Jay Coles, Author

Jay Coles is a Young Adult and Middle Grade author. Jay is also a composer of music. His debut concert band tune is published by Carl Fischer music, LLC. As a registered member of ASCAP, Jay has published several pieces of music eligible for TV/film. Jay's agent is Lauren Abramo of the Dystel & Goderich Literary Management.

[jaycoleswritesbooks]

Pitchwars Wishlist 2017

How am I as a mentor? Hmm..

 I like to say that I’m quite editorial and I enjoy giving feedback to writers in any way they see comfortable. I tend to keep note of things as I read and write things down in the margins or on sticky notes or electronically depending on how/what I’m reading and then provide a edit letter to the writer, followed by either an e-mail exchange, phone call, or Skype call. Of course, everything is subjective and am open to hearing the writer’s feedback and criticism of my criticism as well.

 I typically prefer that other eyes have been on the manuscript or that you have gone through your own rounds of edits before I look at it, but this isn’t a requirement. It just makes me a little happier and also helps me focus on a lot of big picture things and not so much the little things that can be fixed with a simple read-through.

  What am I looking for?

  (BY THE WAY:  I am only looking for YA, no MG, NA, or Adult).

 IF YOU HAVE THE NEXT PERKS OF BEING A WALLFLOWER, SEND TO ME ASAP!!!! Instantly top of the pile for me. I’ve been looking for this forever.

 Diverse road trip novels are high on my list as well.

 Contemporary issues, like police violence, Islamophobia, xenophobia, sexism, feminism, religion, etc.!

 If you have any stories with a religious premise, themes, or motifs, send to me! (I.e – The Temptation of Adam by Dave Connis!)

 Any and all LGBTQ+ stories are welcome, especially LGBTQ+ stories features POC as the heroes, and especially #OwnVoices!

 I want a manuscript that brings me to tears—whether by laughing too hard or for any other reason, like my heart breaking.

Teens with jobs – I haven’t come across many of these, but would love to!

 Funny – bring me all your funny!

 Stories about friendships and how messy they can sometimes be.

Send me your geeky, nerdy stories!

I have a huge crush on stories that feature music as a heavy part of it! (All music!)

I am not looking for: Paranormal, anything with vampires. 

 If your writing/manuscript matches the style(s) of any of these authors, please send to me!

 Adi Alsaid

Angie Thomas

Brandy Colbert

Nicola Yoon

Adam Silvera

Becky Albertalli

Jason Reynolds

Alex Gino

Nic Stone

Elizabeth Acevedo

Ally Condie

Meredith Russo

Lilliam Rivera

[jaycoleswritesbooks]

“The Hate U Give” and The Reviews I Hate.

***DISCLAIMER: I saw a lot of the reviews mentioned weeks ago, mostly during release week.***

So, first off, yay! THE HATE U GIVE is a #1 fucking New York Times Bestseller. I can’t be happier about this.

 THE HATE U GIVE (aka THUG, if you’ve seen the hashtag on Twitter) by Angie Thomas is a truly revolutionary book. It’s introduced to the YA community and publishing industry that not only do diverse stories written by people of color and marginalized writers matter, but also that they are demanded by consumers. For years, agents, editors and publishing houses were saying that there was no market for books like THUG. Welp. As it turns out, that was just fake news! Anyway, THUG hitting the New York Times is a massive deal, and I think we’ll see more changes within the industry. At least, one can hope.

 The point of this post though is to open up the discussion of how to talk about THUG without being problematic. And this is mostly aimed at white reviewers, bloggers, journalists, etc. I’ve read several reviews, blog posts, Tweets, and general articles about THUG that rubbed me the wrong way, and I’m just going to highlight some of those things here.

 My thoughts are probably going to be scattered and this might have a zillion typos because I’ve not yet had coffee and it’s early for me, but just hang with me.

 First off – let’s start with the title. THE HATE U GIVE. It comes from Tupac Shakur who had a tattoo and a life motto of: T.H.U.G.L.I.F.E. It stood for “The Hate U Give Little Infants Fucks Everybody.” It’s a statement of what white society feeds into our youth (hatred, racism, and systems of oppression) and how it comes back around with long, devastating effects and stereotypes between white society and the black community. That’s why a lot of times when we see black and brown kids getting gunned down by racists, we’re always hearing that, “they were no angel. They were just a thug.” This is what Tupac was warning us about. 

 The usage of the letter “U” and not “you” is AAVE. The letter “U” is deeply rooted in black culture, mostly through music. I’ve seen a lot of people (usually white reviewers) write “THE HATE YOU GIVE” and though a lot of people don’t get corrected, it’s still kind of a microaggression. If you find that annoying, it’s probably because you’ve internalized that your way of speaking is superior, thus, walking the lines of white supremacy. Ignoring the usage of the letter “U” is erasure of an intimate element to Angie Thomas’s novel and black culture. Please don’t intentionally correct the title to “THE HATE YOU GIVE.” That’s offensive.

 Speaking of AAVE:

 AAVE is African American Vernacular English. It’s a whole rule-bound dialect of English with very clear, defined grammar structures. THUG is full of AAVE, which is part of the reason I love it so much. If in your review, you mention something along the lines of “a language deficit” or “incorrect/ungrammatical” structures, that’s problematic logic. Just because you don’t understand something doesn’t make it wrong. If you don’t understand what something means, please don’t hesitate to Google, if you can. It will save you.

 However, Starr, the main character in THUG is constantly code-switching. Code-switching is when black people switch our behavior and language to certain navigate situations. It’s how we balance who we are with who we have to be at times. Starr lives in the hood, but goes to a very “preppy” school in the suburbs where she’s one of the only black kids in her class. She speaks and behaves differently around her friends than she does when she’s at school and around white folks because she absolutely has to. It’s a survival tactic. That’s a real thing that people have to do. So, stop calling it “inauthentic” and “unrealistic.”

 Which brings me to…

 Comparisons to novels by other black authors

 It’s important not to box in black culture, especially when it comes to language. Yes, we code switch. Yes, we manipulate the English language. But black people are not a monolith. When you read books by black authors who write black characters don’t expect them to use AAVE in it and don’t expect them not to. We know standard English. A lot of us have degrees in English. In a lot of reviews by white reviewers, I’m seeing people compare THUG to ALL AMERICAN BOYS. Just stop it. Don’t. Do. This. You’re totally allowed to like one more than the other and whatever, but comparing the two, saying one is “more realistic” than the other because it fulfills whatever prejudiced views you have of black people and our experiences is pretty dang racist, if you didn’t know.

 Lastly, for now because I may come back to this: #BlackLivesMatter

  If you haven’t already, go pick up THE HATE U GIVE by Angie Thomas. You won’t regret it. It’s amazing and beautiful and heartbreaking and real as fuck.

[jaycoleswritesbooks]

Review: History Is All You Left Me

HAPPY PUB DAY TO ADAM SILVERA AND THIS WONDERFUL BOOK!

  The things I love most about Adam Silvera’s books are how inclusive, diverse, and multi-dimensional they are. This is what originally made me fall in love with his debut. I was sad to see a less racially diverse cast this time around, but the overall story was just as moving and also the rep in other areas.

 Anyway, I’m going to be all over the place with this review of his incredibly human, spectacularly complex sophomore novel because my thoughts are all over the place and my keyboard is soaked in my tears.

 “I mean it: Promise me.”

“I promise you: I’ll never die.”

  Yes, I was a mess for about 75 percent of the book.

 So…In HISTORY IS ALL YOU LEFT ME, we are introduced to Griffin as he grieves the loss of his ex-boyfriend, Theo, who died in a very tragic accident. (Not giving away spoilers, hopefully). As Griffin is also learning to navigate in a “Theo-less” world, he’s also struggling with his OCD, daily anxiety, and family issues, among other things. All in all, it’s a powerful literary juggernaut that questions/challenges the meaning of love, friendship, loyalty, and even the sustainability of happiness, which is a universal human theme I think many different audiences can relate to. Readers are taken on a journey through Griffins life (past and present), where he experiences some very high highs and some very low lows.

  [Side note: The OCD elements read and feel very real and very honest, as the author himself also deals with it in real life. I also struggle with an anxiety disorder and could relate so easily to the protagonist and his panic attacks.]

 I was glad to see how Adam Silvera wrote Griffin’s anxiety disorder and OCD. I always tell authors and aspiring authors about the whole “diversity as a plot device” trope, where writers make a character’s marginalization/disability/etc a major part of the plot and don’t really fully flesh it out to the point where it reads as necessary. I’ve read a lot of YA in the past six months with characters with anxiety disorders that don’t feel authentic, that are just used as a plot device and readers never really see it flesh out fully. It was quite refreshing to read such an honest book like HIAYLM where Griffin’s OCD was fully fleshed out—ya know? like A REAL FUCKING HUMAN BEING. (This is me yelling at other authors). Though, I would have liked to see a POC MC dealing with OCD as well. 

 My biggest/only critique: At the beginning, I didn’t enjoy the black friend as the side character to the two white friends. It was very much like “minority as plot device,” where Wade is there to bridge the gap and help the other two friends, who are white at reaching a goal and coping with life events. Wade, often times, is there (most often at the beginning) to help the protagonist work through his feelings, to piece together parts of his life. 

 This leads me to…

 At the beginning, I also had this feeling that this story was going to have the “love triangle” trope, but Adam Silvera cleverly spun this trope into beautiful and fruitful relationships/friendships that I did not expect by the end. With the characters, there were constant twists and reveals, (which shows excellent character development. This is something I sometimes see lacking in a lot of YA books these days. I was glad to see the twist of this particular trope). But, again, I just wanted more dismantling of the magical negro character. 

 Also: I didn’t know how I was going to like the non-linear format, because normally I don’t get along with weird, non-linear arcs (mostly because I’m stubborn and old-fasioned), but this was done phenomenally well.

  HIAYLM is a mural of raw human emotion: pain, grief, love, and happiness that teaches that there are endurable moments after intense loss. I am looking forward to Silvera’s next book.

  Special thanks to Soho Press for the ARC and allowing me to read for an honest review.

[jaycoleswritesbooks]

Ageism, Social Media, and How We Can Be Better

After talking around with colleagues, and Cam herself, I’d like to talk about a couple things. A friend of mine was attacked by her heroes a couple days ago. Two very prominent, black feminists. They’re well respected, and they deserve the respect for the work they’ve done—and continue to do.

 But.

 First.

 Let me go ahead and give you the Google definition of “ageism”: this is most notably considered to be the stereotyping and discrimination against individuals or groups on the basis of age. Teens and seniors are the most common victims.

 Just to give context for those that missed what went down: On Twitter, Two notable women—both with very large follower bases took it upon themselves to cast aspersions on a black teenage girl (Camryn Garrett) who’s 1) very well know and cared for, 2) is a trailblazer in all things literary, and 3) who is a teenager (in case you missed that.) Cam had an online magazine dedicated to black girls to submit entries for their voices to be heard. The name of the magazine was something that gathered lots of attention, as it was a word that was alleged to be copyrighted.

 Here is me screaming: You cannot *technically* copyright words.

 Anyway, the two women spoke out because they did not like the idea of the magazine. They felt like it was a fraud. Arguably, with awareness, the two women basically created a space for Cam to be “trolled” through the privilege of their large follower bases.  

 Cam received several hateful notes in her mentions—mostly from followers of these two said women that were literally given the go-ahead to flood Cam’s mentions with irrelevant bullshit, making widely false accusations.

 The comments from the two women, which are now deleted, were meant to directly belittle and hurt Cam, as they considered HER to be the troll, but their comments offended many of us, I am sure. And some people don’t know why.

 That’s because not really many people acknowledge ageism to be a thing.

 Their comments directly attacked Cam, yes, but they also were meant to do harm to several teens like her, which is what they say they’re trying to avoid for themselves.

 No one’s saying there’s two sides to erasure. We’re saying to check yourself.

 These women have said they’ve been erased, attacked, & criticized. This is truth. But that’s what they did to Cam. Through ageism and quote retweets, tearing Cam down bit by bit. These women are a part of a very vulnerable group, as black women. Cam’s a part of an even more vulnerable group within that vulnerable group, as a teenage black woman.

 Outright having followers attack a teenager is wrong, yes, but that’s not entirely my point.

 My point is that them saying words like “lazy”, “uneducated,” and expressing the idea that all teens have “’failed through education,” among other things are all stereotypes of age.  Adolescence specifically. Using these words to describe a teen are not only hurtful as fuck, but they hinder them from approaching adulthood, stops them from growing, crushes them.

 It causes depression. Teens feel like they are not good enough when shit like this happens. When they are not heard. When we assume they have bad intentions. Especially teens of minority groups.  

 Trust me I know first hand. I’ve been there. More recently than they have. So the feelings are very fresh and raw. My high school experience was a rather peculiar one. On paper, I was considered to be what they called “advanced.” So, I got to do a program where I earned my AS degree while in high school, which put me a head of all of my peers. I was Cam’s age—16, in classes with mostly 25-35 year olds. And one huge stereotype that offended me to bits because of my age was the assumption that, in regards to academics, I knew far less than them. That I was automatically inferior. They didn’t see me as an equal. It became very apparent that the “you’re just a minor” mentality was meant to box me in, make me feel confined, ostracized, marginalized. And so that’s exactly what happened. I spent most of my time confined. Literally in the box of a dormitory room. There was no room for me to grow. I was deprived of that.

  So this is why what happened to Cam resonated with me on a personal level.

 Well, Jay, cut them some slack…they apologized to her.

 They apologized?…um…okay. But that does not excuse their behavior. It does not excuse prejudice of teens. Hell, it doesn’t excuse prejudice period. It does not excuse an outright disregard for someone who they perceived to be less than them, as they tossed around words like “minor,” as a means of degradation. An apology? It’s a start, but it’s the action that’s the real determiner. Regardless of age.

 They talked a lot about wanting to move forward, but their actions are retrogressive. Tearing down black teenage women is not progressive.

 The point of this post isn’t to toss around “shade” or even to disrespect. It’s to enlighten, engage, and to challenge. It’s to show that ageism is also a thing that needs to be acknowledged, especially when we interact with others online, which can be a very unsafe place. Even more so for members of vulnerable communities.

 I think it’s important for all of us—no matter how distinguished, to be more conscientious on what we do on social media. Think before acting. Research before commenting. Ask before assuming. Talk and not attack.

 This is sooooo very important. We need to make sure that we have conversations with each other about young adults and their voices. We’ve got to be mindful that young people and adult allies have faced—and continue to face—many challenges as they work to engage other young adults throughout our communities. And if we constantly tear them down, we’re heading in a very frightening direction.

[jaycoleswritesbooks]

My Query Experience + Landing An Agent

Hello. Y’all.

 This is going to be a post about my query(ing) process/how I landed my agent. This post will also be featuring gifs and a song that I listened to over and over again as I wrote the book that landed me my agent—who, for now, will be referred to as Amazing Superhero Agent.

 Warning: this may end up being a long post—so hang in there for me, okay? (Unless, of course, you don’t want to.) That’s totally all right. I won’t hate you—promise.

 Anyway the stats summary:

(The span of 4 years)

Manuscripts – 7 (6 Young adult and 1 middle grade)

Queries – OMFG! So many goddamn queries. Probably almost 200!!

(This is the part where I say that the first 4 YA projects yielded absolutely no requests! They were the books that I was supposed to “learn from.” They were “test books.” And that’s okay, because agent feedback helps you get better, rejections make you stronger, and the experience is one that you carry forever and grow from. The most recent two YA projects that I queried (a dual-POV LGBT YA and a book inspired by the Black Lives Matter Movement got requests…and eventually…offers!)

Requests – 27 (9 requests on my LGBT YA that I pitched through Brenda Drake’s #PitMad; 16 requests on my BLM-inspired novel; and 2 requests for the middle grade.)

R&R: 3 (one agent asked me to revise and resubmit and gave me the heads-up that if she liked the revision she would make an offer.)

Offers: 5

All came down to: 1 Amazing Superhero Agent!!!!!!!

 It all started in 2012.

 Querying my first four *serious* books that resulted in no requests, I felt beat. Seriously. I felt like I wasn’t good enough, like I was the world’s worst writer, like I’d never be able to live my dream of being an agented and traditionally published author.

 I had gotten over 50 rejections on my first couple books, and as much as I’d write other more books and query, the more rejections came around.

 It was so easy for me to interpret “Unfortunately, this is not quite right for me” as “You are a failure.”

 But, oh boy, how I had been wrong.

 You see, it took me years after getting my first rejections to realize that the rejection doesn’t mean I am a failure. And it doesn’t even mean that my book is a failure. It could mean that the book just needs revising. Significantly. Or that it’s just not “THE BOOK.”

 I am admittedly very stubborn and very anxious. So, instead of revising the project(s) that flooded me with rejections, I decided to shelve them and try other books, writing for different audiences, and testing out different genres.

 Fast forward to 2016…FOUR years later. (Yeah, you know what they say about landing an agent? It’s true. That shit ain’t fast. At least, it’s not the norm if it is.)

 I took a few months off from querying (it’s totally OKAY to do this—do NOT let anyone tell you otherwise) just to work on my craft, attend writer’s conferences, take classes, etc, and then #PitMad came around. In the months that I took a break from querying, I had wrote my LGBT YA and a MG. Two books that I hold near to my heart, and after seeing the power of what is #PitMad, I put together a pitch for the YA in 140 characters. It didn’t get much attention during #PitMad, but I entered this same pitch again in Beth Phelan’s #DvPit along with one for the MG—those got me closer than ever.  

FYI: These twitter pitch events are what first connected me with Amazing Superhero Agent. She “favorited” one of my pitches.

 I sent out my fulls and partials to all the agents I felt would POTENTIALLY be a good fit for me. I spent nights, literally pulling all-nighters just to research agents, purchasing subscriptions, and talking with their clients—you know, just in case.

 Something I had to learn the hard way: Waiting is so hard and it is inevitable in publishing. If you cannot wait to hear back from an agent, you’re not going to make it in this industry.

 The wait to hear back from agents felt like eternity. Man, I swear I got some gray hairs on my head from stressing myself out. I looked online for some suggestions on what to do while I waited and the most frequently suggested thing was, yep, you guessed it: WRITE YOUR NEXT BOOK!

             I went into my “office” to outline the next book, and I just so happen to turn on the news and Twitter to see a series of hashtags. An innocent, unarmed black teen had been gunned down by the police.

           My first thought: OH MY EFFING GOD, MAN. IS THIS REAL?

           My next thought: My heart goes out to that boy’s family.

           Then, after that was: That could’ve been me.

             In that moment, I knew I had to do something. I had to show the world my outrage. I had to show my community’s outrage. So, the story I had outlined changed almost instantly. It took a darker twist. 

           And I went back to work to work on this next book.

           Fast forward a couple months, I had gotten several rejections on the LGBT YA and the MG, but I didn’t care much because I was giving my new BLM project my all—I felt compelled to. The story flowed out of frustration, but also from personal experiences, making it PRIORITY.

           I spent weeks polishing the BLM-inspired YA.

           And then, I was ready to query.

           Three separate agents asked for the full within EXACTLY 3 minutes after I sent the query, one of them was Amazing Superhero Agent. It was a risk that I took because it’s not encouraged to query an agent two separate projects at once. And it’s definitely not encouraged to query a project to an agent who has another full manuscript of yours in their inbox.

           When I queried her, I reminded Amazing Superhero agent that she already had a different manuscript in her pile from me, which she informed me that she had already enjoyed. She also wanted to read this new project of mine.

           I sent it to her that night.

             Based on the quick interest, I queried this novel like crazy—to more agents than any other project I had written. When you believe in something enough, you have to show it just how much. (I think I sent about 60 queries for my BLM-inspired YA.) And unlike the projects I had already had floating in agents’ inboxes, this book was semi-autobiographical, so I was crazy about it. And I was pursuing an agent equally as crazy about it.

             The requests came in faster waves, but so did the rejections. One rejection in particular said, “I’d represent you and your novel if the setting of the book wasn’t ‘the hood.’” And that caught me off guard for so many reasons, and was very discouraging, but after further research of agents, I kept at it, distracting myself through 90s rap music and revising bits and pieces of the book while I waited to hear back from others.

           After two weeks of sending my first query for the BLM-inspired YA (which was unusually fast), I got a rather long email from an agent. We’ll refer to him as Mr. Wonderful Agent. At the end of the email, he mentioned that he wanted to call me and discuss my manuscript.

           I choked on the Frappuccino that I was drinking, and spat all over my computer screen. This agent represents many NYT bestselling authors and some of my author friends.

           Giving myself some time to calm down, later in the week, we talked and he became the first agent ever to offer me representation. He talked about some awesome revision ideas, but I just didn’t get that “spark” while on the phone with him. He seemed—and is—great, obviously, just not the right fit for me. And to prevent either of us from being unhappy later down the road, I decided to decline his offer.

           Fast forward a week, and I had four other offers. One of the four was Amazing Superhero Agent who I later went with. The decision was a rather hard one, but Amazing Superhero agent stood out for so many reasons.

I knew Amazing Superhero agent was THE ONE because she had it all. She was well known in the industry, she keeps a small and carefully cultivated list; she’s passionate about working with underrepresented voices, and talking with her on the phone sealed the deal for me.  

           Before talking on the phone, I knew that she live tweeted my book a couple times. And it was confirmed that she’d spent a night blinking back tears in a bar because of my book. This made me swoon and internally freak out in the best way possible.

           On the phone, she talked about her favorite parts of my book—parts that I cherish so much. She even had such BRILLIANT ideas for revisions—things that I wouldn’t have ever picked up on. And the love and excitement was evident in her voice. We also talked about our personal lives a bit, too, and found out that we’ve got some things in common. This calmed me down so much.

           Toward the end of the phone call, she offered, and man, I swear, I said “okay” 50 times in a row and nodded uncontrollably like she was in the room and could see me. I don’t think I would’ve stopped if one of my pups hadn’t starting licking the M&Ms I had in my hand.  

           I talked with some of my author friends and they agreed with me that she was going to be the best possible fit. I talked with my family and reminded myself that in time, dreams do come true, that it takes hard work, sweat, tears (at times), and a dash of luck, but they happen.

            Four turbulent years later, I’m so very happy to be represented by the wonderfully brilliant, incredibly witty, Amazing Superhero Agent: Lauren Abramo of the Dystel and Goderich Literary Management. Saying this out loud for the first time has me kind of tearing up…mainly because 1) stuff like this don’t really happen where I come from, and 2) this is the beginning of everything—the start of my career.

           And I’m ready to embark upon this ride with Lauren and DGLM!!

   THE SONG THAT I LISTENED TO WHILE WRITING THE BOOK: 

(please listen and let me know what you think on Twitter at (@mrjaycoles) or here is fine!!!)