The Future of this Group

[Susan65]

Lori I responded to the PM instead of here....sorry about that. DO you want me to post here too?

[Jo]

Moderatrix Lori wrote: "Here I go with the negative thing again but...chats kind of scare me because of the minors in this group. It's much easier for me to control the content here where I can delete posts. In a chat r..."

The chats might have to be moderated as well, and maybe there could be a designated chat mod who's in charge of that whenever there is a chat. I think that it would be possible to make it clear that the chats are aimed at the *teenage* readers specifically, though, and that the content has to be between G and PG-13. To a certain extent we'd have to trust the chatters to adhere to that, but I think it could be done, especially if people want there to be more chats.

[Jo]

Posted the above before I saw Ralph's post about the chat room...

[Juli]

Okay so I feel really awful about my participation in this group. I agreed to be a moderator and take over some duties from Lori but have been plagued by health issues.

I seem to have those under control and want to be the kind of moderator this group needs as I don't want this group to fade into obscurity.

The thing is I have no previous experience running a group and am having a hard time figuring out ways to promote it as I am not huge in social media (and maybe that's something I can work to change.)


I will be posting the November BOM sometime tonight but I also struggle with categories for that as well as there are only so many types of Y/A M/M books so if anyone has any suggestions please let me know.

[Susan65]

This is what i sent to Lori.

My kids are 15 and 16. Both like to role play from anime and other graphic novels. Maybe if we could come up with some role playing ideas based on YA books? Not sure how it would work here but kids love that stuff.

Another idea I have, for either group, was a "Name that book" or "Name the character" based on a m/m novel. We could take an excerpt and see who can guess what books it's from, or let them know the book and guess who said it?

[Juli]

Something else I noticed is we have had alot of people join but not post anything. Harper and I were trying to send out welcome letters to new members and since Harper decided to step down as a moderator I wonder if someone else would be willing to help me send out the letters on certain days of the week.

Maybe if we do that then it will give people a place to start.

[Jo]

We have teenage members here, right? I know we have at least a couple who aren't that far beyond their teen years and have contact with teens. I'm wondering if it might be an idea to have co-mods, one adult and one teen (or close to teen), since the teens would be better able to bring more teens to the group than an adult might, and teens might have a better idea of what teens would want to discuss book-wise. Does that make sense?

[Summer]

I have a suggestion...I was literally walking out the door when I thought about it. What if we had a parent page? A page where parents could ask the teens in the group about parenting issues. This way, the teens and the other members of the group can communicate and help one another. Just a suggestion.

[K.Z.]

Jo wrote: "Ralph wrote: "I wonder if we'd attract more members and participation if we moved the focus from just YA M/M Romance to Gay YA books in general. Romance stories would still fall under that umbrella..."

Yup. I think that's basically what Ibis suggested: broaden the group's focus, maybe enough to include the L, B, and T as well as the G. All queer kids could then use it as a resource.

[Jo]

What about a section where readers could post story ideas that they would like to read? A "plot bunny" board, I guess you might say. One of the books I have under contract with Featherweight came about because I asked my daughters and their friends what they wanted to read; my younger daughter said "Something with dolphins" (which is her answer to everything) and one of my older daughter's friends said, "A story where two boys meet in a random circumstance and fall in love." So I ended up with a story about two boys who meet when a pod of dolphins strands themselves in a cove by the boys' homes. (It didn't turn out to be a romance, though.)

Just my experience, but I think teens like being able to tell authors what they want to read about.

[[deleted user]]

As much as I'd like to help out, I've already got commitments elsewhere, and I'm a writer to boot. At the moment, I've got edits for upcoming releases lined up, and I haven't had much time to network beyond Twitter and an occasional blog post. I've been trying to keep up with different group discussions, but I haven't been able to catch up on all of the groups I'm a member of here on Goodreads.

I must admit that the "M/M" tag is a bit problematic for me. It denotes not only erotic romance, having been used for adult fiction for so long, but it also limits the scope of the group to romance between boys. From my experience since I started publishing LGBT YA fiction, none of the mailing lists or groups I've participated in made such a specific distinction with regard to YA fiction for gay teens. It's always been "GLBT" or "LGBT", with topics that go all over the place.

Oh, and an unfortunate fact - the other mailing lists I'm on that're specifically for LGBT YA fiction are very, very, very quiet. Total tumbleweed town. It's too bad, but that's very much the trend. Adult fiction will always trump YA when it comes to interest and activity. :(

[Ralph Gallagher]

Susan65 wrote: "This is what i sent to Lori.

My kids are 15 and 16. Both like to role play from anime and other graphic novels. Maybe if we could come up with some role playing ideas based on YA books? Not sur..."

Please, no! There are already dozens of role playing groups on Goodreads and I'd personally rather not have this one turn into one.

I do like Jo's suggestion for a plot bunny board as well as Summer's suggestion for an area where parents can get advice from other parents and teenagers as well.

[Byron]

Hi,
I'm stepping out of the lurker corner for a couple of comments..
1). Thank you Lori for the work you do put in here. In NO WAY has it ever seemed like you were not paying enough attention.
2). I've often wondered why this group is YA m/m romance - instead of Gay YA or GLBTI YA Reads... Aside from the commentary about sex in YA stories, this group isn't that different from the Adult group, just smaller - which makes sense anyway (to me)..
3). This group is the group I lurk most in.. it's easier to follow, has links to books I love to read most and generally isn't as intimidating as the adult group. (having said that I do lurk a bit over there - just nowhere near as much as here!)
4). Most of the time when I think that I want to comment, I find that my comments come off as inane - social commentary skills are crap!
5). There are some great suggestions in this topic about directions in this GR group. Mine would be to maybe get some GLBTI bookshops - both online and in the real world interested in advertising the group to their customers. Here in Melb. we have a GLBTI bookshop who I'm sure would be happy to have a link to this group. They have a whole set of shelves dedicated to GLBTI YA readers.
6). Remember that all the YA books out there are about the size of a pin head compared to non YA books written. Add in the GLBTI sub genre and you don't have a HUGE stock to draw from. Having said that, there are bucket loads of books to read. Group task could be to create a list of possible reads in MORE than just YA m/m romance... i.e. sub catagories - Younger YA, Older YA, - I make this comment based in the theory that this group expands on it's title genre, but it doesn't mean the group has to, there is always the chance to do this sort of group listing with just the YA m/m romance genre.

runs back to lurking after the over exposure..
*hugs*
b

[Jo]

Maybe there could be a "teens only" section (a moderated one, with an adult mod if necessary, but otherwise only for teens) where they can talk about issues they might not be comfortable discussing where adults might see?

And I agree with Ralph about the role playing. I know teens like roleplaying, and it may seem like a role-play thread wouldn't be a bad thing, but my 16-year-old has seen two forums that she loved disintegrate completely after allowing role-play threads. The role-players ended up taking over the forums and driving away those who weren't interested.

[Kit Orellana]

I'm on goodreads a lot, so I see all the posts here, but most of the time I don't have anything to respond. I'm 18, female, and not gay, so not much personally relates to me. I'm willing to be a mod if you want someone younger

I really like Jo's idea of having plot one-liners that others can write stories about. I think that could be interesting, especially for people (like me) who can never think of what to write

I also like Summer's idea of having a sort of questioning page. Like one where teens can ask adults or adults can ask teens about whatever questions come up

[Jo]

I like Byron's suggestion of the Younger YA/Older YA. I've seen some content in YA M/M that I'm barely comfortable letting my 16-year-old read, and definitely wouldn't let my 13-year-old read. There's an ongoing debate in general about whether YA should be broken into two segments, because there's a huge difference between a 12-year-old (the lower end of YA) and an 18-year-old (the upper end). Readers and parents of readers might be trying to find GLBTQI books for younger teens or even older pre-teens and might be struggling to find books with appropriate content.

[Juli]

I think everyone has had some excellent ideas and I am excited that people are taking such an interest in our group.

[Patricia]

Along Jo's plot bunny idea, how about flash fic with a word or image prompt? I did a few of those and they are really fun. Plus, it'd help any teens who are interested in writing, help them develop their skills.

[Jo]

A writing mentoring section, where more experienced authors could help out teens (or even adults) who are interested in writing?

[K.Z.]

Jo wrote: "I like Byron's suggestion of the Younger YA/Older YA."

Yes, definitely. This too. Not many books would appeal equally to, and be appropriate for, a 12-year-old and 18-year-old.

[Ifrah]

Wow, I didn't know that this group was dying...

I'm not really sure what to do, I mean, I think this is the first time I've commented in this group, so I guess I'm one of the lurkers.

All I can say is that I promise to be more active in the group.

[Kaje]

I've been traveling so it'll be a few days before I have any time. I would go for the gay YA books to broaden the scope. I don't know if anyone mentioned the GSA GR group is doing stories right now so I would wait until end of Oct if you're going to do that here (let us get one written before soliciting the next.)

Do we have many young members at this point? (Maybe someone could look at the overlap with the adult group membership?) Because if we don't have under-18's then this group is functioning more like a YA thread of the adult group. I'd love to see a place for kids to discuss these books if we actually have some. (Speaking of ...has anyone heard form Bryen since Aug?

[Ralph Gallagher]

Jo wrote: "A writing mentoring section, where more experienced authors could help out teens (or even adults) who are interested in writing?"

I'd be more than happy to help mentor any teens who are interested in pursuing writing or editing.

[Lori]

Thanks everyone. Now that Juli is here, I'm going to step back and let you guys run with it. Stacey Jo, one of the mods in the adult group has offered to help Juli so she should be able to help her out with the technical aspects of the group. Katie, one of my other mods has offered to post some reading challenges. Ralph has offered to set up and moderate some chats so it looks like the group is in good hands.

I know even less about LGBT fiction than I do about YA fiction but if that's the direction you want to go in, I say go for it. I don't know that Juli, Stacey Jo or Katie know much about LGBT fiction either and that can make it difficult to come up with discussions, challenges etc...when you don't really know the topic.

Wonderful ideas...now we just need someone to implement them.

[Katie]

Hey everyone! I don't read a ton of YA m/m and even less LGBT fiction, but I'd be happy to run a few challenges if there's any interest. If one of the existing mods would be willing to create a challenge folder, I'll set some stuff up for November. If we don't get any takers, then we'll just remove the folder.

[[deleted user]]

Patricia wrote: "Along Jo's plot bunny idea, how about flash fic with a word or image prompt? I did a few of those and they are really fun. Plus, it'd help any teens who are interested in writing, help them develop..."

One Word was a godsend to me for several years. It's great for impromptu writing exercises, and you can certainly tailor it to go beyond just sixty seconds of writing.

[Reena]

I really like the idea of going YA Gay or YA LGBT rather than just YA M/M.

I truly meant to get more involved in this group just to find some good reads from the gay male perspective. Not sure what happened with that. I guess I didn't know where to start.

Is there a section for new or upcoming releases?

[Justin]

Ralph wroteI wonder if we'd attract more members and participation if we moved the focus from just YA M/M Romance to Gay YA books in general. Romance stories would still fall under that umbrella, but they wouldn't have to be the focus of the group.

Excellent point, Ralph

[Justin]

Lori, just an idea: Maybe add a tag to our IGT video to promote the group.

[Jo]

I'd be happy to act as a mentor as well; I've had experience with doing that. (I used to be a teacher, and almost 7 years ago was asked to mentor a high school student through her graduation project on publishing; I'm still informally mentoring her in her writing.)

[Alexis]

Moderatrix Lori wrote: "Hello everyone. There's been very little participation in this group lately and I'm trying to decide what to do about it. What it needs is a really dedicated moderator, who is well versed in the ..."

yes lets see you can read the most books in a week>
we have to be quizzed! (optional)

[Alexis]

Jo wrote: "Ralph wrote: "I wonder if we'd attract more members and participation if we moved the focus from just YA M/M Romance to Gay YA books in general. Romance stories would still fall under that umbrella..."

i don't think so!!!!!!!!

[Darkm]

I'm sorry, I haven't a great knowledge with Y/A books. I joined to support people and if there is something I can do I would be happy to help.

It doesn't seem bad the idea to widen the focus though, what hurt can it do?

[grumpybybirth]

I am one of those lurkers, but I wanted to say that I know lori was worried about lack of participation for author chats, but what if we used the authors we have in the group as a test run and see how they go. If they go well then we can broaded the scope and invite other authors to come talk to the group without fear of "embarrassment" for lack of interaction.

[Jo]

Alexis, you don't think focusing on gay or GLBT young adult instead of specifically romance is a good idea? (Just trying to clarify what you've said...I'm enjoying this discussion and my brain is going ninety miles a second trying to sort things out :))

I think grumpy has a good idea. There are some YA M/M authors here who might be willing to be chat guinea pigs; I know I'd be willing.

[Patricia]

I'd be willing to be a guinea pig too. lol

[Kaje]

I'm techno-challenged (and I wimped out on the M/M chat after a few minutes because I couldn't keep up.) Also I have only the barest hint of YA writing out yet. Still, I would be willing to participate in a chat if there was interest.

[Andrew]

I'd be willing to participate as well.
Nobody needs to be embarrassed: we'll have each other to talk to. :)

[Juli]

Okay so I though I posted last night but the internet ate my post apparantly.


I like the idea of changing the scope of this group to include all LBGT YA books but I wanted to have a catchy group title if possible. Any ideas?

Also I will be setting up a facebook group as well once we decide on a new group name.

If anyone has any category ideas for the book of the month let me know... if I can't think of something tonight I am going to just make it an open nomination.

[Jo]

Since we're coming up on Thanksgiving (in the States), Christmas, Hannukah, etc., what about holidays as a theme or category for the book of the month? Or am I misunderstanding the question?

You all can feel free to shoot me down on this one (I'm tired and my brain is working a bit wonky right now), but as for a group name...People have "book bags", and I've seen references to "QUILTBAG" as an acronym (GLBT plus a few), so what about "The Book Quiltbag"?

[Connor]

I'm with Byron -- I tend to lurk a LOT because I think my social commentary skills are crap. I always second-guess myself and then decide that no, I don't actually need to contribute, because everyone else has already said it or said it better or something.

(And yes, I'm already having second thoughts about posting this.)

That said: while I am a writer, I don't have any specifically YA titles published, though Tobias's Own is probably tame enough that any kid whose parents don't object to them watching kissing/making out on TV could read it. A lot of the rest of my stuff is too explicit for anything but adults.

I have plenty of material that would make good YA titles, but I wasn't sure there was much of a demand for it -- I'd never even heard of Featherweight until I joined this group.

As someone who enjoys writing, I think the "I'd like to read [plot/character/setting suggestions]!" thread (or folder) could be a lot of fun -- I've had great experiences with that kind of thing both in fandom and here on Goodreads.

I also like to wax rhapsodic about adverbs, adjectives, and why you should never ever listen to writing advice from someone who refuses to be edited, so the writing advice/mentoring idea appeals to me as well.

I pretty much write purely M/M (which I've always used as a shorthand for gay/homoerotic/totally-two-dudes-falling-in-love, no matter how much sex is in the end product), but I wouldn't object to opening the group to the rest of the queer spectrum.

And now I'm going to post this before I change my mind.

[Scylar]

Connor wrote: "I'm with Byron -- I tend to lurk a LOT because I think my social commentary skills are crap. I always second-guess myself and then decide that no, I don't actually need to contribute, because every..."

I'm glad you and Lord Byron ceased your lurking! lol. I also like your idea " I think the "I'd like to read [plot/character/setting suggestions]!" thread (or folder) could be a lot of fun." I'm up for it. Also, a challenge to writers in which a member picks a photo (from the photos folders) and the writer has to write the short story behind the photo.

[Ibis3]

Jo wrote: "Since we're coming up on Thanksgiving (in the States), Christmas, Hannukah, etc., what about holidays as a theme or category for the book of the month? Or am I misunderstanding the question?

You a..."

I don't know that that's familiar enough and could be awfully confusing (i.e. people might expect the group to be about quilting or crafts). Also, it might not appeal to teens very much. I could be wrong, but that's my impression.

[Scylar]

Ibis3 wrote: "Jo wrote: "Since we're coming up on Thanksgiving (in the States), Christmas, Hannukah, etc., what about holidays as a theme or category for the book of the month? Or am I misunderstanding the quest..."

I kinda agree with Ibis3 on the name idea. What about Y/A GLBT Literature?

[Juli]

Okay all I have officially changed the group name to YA LBGT Books as I thought literature was a little.. maybe stuffy and I am going to set up a Facebook page and thought books would be searched for more than literature.

This weekend I am going to go through this thread and pull everyone's ideas and set up a poll on what everyone most wants to see and depending on how many ideas there are set up the appropriate threads/pages.

If anyone has any ideas on how to get our name out there more that would be awesome just let me know or reply to this thread.

[Jo]

Ibis and Scylar, yeah, when I thought about it later I thought the same thing... Like I said, I was tired when I posted that. LOL. I like YA LGBT Books as a group name.

Connor, Featherweight is awesome to work with, speaking as one of their authors. If you have YA stories that would fit them, I would definitely recommend submitting.

[Kaje]

Like the name change. And I think a story prompt with some facts chosen by the prompter (names, ages, a few story details) might be fun and different from the picture prompts we just did on the adult side.

[Connor]

Jo wrote: "Connor, Featherweight is awesome to work with, speaking as one of their authors. If you have YA stories that would fit them, I would definitely recommend submitting."

Good to know, thank you. I do have one that's almost ready to go, and this is the impetus I need to finish whipping it into shape.

Scylar wrote: I'm glad you and Lord Byron ceased your lurking! lol. I also like your idea " I think the "I'd like to read [plot/character/setting suggestions]!" thread (or folder) could be a lot of fun." I'm up for it. Also, a challenge to writers in which a member picks a photo (from the photos folders) and the writer has to write the short story behind the photo.

Thanks. Delurking is never as bad as I think it will be... And now I'm off to poke at the short story prompts thread.

[Justin]

Juli wrote: "Something else I noticed is we have had alot of people join but not post anything. Harper and I were trying to send out welcome letters to new members and since Harper decided to step down as a mod..."

I'll help welcome new members. I'm on the MMR group Welcoming Committee so am familiar with the job. If you are happy for me to take on this position, please send me the letter and other info.

[Lena]

I haven't read and/or reviewed too many YA books, but I usually grab them when I can. I know there is a great need for more of them. This appears to be one of the best suggestions. As long as the books are YA with any kind of LGBTQ theme, then it would fit. That would also broaden the genre since even in YA books there is a huge range from Fantasy to Contemporary and every thing in between. Young adults would probably be more comfortable if they knew the group dealt with issues other than romance.