Ben Langhinrichs
asked
Jennifer Foehner Wells:
What made you decide to put out an "All Ages" version of Fluency, and do you plan to keep releasing such versions for other books? I've seen it done with songs (explicit vs. radio versions), but I don't think I've seen it with books, and I'm intrigued.
Jennifer Foehner Wells
Great question, Ben! I get this question a LOT! The reason I decided to do it is because my 11-year-old son kept begging to read Fluency. I don't mind if he reads strong language, but I knew that the adult situations would make him uncomfortable. Other parents were also telling me they wished they could share the book with their children AND I was getting a lot of reviews from a certain subset of SF readers that said that they didn't like icky romance mixed with their SF. ;D
I had started another file and had been slowly editing it in odd moments here and there, intending to just sideload that file onto my son's kindle, when I'd come across a new editor I wanted to try.
The idea gelled immediately that I could give this new editor a try on an All Ages version of the book once I completed the revision to take out all the adult language and situations. He hadn't read Fluency, so he could be sure that the new edit made sense without those scenes (that amounted to something like 5 pages total in the final manuscript). He told me later, after he'd read both versions, that he felt the All Ages Edition was seamless. There was no hint, in his opinion, that anything had been cut out.
Revision is a large part of writing a novel and that's something I'm good at. So, it wasn't a difficult thing to do and I will probably continue to do it, just for those readers, though it really doesn't amount to much of anything, sales-wise. My son is happy and there are happy parents and readers, and that's what is important to me.
There doesn't seem to be much precedent for this, that's true. The book doesn't really fit in the YA genre since the characters are in their 30's to 50's. But when I was growing up I read tons of SciFi about adults since YA as a category wasn't available. I guess I just figured options are good. : )
I had started another file and had been slowly editing it in odd moments here and there, intending to just sideload that file onto my son's kindle, when I'd come across a new editor I wanted to try.
The idea gelled immediately that I could give this new editor a try on an All Ages version of the book once I completed the revision to take out all the adult language and situations. He hadn't read Fluency, so he could be sure that the new edit made sense without those scenes (that amounted to something like 5 pages total in the final manuscript). He told me later, after he'd read both versions, that he felt the All Ages Edition was seamless. There was no hint, in his opinion, that anything had been cut out.
Revision is a large part of writing a novel and that's something I'm good at. So, it wasn't a difficult thing to do and I will probably continue to do it, just for those readers, though it really doesn't amount to much of anything, sales-wise. My son is happy and there are happy parents and readers, and that's what is important to me.
There doesn't seem to be much precedent for this, that's true. The book doesn't really fit in the YA genre since the characters are in their 30's to 50's. But when I was growing up I read tons of SciFi about adults since YA as a category wasn't available. I guess I just figured options are good. : )
More Answered Questions
Howard
asked
Jennifer Foehner Wells:
Do you have plans to have Fluency available for the Nook e-reader or is it an Amazon exclusive?
Tom Michels
asked
Jennifer Foehner Wells:
Just a note to say I am loving this series. On book 3 and can’t put them down. Looking forward to reading all six. I love reading series. You really get to know and love or hate the characters and escape to other worlds. Thanks for this series. I guess they want a question mark?
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