Jeri Smith-Ready

News on the YA front

In the last few weeks, things have been falling into place for my teen fiction urban fantasy series, making it feel like it might really be real!

I mentioned most of this in my last newsletter, but here are some more details:

The first book, Shade, will be released in hardcover from Simon Pulse on May 15, 2010 (that date might shift forward or back a smidge, but basically: a year from now). Shade will be rereleased a year later in paperback to coincide with the hardcover edition of Book Two, Shift.

I am thrilled with the titles. The series will just be known as the Shade books (a la Twilight, Vampire Academy, Uglies, all of which are simply named after the first book in the series). Since "shade" is another word for ghost (with more ominous connotations), and because Aura faces many choices with no simple right-or-wrong answers, I feel like the title works on many levels.

But the books will have at least two more titles, in different languages, because my brilliant foreign rights agent Dave Barbor has been very busy, even before the book is officially completed (gulp! No pressure, right?). These deals were announced last night in Publisher's Marketplace:


FOREIGN RIGHTS: CHILDREN'S
Brazilian Portuguese rights to Jeri Smith-Ready's SHADE and SHIFT, to Ana Lima at La Galera, in a pre-empt [EDITED TO ADD: at the Bologna Book Fair--my agent tells me this is important because not a lot of deals actually go down at the Fair itself], **** by Dave Barbor at Curtis Brown.

FOREIGN RIGHTS: CHILDREN'S
German rights in Jeri Smith-Ready's SHADE and SHIFT, formerly known as GENERATION GHOST, to Susanne Stark at Bertelsmann, in a pre-empt [EDITED TO ADD: at the Bologna Book Fair], **** by Antonia Fritz at The Fritz Agency on behalf of Dave Barbor at Curtis Brown.


**** means I've redacted the size of the deals, because I feel weird talking about money.

Speaking of Shade, I need to go put in several hours' work on it before heading off to Balticon for a panel. Yay for local cons I don't have to fly to!

Further speaking of Shade, it's due June 1 (a week from Monday), so you might not hear from me too much between now and then. Since it's a holiday week, maybe no one will notice if I sneak off. Shhhh.....

Labels: YA series

• posted by Jeri @ 9:32 AM
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