Calling Teen Writers
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Lauren Barack -- School Library Journal, 7/25/2007
Come fall, those teens with a writing bug will have another spot to showcase their talent. HarperCollins is teaming with MySpace to expand its HarperTeen community to the online networking site, allowing students a chance to write, post, and vote on their favorite pieces.
Inspired by the success of its recent eight-week FanLit writing contest, HarperCollins Children’s Books decided to ratchet it up, offering the ability to share and write stories to a larger online teen community, says Diane Naughton, the group’s vice president of marketing. "We were happy with the success [of FanLit] and are hoping to replicate that," she says of the 30,000 teens who voted on stories submitted to the HarperTeen site, with the winner published as an ebook.
Naughton is quick to clarify that the MySpace partnership will not be a new contest, but an extension of what’s already available on the HarperTeen Web site. The MySpace page will offer message boards, newsletters, polls, promotions of upcoming books, a daily blog, and yes, stories submitted by teens for other teens to read. However, Naughton emphasizes that HarperCollins has no immediate plans to sift through submitted stories looking for budding talent. Still, if the publishing house finds a 13-year-old J. K. Rowling amidst the posts? "We’re not making any claims," she says. "We see this as more of an opportunity to interact with teens, get their feedback, and have them interact with authors. If it happens, it happens."
