Merit Press

		Merit Press. It’s all in the name. When we envisioned what a new Young Adult imprint should be, we recalled the books that changed our lives, the kind readers don’t see so much anymore — enduring, exciting, intensely readable stories about young people facing an all-too-challenging contemporary world. Merit Press plots twist and turn with a mix of extraordinary, heartbreaking and seemingly magical events, from shattered friendships, to burgeoning romance to searing secrets and life-and-death danger. In short, they’ll offer readers an emotional journey of adventure and love, dread and delight, peopled with authentic characters that will stay with them for the rest of their lives.

Dear Book Lover,

Call it a gift, or call it a character flaw. I just don’t want to do what everybody else is doing. I want to do what nobody else is doing, and do it the right way.

Literature for young adults is soaring, leading publishing into the second decade of a new century just as it should be. Brilliantly conceived scenarios for the end of the world and fantastical creatures of all descriptions fill the shelves.

Now it’s time for the next wave of suspenseful, contemporary, real-world, real-time stories, with a sinister, hilarious, or romantic twist – the kinds of stories that changed our own lives when we were teens, and that change our lives now.

I want to publish the next Carrie, The Book Thief, National Velvet, Tuck Everlasting, Mr. and Mrs. Bo Jo Jones, and The Outsiders. These will be the classics for a new generation, and they’re being written right now. Since suspense (noir or pastel, comic or macabre) is my love, I hope I have a sense for finding those stories. As it turns out, a big part of my vocation, at this point in my career, is the desire to discover and nurture great new writers, and to put great books in the hands of great readers.

We don’t have to get young people reading again. They’re ready to read. We do have to give them the one thing that money can’t buy, which is class.

With all this in mind, under the aegis of F+W, one of the most trusted names in media, Merit Press was born.

These books will cross genres and generations; each of them has the pearl of the extraordinary in their pages.

So, I guess I’m just lucky, and you are, too.

Welcome to the new wave of YA, with Merit Press.

Yours always,

Jacquelyn Mitchard
Editor-in-Chief
Merit Press

PRAISE: “The actor David Garrick is famous for saying that although death is easy, comedy is hard. The same goes for suspense. It is thought to be easy, when in fact, it is staggeringly difficult. No one knows the complex elements of suspense better than Jacquelyn Mitchard, the fact that it is more than action, more than character, more even than pacing, that suspense must be embedded in both the outer rim and the inner sanctum of the narrative. In my experience, no one has ever understood this more fully than Jackie.” Thomas H. Cook, Edgar Award Silver Dagger Winner, author, The Chatham School Affair “You’re in the hands of a master. Close your eyes and hold on!” Karin Slaughter, author, Fractured “Jacquelyn Mitchard knows great writing like a gardener knows great orchids. She’s smart and careful and has astonishing taste.” James Strauss, author, screenwriter, and TV writer for House
		December ISBN: 9781440552649UPC: 045079552647$17.95 (CAN $18.99)Hardcover5½ x 8½, 256 pagesWorld English Rights			December ISBN: 9781440556654UPC: 045079556652$17.95 (CAN $18.99)Hardcover5½ x 8½, 272 pagesWorld Rights			December ISBN: 9781440552700UPC: 0405079552708$17.95 (CAN $18.99)Hardcover5½ x 8½, 272 pagesWorld English Rights
		January ISBN: 9781440552618UPC: 045079552616$17.95 (CAN $18.99)Hardcover5½ x 8½, 272 pagesWorld English Rights			January ISBN: 9781440554575UPC: 045079554573$17.95 (CAN $18.99)Hardcover5½ x 8½, 256 pagesWorld English Rights
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES: For information about submitting a book proposal or to submit one that you’ve already written, as a hopeful publication by this new imprint, please read our submission guidelines.