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Author Paula Chase Hyman has an interesting piece on Ypulse about the marketing of young adult novels, particularly those that feature African American protagonists.

Here's part of what she has to say:

In our haste to categorize books we ignore the fact that teen readers, no matter the race, are as diverse in their reading tastes as adult readers. And we continue to market to African American readers as if all of them share the same exact taste in literature.

What I'd like to see is a broader promotional effort (hello, ALA?) dedicated to shining the light on the diversity among what's out there for young African American readers. Every summer, my library system hands out book marks for different YA genres listing the genre's most popular authors. But the African American book mark features only traditionally literary authors: Myers, Curtis, Rita Williams Garcia, Mildred Taylor et.al.

You'll find no L. Divine or Coe Booth listed.

Including more contemporary authors on such a bookmark is a start. But dare I suggest taking race out of the equation? Simply include books by African Americans within the existing promotions for other YA sub-genres.

I can't say that I'm surprised at the marketing efforts in the YA world. It happens in the adult book world as well.

What do you think? Read the rest of the article here.