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Status: Drafting the fourth book in the PERILOUS series!

Monday, January 10, 2011

Perilous: 9-12 years?

So the other day I was looking up Perilous on Amazon.com (okay, so yeah, I do this every day. What? What's so funny?). As I clicked through the book information and what not, this little bit caught my eye:

Ages: 9-12 years


Do what now?

I can't find this descriptive bit on Amazon anymore, but it made me want to clarify. While it's true that I've had several younger kids read it and really like it, I'm not sure that they GET it. I wrote it for teens. Older teens, ages 16-18. It deals with some pretty heavy topics, with some pretty heavy social issues. 

Not that younger kids can't read it. It's not a hard read, certainly not beyond their reading level. But the story is so much more than just an adventure turned sour. It's a story about life, about death, about being a teenager in a tough situation. It's about faith and determination and trust and betrayal. 

Anyway. That's my speech for today.

13 comments:

PV Lundqvist said...

I have my book misfiled all the time. My book about a boy who gets a pet pig, right next to adult romance? Really Sony ebookstore?

It could be the wrong codes were sent out, but, in my experience, it's retail fail.

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

ha ha, that's funny.

Kittie Howard said...

Hmmmm, I'd pursue this...what if a parent of one of those younger kids felt misled?? You've got future books riding on this book!

Stephanie Faris said...

Who does that? The publisher or Amazon? I write middle grade and young adult and there's a definite difference but primarily, when it's for readers aged 9-12, the characters are in middle school, not high school. My stepdaughter is 11 and she reads middle grade. I was reading about high schoolers when I was 11...but I also was reading Stephen King's The Stand, so I'm not sure I'm a good gauge!

Anonymous said...

Well, I suppose it's mis-catagorized somewhat because people tend to write characters who are older than the age group they're meant for, like a role-model kind of thing. I'd use myself as an example, but I went on a binge of flowery romance novels when I was fourteen, and that's surely not an example setter of the norm.

It's probably just retail fail, like PV said.

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

@Kittie--when I checked today, it was gone. So hopefully no one will be misled!

@Stephanie--I think it's Amazon. I saw a Tweet from my publisher mentioning that they were astonished Amazon had put that level.

@Sweetheart--I make the mistake of always using myself as a gauge. But the reality is we aren't normal! I read Gone w/ the Wind when I was 11 and again the next year. Yeah, most kids don't do that.

Theresa Milstein said...

It's like when I show movies at school - it has to be PG. For 7th-graders, it can't even by PG13 since some are still 12. And they tell me they watch PG13 and R.

When I was a teen, I read adult books too.

Talli Roland said...

If you manage to figure out Amazon subcategories, please let me know. It's a mystery to me! I'm in 'humour' and while I'm happy Amazon gremlins think my book is humorous, well, it's not really 'humour'!

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

ha ha, Talli!

Diana Mieczan said...

Your book is really great and I truly enjoyed reading it. Have a great day
Kisses

ps: I am hosting a sweet necklace GIVEAWAY today :) ... Please, join in!

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

Thanks, Diana!

Unknown said...

Yikes!!! I didn't realize that Amazon had more of a hold on how they labeled your book. I thought for sure you got some say so in the matter. How silly that it works that way!! I agree, though the novel works for younger kids I would hate to be reaching out to just that age group and have a teen see the age and say "I'm better than reading a 12 year olds book" and walk away from it. That's a sale lost!

Tamara Hart Heiner said...

That's exactly what I'm thinking, Jen. I don't want to lose any sales b/c of this!

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