Unless you’ve had your nose stuck in a book (the papery kind) , you’re probably aware that in publishing, things are changing. And changing fast. I’ve been watching the rise of the ebook from the sidelines for a few years now. From JA Konrath throwing out those amazing numbers for books traditional publishing turned down, to Amanda Hocking who had little luck with traditional publishers to Hugh Howey who wrote a short story that changed the way publishers write contracts.
Of course, each of these is an exception to the rule, an outlier (as they are often called.) Their results are not the typical and they are not the point of this post. So, what is the point?
Good question. The point is there are now many paths to getting your writing to the reader and a growing number of savvy traditionally published authors know this. Many of them write for kids and young adults. And many of them are Canadian. They are mixing traditional publishing deals with independent or self published works. Known as Hybrid Authors, they’re helping change the face of publishing. And in the coming weeks, I’ll be joining their ranks with a new project I’m very excited about. More on that later, first here are five Canadian kids writers who are rocking the Hybrids Author model.
The Hybrid Five
1. Arthur Slade
If you want to know where kids publishing is going in Canada, Arthur is the one to watch. When Art got the rights back to his spooky Northern Frights series, he quickly turned them into ebooks and has been selling them steadily ever since. With his 2001 Governor General Award winning Dust (a must read, btw) he’s carved up US and UK rights and released Dust as ebooks in those territories. In addition to giving us status updates on these indy-published projects, Art continues to push the boundaries of what it means to be an author with a new project he’s funding through Indiegogo. Modo: Ember’s End will take Modo, the steampunk hunchback spy and the rest of the characters from his Hunchback Assignments series, away from its traditional publishing home and into the Wild West steampunk style in a full colour graphic novel, illustrated by Christopher Steininger. The illustrations and trailers look amazing and I, for one, cannot wait to get my copy. I encourage all reading this to run over to the Modo: Ember’s End Indigogo page and fund this project. The perks are awesome and I already know it’s going to be a favourite in my school library.
In her own words, Cheryl Rainfield writes “the books I needed as a teen and couldn’t find.” Cheryl’s six YA novels deal with tough issues with empathy, compassion and fine writing. With most of her novels out through traditional publishers, Cheryl recently independently published Parallel Visions, where it is already finding success and garnering much praise among fans. Cheryl is a master at social media and knows how to engage her readers beyond the page. This, combined with a growing body of work both traditionally published and indy, show she clearly knows where publishing is heading.
3. Steve Vernon
Spend a minute reading Steve’s blog and you’ll know he’s a Maritimer. Read one of his books and you’ll know he’s one heck of a funny writer. I’m having a blast handing my Grade 5 students his Silver Birch nominated novel: Sinking Deeper: Or My Questionable (Possibly Heroic) Decision to Invent a Sea Monster., published by Nimbus. But I’m personally enjoying is self-published sci-fi, off the wall, end of the world serial Flash Virus, self-pubbed with a new episode available every two weeks or so. Steve has a bunch of horror titles for adults that are also published independently, but I suspect with the success of Sinking Deeper and Flash Virus we’ll see more indy-pubbed kids stuff from his twisted (and hilarious) mind.
A Canadian legend in contemporary fantasy, de Lint has always pushed against boundaries both in the pages of his books and beyond. His Triskell Press has independently published chap books and story collections for years. So, it’s no surprise that when de Lint moved into YA fiction, he’d continue to be the quintessial Canadian hybrid author. His 2012 YA novel, Under My Skin is available to Canadians through Penguin’s Razor Bill imprint. However, readers outside of Canada can purchase the novel through Amazon. This is in addition to several short stories available from Triskell Press imprint I think we’ll be seeing more independent titles from de Lint in the future.
As of today, Adrienne is lands in as my fifth Canadian writer rocking the hybrid model. Adrienne’s The Friday Society was traditionally published, as were her previous novels. However, just today she announced that her latest book Outcast will be published as an ebook through Diversion Books. But wait! Diversion are an ebook publisher. That’s not indy or self publishing! No, it isn’t really, but it’s definitely not traditional publishing. Like publishing, maybe the definition of the Hybrid Author is changing too.
Update: After I finished this post, I remembered that John Wilson is another fine Canadian writer who has gone hybrid. In addition to writing one of the books in the hit Seven series for Orca Publishers, it seems Wilson wisely hung onto the digital rights for his award-winning traditionally published books and has been busy republishing them as ebooks on Amazon, including serializing his book the Heretic’s Secret into 11 short episodes. Grab the first episode of the series, Gathering Storms for $0.99 and get yourself hooked. A very smart move on his part, in my opinion. Readers looking for top quality historical fiction could pick up his books all for a great price.
Soon to be the Hybrid Six . . .
There has never been more options for authors these days and I couldn’t be happier. I’m incredibly pleased with my traditionally published books and graphic novels. They’re available in print, as ebooks and even as animated ebooks. I am definitely not going to stop working these great people. In fact, I’m hoping to have some traditional published new releases to announce very soon.
In the meantime, I’ll be joining the ranks of the five authors listed above with my own indy project very soon. I’m really excited and I’m learning a lot about the publishing process that goes way beyond getting good words on the page (or screen.)
Stay tuned for some big news very soon. Until then, visit one of the authors above and add their latest offering to your ebook collection. What? You don’t have an ereader, yet? Sigh.
Anyway . . . What do you think? Who did I miss? Are there other Canadian Kids/YA authors who are mixing it up and playing with hybrid model? If I missed anyone, please add their names in the comments below!
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As an award-winning children’s author, gamer-geek and elementary school teacher, I often have Tech Teaching ideas and project news to share with fellow educators. I deliver these resources and ideas to your inbox in my e-newsletter Reading Change.
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Liam