(She's spoofing that silly Old Spice commercial, Mary.) Blogging dudes, have at it!

Oh - I just reread the original post. Sheila, thanks for the correction. Wow. I'm not sure how I feel about that. For a long time I discussed ebook rights with my agent, because I wanted to keep mine, and he said that children's/YA books in ebook form weren't doing enough business for it to be worth the effort of arguing with a major publisher necessarily (he was more intelligent than that; this is a broad overview). He said they weren't anywhere near ubiquitous and that they accounted for only about 25% of those books sold. I don't know - that may have changed. I won't comment further until I hear the rest of the rules.

Huh. Makes sense, as YA lit is all about the futuristic and such. How very cool! To Mrs. Yingling: I think the books nominated will still be offered in hard/paperback - despite none of my books being mainly purchased or read via ebook, my editorial contract covers them and most mainstream publishers create them, but the balance is still the hardbacked book. It's mostly self-pubbed folk who solely have ebooks, and much of the time they also lack editors and some level of quality, which we're obviously looking for in the Cybs, so you might not see those as finalists or winners anyway.

:) Shows what I know, which on this topic is pretty much nada.

Do you suppose maybe the brewer didn't mean the Anheuser-Busch stuff, but the actual Czech Budweiser Budvar, which is a pale ale? Anheuser-Busch did some major copyright infringement; in Europe Budweiser is not made of nasty.

Did you read what Roger Sutton postulated about this win? I hadn't thought of the ethnicity of the author at all, was just glad that the novel won, because few people know the story...

Oh, ugh. Pat, I'd like a NEW IDEA for $1, please. And then, I'd like a vowel...

Oh, good. This is reassuring. She sounds quite pissed in the letter as well, which cheers me right up. I hate how they take one sentence someone in public life says, and build a whole headline around it.

There is such a freshness and honesty in the best 'tween novels. This sounds like it has the roots of a good one, anyway.

Now, there was a coffee-spewing moment.

Wow. Ego insanity.

Gaaaaaaaaaaaah! I can't even come up with something funny and/or snide about this. I am guessing that his publicist isn't thinking this is a good move, which is why he submitted it anonymously - or maybe he thinks people who buy books for teens would be less well-disposed to buying from someone who's a known liar? I can't wait to see with whom he's collaborated... and I hope he makes it really, really, really worth their while.

Good Lord. Imagine the Penguin Classics Ethan Frome.

She is a rainbow, huh? Well, I am an island. In a stream. That is what I are... Oh, sorry, was that snark?

Dude. I feel ya.

Um, yes. I totally understand why! Despite laughing 'til tears came from the amnesia thing. Jeepers.

*twitches* SHUDDER

That's actually a *really* good idea. Aside from the added agony of waiting and all.

Oh, yaaaaah! I'm so glad it's awesome! Cannot WAIT 'til it gets here!!!!!!!

I'm completely late on this, but congratulations, Gwenda -- it IS so fabulous to be able to say the words "my agent," isn't it??? Happy New Year -- starting off with revisions and notes on your novel means it's going to be super awesome. Cheers to you!