I have been looking out for the release of “Silver Phoenix” for months! I came across the gorgeous cover and Cindy Pon’s name once when browsing Absolute Write for information about agents. I checked out her website and blog immediately and was thrilled to my toes to see that this novel was going to be released in May 2009. (Correction! The release date is actually April 28, 2009. Thanks Cindy!)
“Silver Phoenix: Beyond the Kingdom of Xia” is a heroic Asian fantasy about Ai Ling (yes, I did wince at the name similarity to Ai Li) a girl with extraordinary gifts who embarks upon a journey to find her missing father.
I’m going to start stalking bookstores for this. I’m sure I’ll find other similarities since this story is set in the same wuxia (martial arts heroic fiction) genre, but I’m hoping (selfishly) that this indicates there’s a market for what I write. Even though this book is YA, it seems like there must be a lot of crossover potential. I’m certainly going to read it! And if Asian fantasy can penetrate the YA market…oh, the possibilities!
Cindy has a fabulous trailer for it on her website. Check it out!
She also has a release party going on until June 8th. Follow this link.
Apr 26, 2009 @ 17:09:05
thanks so much for the shout out! release day is on tuesday 4/28. eee!! =DDD
Apr 26, 2009 @ 18:50:25
There is absolutely a market for this. Some vague math:
There’s a whole bunch of Asian people.+
They want their kids to learn English.+
Their wily teachers look for stuff the kids will be interested in.=
Massive market-
Linda Sue Park can only write so fast.=
Bandi & Luni’s at the Seoul COEX will give you a shelf.
Not too long ago I was on a reader forum and came across a teacher in Seoul asking for recommendations for teen girls. Hmm, I wonder if I still have her info.
Apr 27, 2009 @ 04:51:40
cindy:
Thanks for stopping by. Congratulations and I’ll update the release info in my post.
You know, I am visiting a bookstore tomorrow for my weekly critique group. Going to be searching.
Apr 27, 2009 @ 04:54:16
Charlotte:
Spread the word! I often wonder whether Asian fiction written by non-native Asian writers will do well in markets like Korea and China.
Regardless, I think it’s a huge untapped market in English language fiction. I dream and dream and dream. 🙂
Apr 27, 2009 @ 09:37:46
I’m seriously thrilled about this! I’ll be checking B&N tomorrow–it’s right across the street from work 🙂
I think there’s a huge market for Asian fiction but it just hasn’t been explored yet–at least I’m hoping so since that’s what I’m writing too.