FIRST SECOND READS (BLOG)
test
:01 and NYCC 2012
test heading New York Comic-Con! It is a thing to which we are going. We even have a booth! It is #1214. We're super-excited to be featuring Zack Giallongo (Broxo) and Mark Siegel (Sailor Twain), both of whom have books just coming out that week. And the books are both awesome! Who can resist barbarians [...]
Aaaand… Happy book birthday to SAILOR TWAIN!
There aren't many books that make me feel all dreamy and sad and shivery the way SAILOR TWAIN does. Just thinking about this book makes me want to swim in the Hudson River -- probably not a good idea, but certainly an inspiring one. The Hudson inspires romantic feelings in all of us, I think, [...]
Happy Book Birthday to BROXO!
Four years ago I fell in love with a lonely barbarian boy on a mountain top. He had the unglamorous name of Broxo, and he fought the undead. I knew right then that the story had to become a First Second graphic novel. Zack Giallongo, the writer and illustrator of Broxo, created a world that's as [...]
Banned Books Week
Guys! This week is Banned Books Week -- celebrate the freedom to read by going to your local library or bookstore and reading something. Most books that get banned or challenged are books that contain some sort of complicated topic that some people may find difficult to discuss. Try also celebrating this week by having [...]
Down the Hudson with Mark Siegel’s Sailor Twain
test headingWe're super-excited about our upcoming graphic novel Sailor Twain, which is full of mermaids and magic and sex and also some serious things which we won't mention here. Lev Grossman (of The Magicians fame) said this book was "a marvel of graphical beauty and complex, intelligent storytelling."Â How neat is that? If you'd like [...]
The Acquisition Process
test heading (photo from the Library of Congress. Our meetings have a much higher ratio of women to men. Also no one ever wears bow ties, to our great dismay.) How do books get acquired at First Second? What will happen to a manuscript after you send it to us? STEP ONE: Our editor reads [...]
Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong
Guys! We're doing a new free online graphic novel serial! It's going to be awesome! The book we're serializing is called Nothing Can Possibly Go Wrong, and it's by Prudence Shen and Faith Erin Hicks. You might remember Faith from her previous book with us (also a free online graphic novel serial) Friends With Boys. [...]
First Second Goes to the Brooklyn Book Festival
test headingThis weekend was the Brooklyn Book Festival! As half of our staff lives in Brooklyn, we like to support the borough. Also, two of our authors -- Derek Kirk Kim (Tune) and Mark Siegel (Sailor Twain) were featured in the programming. So off we went! Here's the program guide! And it even had a [...]
Spot UV
test headingThere's this thing called Spot UV, or Spot Gloss, or sometimes Spot Varnish. This is the technical term for making part of a matte book cover shiny. Sometimes what people choose to make shiny is the title! Or maybe there's a central character. Or something! Using Spot UV is a technique that designers apply [...]
R.I.P. Ashbel Green (1928-2012)
photograph by Martha Kaplan/Knopf  One of the great editors of the publishing world has passed away. Timothy Egan gives him a personal farewell in his aptly titled column "Death of a Gentleman." Goodbye, Mr. Green.
LET’S GET SOCIAL