Wednesday, 14 July 2010

Interview - The Forever Young Adult Team

I found Forever Young Adult last year when the Team Peeta/Team Gale debate ran strong. They are firmly Peeta-fans, me...not so much but I loved that they posted a guy's thoughts about why Peeta is a pansy (beware if you are expletive sensitive). I liked it a lot.

What I love the most about their blog is that there's not a lot of cushion. They speak their minds and they speak it strong in an articulate but spunky way that appeals to my snarky heart. I also appreciate their love of the wine/YA combo...something I also embrace. I offer a very warm welcome to Sarah, Jenny and Erin from Team 4everYA!

The purpose of the Blogger Inquest is to delve into a specific blogger's mind and experiences online. To be up front, I presented each of the interview subjects with 21 questions to choose from and they took it from there. This is a month long series of interviews on Persnickety Snark and I've got a whole host of bloggers (new and old) lined up.

For the life of me I cannot find it within myself to like Ann Brashares work. Is there an author whose work you find yourself irrationally disliking?
Sarah: I’m glad you clarified with “irrationally” cos my Rational Hatred list is pretty long. Irrationally, though, I guess I would say Elizabeth Scott. And Deb Caletti. I’ve only read one book by each of them, which isn’t a fair basis for judgment but it’s enough to know that we will NOT be sitting at the same cafeteria table.

Erin: Charles Dickens. I know that's not really YA but since we're forced to read him as young adults, I suppose it fits. I've tried, I really have. But why! What does he take 13 pages to describe a damn graveyard?? Shut UP, Charles Dickens; I don't care if you DO get paid by the word!

Writing a book review (for a title you’d ideally like to marry if legally possible) is one of the tougher tasks for a book reviewer. What is your approach to writing an informed, glowing review?
Sarah: Before we launched the site, I created a book review structure that allows for maximum swimfanning (if merited) while requiring the reviewer to back up her claims. Like, the review can’t just be “OMG THIS BOOK IS THE BEST YOU GUYS. BELIEVE ME. I SWEAR ON THE HOLY BIBLE.” Thanks to the review structure, we all have to measure books by the same criteria—character, writing style, plot. The “bonus factor” category then provides us with some freedom to spazz over whatever we want. Above all, the “relationship status” enables us to rate a book a lot more thoroughly than simply using stars. So the serious answer is: I use our book report grading system. The less professional answer is: I totally abuse capitalization and exclamation points.

Erin: Avoid cursing as much as possible. :) Luckily I'm pretty foul-mouthed and rude when I don't like something, so it's not hard to be nice when I actually enjoy a book. However, I find it really hard to write a glowing review without spoiling the ending ("you guys! At the end a unicorn springs out from the forest and then everyone joins hands and chocolate sprinkles rain from the sky and it's AMAZING.")

Jenny: Luckily for me, if I love a book, I just post about how much I want its baby.

What are you most proud of achieving on your blog?
Sarah: When we started the site, my main goal was to grow a community for people who love YA but are ashamed to admit it. Almost a year later (holy crap our birthday is on July 17th! And we would like a pony! KTHX), I believe we’ve definitely achieved our purpose, which makes my heart super-squee. Of course, we want to continue to expand our community until we have cleansed all readers of their YA shame and/or prejudice, cos that’s what good YAngelists do.

Erin: I think we've managed to include a lot of different facets of YA - from current books to amazing classics, YA movie and pop culture news, and lots of mockery.

How long do foresee yourself blogging for?
Erin: Until we get so popular that we get bought out by a corporate website - I have my fingers crossed for Entertainment Weekly - at which point, having sold out, we'll retire from blogging and occasionally check in on the comments from readers-come-lately whilst lounging aboard our luxury yacht, burning piles of money for warmth.

Sarah: Yeah, what Erin said.

Book tours - effective marketing or blog flooding?
Sarah: I think blog tours can be effective if they’re done creatively. Unfortunately, that’s not always the case, which means most blog tours are a) the same thing over and over again, a.k.a. ZZZ and b) marketing spam.

Which author do you believe has found the perfect online medium between marketing themselves, making connections and establishing their identity without spamming on all social networks?
Sarah: Well, John Green is obvs the Master of the Internets, but I think Sara Zarr also does a great job of promoting her books while staying true to herself.

Erin: Maureen Johnson definitely spams her Twitter, but I find her so delightful that I don't care.

Jenny: Meg Cabot

What is something that makes you immediately groan when looking at another’s blog?
Sarah: Too many giveaways. Cos guess what? My Free Shizz Quota was filled by my second year of college so I DON’T NEED ANYMORE BOOKMARKS/DOOR HANGERS/PENS/KEYCHAINS. If liquor is involved, of course that’s totally different and PLEASE PICK ME.

Erin: No jokes! Come on, guys, it's a book blog, not a funeral home! If I wanted to read a dry review of a book, I'd ask my humorless coworker about it.

Jenny: Reviews that are always super-positive.

You can find these lovely ladies at the following places:
Forever Young Adult
Twitter

15 comments:

Nomes said...

I somehow stumbled across this blog just a week ago :) Loved it straight away! They definitely have a cool thing going on there.

Love this interview - off to check out Peeta is a pansy, haha :) I like Peety okay, but Gale (for me) is the obvious choice - although it feels like I'm in the minority there...

Anonymous said...

I love those ladies, "it's a book blog, not a funeral home! If I wanted to read a dry review of a book, I'd ask my humorless coworker about it" Can I quote you on that?
(Team Gale)

Steph Su said...

lolllll *wants moaaarrrr!* Forever YA is so awesome, these ladies get away with the sort of humor I could never even begin to own. Thanks for delving into their minds for us, Adele!

poshdeluxe said...

thanks for interviewing us, adele! you are totally one of the coolest kids in school, so being on yr blog is, like, the blog equivalent of hanging out with ferris bueller on his day off.

Liviania said...

Forever YA is awesome, and I didn't find them until recently (thanks, time spent on Jezebel).

Although I have to disagree about Charles Dickens. The man is hilarious. Very dry humor, but hilarious.

Frankie Diane Mallis said...

Forever YA is soooo awesome! Their blog cracks me up--I could read it all day. Thanks for featuring them!

Lysh said...

Thanks for interviewing FYA! I love their blog! When I first found them many months ago, I HAD to read all of their posts in like, one sitting. And it's so comforting to know there's other adults who love YA.

Angiegirl said...

I have to agree. You could tell 4EverYA was something special the moment you landed on their homepage. So glad you guys are doing well and I will always be a fan!

Bookalicious Ramblings said...

Great interview! I love FYA, they're possibly the most original book blog out there any the crack me UP hxc! Awesome stuff - keep up the good work, ladies! And cheers! ;)

Michelle said...

I've come late to the 4everYA party, but I am so loving everything about their blog! THanks for the great interview - these girls crack me up!

shabbygeek said...

So I referred a friend of mine to Forever Young Adult and she said she was up until the WEE HOURS OF THE AM reading and snickering at their website. Cheers on this interview, Adele + 4EVERYA = AWESOME WORLDS COLLIDING.

erin said...

yay! Thanks for taking out time to interview us, Adele! I felt so awesome and posh, like maybe I was a famous starlet (only you didn't mention how I was dressed and how many cigarettes/drinks/class a drugs I consumed during the interview, like a Rolling Stone interviewer would do. which is probably good, because people would be disappointed by the truth - i.e. I answered these while watching Golden Girls)!!

Anyway, I'm loving this series, and thanks so much for including us among all of your other awesome subjects!

Anonymous said...

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prophecygirl said...

I love these ladies too. Their blog is hilarious!

Michelle said...

I wish I had half the snark and wit these ladies do. I can't even imagine what they're like at a party with an open bar, it has to be epic!