Upbeat reports about YA titles for Bologna Children's Book Fair

Always good to hear cheerful news coming out of the publishing industry so was happy to read that reports are upbeat for this year's Bologna Children's Book Fair (23rd to 26th March) mostly in the YA market (yay). Click here to read more.

There is more interest in one-off fiction deals as publishers shy away from committing to longer series. (And I'm ready for more stand-alone titles, even if it is so hard to let go of much loved worlds and characters.) And although Meyer's sales may well decline this year, internationally, the YA market is still growing, said Alex Webb, director of the Rights People agency. "YA is really taking off for us in Asia, particularly in China, and countries such as Germany, France and Brazil are still very strong." Good to know.

Outside the paranormal genre, they expect fiction in general to be a strong category. Candace Bushnell's The Carrie Diaries (Carrie Bradshaw before "Sex and the City"), for example, sold in 17 languages in pre-emptive deals before sight of the manuscript. (She will be touring BTW and yes, at Kepler's. Will keep you posted.)