Rachel Cohn's most recent work, Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist, is co-written with David Levithan. On her own, she has written two novels about the incomparable Cyd Charisse (Gingerbread and Shrimp) as well as the pop rock novel Pop Princess. Since current music technology plays such an important part in Nick & Norah, N&N is a perfect example of a YA Lit 2.0 book.
Site: http://www.rachelcohn.com/
Myspace: http://myspace.com/rachel_cohn
1. I know you have a website and a blog on Amazon, and I found your playlist for N&N at yerlittlesister.com – or, at least, part of it. Are there other ways you’re using technology to reach out to readers?
The Internet is the primary tool I use for reaching out; I don’t really have much technical prowess, or time, beyond that. But my understanding is that the site Random House is putting up for N&N (www.nickandnorah.com) is going to have some pretty amazing features, including blogs (with character profiles), podcasts, an audio excerpt, a playlist creator and more. (The site isn’t completed yet, but should be up and running by the end of May.) I’m so excited to see it!
Check it out now: http://www.randomhouse.com/teens/nick&norah/
2. How did you choose the songs on the playlist? Was David involved, or is this “your” playlist for the novel?
I’m a person who never doesn’t have music playing, whether it’s at home, where I always either have iTunes playing, or more likely, a webstream radio station tuned in, and if I am outside, at least when I’m home in NYC, my iPod is generally always on as I maneuver from place to place. So because my own personal music library is pretty extensive, it’s pretty easy for me to cull songs for a playlist. I have a playlist for every mood, for any book I’m writing – sometimes the playlists do indeed feel infinite. I choose the songs on any playlist according to mood, songs that will inspire and entertain, or music that will help take me to certain emotional places when I’m writing.
David was involved in the creation of my N&N playlist in the sense of the songs and feelings for the Nick character he wrote in N&N providing great inspiration, but otherwise, we operate independently when creating our individual playlists. We do exchange mixes often.
3. From what I’ve heard about the book so far, it sounds like this is one that cried out for a playlist. Did you put the list together at someone’s request, or did you decide to do it on your own?
On my own. Seriously, if I could, I’d spend all my writing time creating playlists, and none of it actually writing.
4. How do you see teens using the playlist? What effects do you hope it has on their reading experience? How do you think you would have responded as a teen if these kinds of materials (playlist, blog, etc) had been available for your favorite book/author (I’m assuming you were a reader!)
I’d love for teens to be inspired by any playlist I create, but I have a feeling my taste may be a little too old school for them. But generally, I think playlists are a great motivational tool to excite teens about reading a book, and hopefully, if the author explains the song choices, the playlists give the reader a deeper insight into the characters and the story, and the inspiration behind the book.
I think I would have been very excited as a teen if my favorite author had blogs and playlists so readily available. I loved reading and would have loved any chance to learn more about my favorite characters and authors. Although in the interest of full disclosure, I should note my own teen reading tastes leaned toward Jackie Collins and Sidney Sheldon, and somehow, I’m thinking their song choices would not have been music I considered “cool” – then or now.
5. How do teens respond to these enhancements (playlist, blog, etc)? When you do appearances & receive email or comments, do teens comment on your blog, your website, the playlist, etc?
I haven’t gotten much teen response to the playlist or blog, probably because neither is posted on a site where teens typically would look for them. I’ve yet to post playlists on iTunes, but if I ever get it together, I might do that. I am really not a blog type of person – the amazon blog was just a fun experiment, doubt I will continue it. At David’s inspiration, I set up a MySpace page recently, which I find easy and fun to use, and it gets a lot more traffic and response from teens than the amazon page. So I may post the occasional blog entry on the MySpace page moving forward, but doubtfully too often.
The MySpace pages and my message board are where I get the most feedback from teens – and it’s tremendously gratifying and enjoyable as an author to have this direct connection with teen readers. (You can see their comments for yourself at: http://p210.ezboard.com/brachelcohn and http://myspace.com/rachel_cohn.)
6. Are there any other enhancements/promotions in the works for Nick & Norah as its publication date approaches?
See answer to question 1. We’re also doing an author tour for the book, and I think there will be prizes of iPod Shuffles from Random House, which I expect will be a big hit! I also have a website re-launch (on my own site, www.rachelcohn.com) coming very soon, and the new design is very much influenced by the spirit of N&N. I’m really excited about it.
7. Do you enjoy adding to your books in this way, or would you rather concentrate on writing? It seems like you have a lot of fun with it (I read some of you co-blogs with Libba Bray, for example), but that it’s also time consuming.
I’d rather concentrate on writing and do the occasional guest blog on Libba’s LJ! Blog-wise, I just don’t have that much to say. Or maybe it’s that I have too much to say and if I start blogging, I will never write another book.
8. Finally, why bother with all this? Isn’t the book the most important thing?
Exactly. I love bothering with all this, it’s so much fun – but in the end, the writing time takes first priority.
-Rachel Cohn to Anita Beaman
May 4 2006**
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