Note: I’m taking part in an awesome blog-a-thon hosted by a local-to-me freelance writer, Michelle Rafter. The Wordcount Blogathon is its fifth year and loads of bloggers in all sorts of niches participate.

This is my first time taking part, though I’ve lurked on discussions for a couple of years. The goal is to post on your blog every day in the month of May. My personal goal with that is to experiment with different types of posts. Our weekly “List-O-Rama” feature has been tremendously popular, so I’m thinking about ways to do more of that sort of content. I’m also hoping to do more commentary and opinion-type writing here and do more sharing-type posts. So, expect more content from me, in addition to our regular schedule of reviews and commentary from Laura and Sandra. We’ll see what sticks after these 31 days.

Y’all know that Sarah Ockler is 100% awesome, right?

This point is even more proven with the outstanding blog post about diversity (or more specifically, lack thereof) in young adult literature.

But the discussion glosses over an obvious gap: white authors.

Demographically speaking, Caucasians comprise the majority of young adult authors (according to Zetta Elliot’s 2011 interview with author Jacqueline Woodson, people of color make up less than 5 percent of children’s book authors published in the U.S. annually). So when you look at the sea of white stretching on forever along the shores of YA literature, know that white authors are by and large the ones putting it out there.

Which means we’re the ones who can—and must—change it by actively diversifying the stuff we’re writing, and by doing so in authentic, meaningful ways.

I’d never really thought about it, but Sarah’s latest novel, Bittersweet, has a very well-developed non-white character that is fully-developed and makes sense in the context of the story, particularly its location.

I was thrilled to read that Tor/Forge is going DRM-free for ebooks.

But, The Digital Reader has some interesting thoughts on the potential immediate results of this change.

…I wonder if everyone has really thought this through. There are a couple details that most seem to forget when they pin their hopes on this: Amazon has a nicer ecosystem and Amazon is better at selling stuff.

I’d assumed that removing DRM would help grow independent ebook stores. But I think TDR has a point—it’s so easy to buy ebooks from Amazon, that it certainly means that new indies in a DRM-free ebook landscape would need to make it very, very easy to find and buy ebooks. I’d love to see indie ebook stores sprout up, especially those curating titles for selected interests and genres, but it’s got to be easy to turn over your hard-earned cash, right?

Words cannot begin to express how much I agree with Read React Review’s excellent post on the Story Siren plagiarism mess.

But blogging IS writing. It may not be the same kind of writing as writing a novel or a journal article, but it is writing. I’m sorry that so many YA bloggers think so little of what they do. It’s as if, to some of them, creating blog posts is like taking a piss.

This is one of the things that’s bothered me most about the discussion of this story. I teach a blogging class and some other web courses at a college and it’s shocking to me how many folks share this attitude. (I spend a lot of time in my classes discussing citing sources and inspiration vs. stealing.) Just because words are written on the internet doesn’t mean that they’re any less valuable than those written on paper—and it doesn’t mean that anyone has a license to steal those words. Full stop. No exceptions.