating the

[sistermagpie]

No: HPFGUIDX 174507

> > Magpie:
> > They got bought by the children's division Bloomsbury (in the UK) 
> > because that's where JKR correctly sent them--to a children's 
> > publisher. She wouldn't have sent them to that publisher if she 
> > didn't consider them children's books. What she said about writing 
> > them was not that she didn't intend them for kids (who else could 
> she 
> > have intended PS for, really?), but that she set out to write the 
> > story she wanted to write and they happened to be childen's (and 
> > later YA) books. 
> 
> Allie again:
> 
> I really don't know the answer to this one - but didn't she send the 
> story to many publishers initially and finally it was purchased by 
> Bloomsbury?  Were they all children's publishers?

Magpie:
If somebody has a clue about what they're doing, they won't be sending 
out their manuscripts to lots of publishers of different types. I 
can't imagine an adult publisher would even look at PS/SS. They'd read 
the beginning and reject it. A cover letter to publishers usually 
expects you to say what age group it's for etc. PS/SS is clearly a 
book for kids.

bboyminn:

JKR wrote the books for herself. Since they aren't
filled with sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll, she
obviously wrote it for a general audience.

She sent that manuscript off to an AGENT. THE AGENT
then in turn tried to figure out who might buy it
and tried to sell it to them. The AGENT tried many
publisher, all of whom turned the book down, until
Bloomsbury read and accepted the book.

Magpie:
A writer also chooses which agents to send a manuscript to based on 
what it is. Not all agents deal with children's books. The Agent, 
having a clue as anyone in publishing would, of course would also send 
it to children's publishers. But one of the things a professional 
level writer would need to know is what genre/age group etc. the book 
was for. Claiming the story is "for everyone" or can't be boiled down 
to anything marketable is a common mark of the amateur who probably 
isn't professional level. This sort of thing isn't something that 
other people take care of for them. 

bboyminn:
Bloomsbury publishes a range of fiction and non-fiction
books. Once they bought the book, they had to decide
who would buy it. Naturally they assumed children would
like a story about a boy wizard.

But, from the point the book touched the Agents hands,
it was all about marketing, not about writing.

JKR wrote the books for a general audience; the
publisher decide to market them to children.

Magpie:
Agents do not send manuscripts to publishers. They send it to specific 
editors who work in specific divisions that are appropriate. The 
juvenile division is completely different form the adult division.

Of course JKR wrote the books for herself. I believe she's also said 
that she recognized the story that she wrote was correctly a 
children's book--I can't imagine anyone in publishing reading PS/SS 
and thinking it was an adult book.

I don't understand this need to think this was imposed on JKR by 
marketing people, as if the book could have just as easily been 
published by the adult division if not for the whim of somebody 
outside the author. 

As an author *you* are partially responsible for placing your 
manuscript with the appropriate agent or publisher. If you send it to 
someone inappropriate, they reject it (they might direct you to the 
appropriate type of agent or imprint if they're so inclined). Writing 
strictly to marketing purposes will probably lead to an empty story, 
but knowing what you're writing for in terms of audience, genre etc. 
is a basic part of writing.

-m (who also notes that JKR does not have a cadre of editors whose job 
it is to pick through her books for inconsistancies)