Meg's Diary

Important Announcement

Well, if you want to know what I got for my birthday, here it is. No, it wasn’t a pink convertible Mini-Cooper. It’s even BETTER!!!

For Immediate Release

SCHOLASTIC TO PUBLISH MEGA-BESTSELLING AUTHOR MEG CABOT

Meg Cabot’s “Girl-World Domination” Kicks Off
With New Sassy Tween Series and Two Remarkable Teen Trilogies

New York, NY (February 5, 2007) — Scholastic, the global children’s publishing, education and media company, has won the rights to publish Meg Cabot, one of today’s most popular and bestselling authors for teens. The deal was negotiated on behalf of Meg Cabot by Laura Langlie of Laura Langlie Literary Agency.

Meg Cabot, who took the publishing world by storm with her phenomenally successful Princess Diaries books, heads off in a dazzling new direction with the launch of three brand-new series. As part of its “Meg Cabot Girl-World Domination” campaign, Scholastic will publish Allie Finkle’s Rules for Girls, a smart, funny series for readers ages 8-12 launching in spring 2008. In addition to the Allie Finkle books, two new trilogies for teens, Airhead and Abandon, will be published in 2008 and 2009.

Airhead is daring, highly entertaining and a new direction for Meg Cabot, and Abandon is a dramatic modern retelling of the myth of Persephone.

“Meg Cabot rocks,” said Lisa Holton, President of Scholastic Children’s Books. “Her new series are brilliant, funny, and totally fresh. We can’t wait to bring Meg’s exciting new work to millions of girls across the country. We will leave no feather boa unturned in our quest for girl-world domination.”

“Meg Cabot has an unbelievable ability to channel girls—readers always relate to her characters even though they’re princesses or they can see ghosts,” said Abigail McAden, Editorial Director, Point, an imprint of Scholastic. “Now, with Allie Finkle, she’s writing for a whole new set of kids, and I’m so excited for younger readers to meet Allie, who is nine and always follows the rules. Mostly. Or she secretly makes up her own. Regardless, Allie gets in a lot of trouble, whether it’s by breaking her own rules or somebody else’s—something every kid can relate to. Meg’s writing is in a league of its own: it’s remarkably accessible, filled with heart, and often just plain hilarious. And her new teen books are no exception: both Airhead and Abandon are fantastically absorbing and sure to be big hits with her teen readers.”

Meg Cabot is the author of over forty books for adults and teens, many of which have been bestsellers including five #1 New York Times bestsellers, most notably the Princess Diaries series from HarperCollins, which is currently being published in over 37 countries and was made into two hit movies by Disney. Meg Cabot’s books have sold more than 15 million copies worldwide. For teens, her books include the Mediator series, the 1-800-Where-R-You? books, All-American Girl, Ready Or Not, Teen Idol, Avalon High, and How to Be Popular. She also writes books for adults, including The Boy Next Door, Boy Meets Girl, Every Boy’s Got One, Size 12 Is Not Fat, Size 14 Is Not Fat, Either, and Queen of Babble. Her forthcoming young adult books for HarperCollins include Pants On Fire, Jinx, Princess Diaries 9 and 10, and a manga sequel to Avalon High.

Meg divides her time between Key West, Florida, New York, New York, and her hometown, Bloomington, Indiana.

Scholastic Corporation (NASDAQ: SCHL) is the world’s largest publisher and distributor of children’s books and a leader in educational technology. Scholastic creates quality educational and entertaining materials and products for use in school and at home, including children’s books, magazines, technology-based products, teacher materials, television programming, film, videos and toys. The Company distributes its products and services through a variety of channels, including proprietary school-based book clubs, school-based book fairs, and school-based and direct-to-home continuity programs; retail stores, schools, libraries and television networks; and the Company’s Internet site, www.scholastic.com.

Now, I know some of you probably have a lot of questions. I’ve already gotten a lot of them since the press release went out about this yesterday. For example:

Question: Meg, now that you work for Scholastic, the publishers of Harry Potter, does that mean you get to read the last Harry Potter book before the rest of us?

Answer: No.

Q: But does that mean you know who dies in the next Harry Potter book?

A: No.

Q: But can’t you just walk into Scholastic and sneak a peek at the manuscript? Didn’t they give you a key?

A: No.

Q: But don’t you know the editor? Won’t she tell you?

A: No.

Q: But doesn’t this mean you’re best friends with JK Rowling now? Will she tell you?

A: No, and no.

Q: Oh. Well. Does this mean you’re going to stop writing your other books, like the last Princess Diaries books and Queen of Babble 2 and 3 and the next Heather Wells mystery?

A: Of course not! I will be finishing up all of my current contracts with HarperCollins. It just means my contracts for NEW series are with Scholastic.

Q: But how will you be able to write all your books for HarperCollins AND all these NEW books for Scholastic?

A: I only have two books left on my HarperCollins contract that I haven’t finished writing yet (not including the mangas). The rest are already written and turned in, and I will be writing the others soon. And I have already finished writing the first book in each of the trilogies I will be doing for Scholastic.

Q: Can you tell us a little more about what the new series will be about?

A: Yes, but not until closer until their releases. I can tell you that, after revisions, one of them, Abandon is 100% guaranteed to be banned in Texas.

Q: Why did you decide to start writing books for younger readers (ages 8 and up)?

A: Because I get letters from so many of them, saying their moms won’t let them read my books. So I thought I’d write something they can read, too. The good thing is, their older sisters (and brothers) and moms and dads are going to love reading Allie Finkle too. She’s a heroine EVERYONE, no matter how old, can relate to. Because she’s just like you and me. Only funnier.

Q: When you say Girl-World Domination, does that mean you don’t want boys reading your books, too?

Of course I want boys reading my books! It’s just that more girls seem to read my books than boys (maybe something to do with all those sparkly pink covers…). But I love the fact that boys read my books, too! Especially since they are learning all sorts of secret stuff about girls. Boys who read my books are super smart…in more ways than one.

Q: Isn’t the Abigail McAden in the article above the same one you thank in the acknowledgements of a lot of your current books?

A: Yes. Abby was my first editor at HarperCollins, the only editor in all of Manhattan, in fact, who didn’t reject the Princess Diaries. She left HarperCollins last Spring to work as Editorial Director of a new teen imprint at Scholastic. But now we get to work together again!

Q: Why does it say you are splitting are time between Florida, New York, and Bloomington, Indiana? I thought you just lived in New York and Florida.

Since our apartment in New York is too small for two cats who hate each other to live in together (especially since one is an outdoor Key West cat), we bought a barn (!) outside of Bloomington that we will be living in during hurricane season every year. You will no doubt be hearing about it in this blog this summer. It will be an experiment neither cat (and at least one of their owners—namely yours truly–who has never lived in a barn–much less the country–before) may not enjoy at first…especially the traveling-to-get-there part. But it is better for all of us than risking what happened to Snowball.

Q: So if you are living in a barn out in the country during hurricane season, does this mean you’re really going to have to get your driver’s license?

A: Not necessarily, since they have taxis in Bloomington. But, yeah, okay, I’m studying for my test. I really mean it this time. Study, study, study…oh, look, Lifetime Channel!

Q: So you really don’t know what happens in the next Harry Potter?

A: Believe me, it was the first thing I asked. And no one I spoke to at Scholastic knows either. We’re all waiting to find out, too!

Thanks again for all the birthday wishes everybody! This has been my birthday EVER! But now I have to get back to work—as you can see from the above, I have a LOT to do!

This probably wasn’t the best time to give up caffeine. Oh, well.

More later.

Much love,

Meg

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