Regarding Douglas Wolk's "The Road to Fruition" (Aug. 22): Alternative Comics' short-term cash-flow woes actually occurred well after Nick Bertozzi decided to shop The Salon to mainstream publishers. We were ready to publish Nick's book and had worked out an agreement with our primary distributor, Diamond Comic Distributors, for them to shoulder a good portion of the financial risk and upfront costs.
The main issue was that because Alternative Comics had planned to publish The Salon as an ultra-deluxe hardcover, we weren't able to offer Nick a five-figure advance on royalties. For our business plan, the profits and his royalties would start kicking in heavily after x number of books were sold. Nick and his wife have expenses related to raising a toddler, and they needed money on the front end. His deal with St. Martin's calls for him to receive a tidy advance royalty with a somewhat less ambitious softcover release than the hardcover we had envisioned at Alternative Comics.
Nick Bertozzi continues to create his popular award-winning Rubber Necker comic book series for Alternative Comics, and I expect Nick's name to soon be mentioned in the same breath as cartoonists Marjane Satrapi, Craig Thompson, Daniel Clowes, Frank Miller or Art Spiegelman.
JEFF MASON, PUBLISHER ALTERNATIVE COMICS
Teachers Had a Role in YA Rise
While I appreciated Marc Aronson's recognition of the rise in young adult readership ["Getting Over the Rainbow Party," Aug. 22], I am dumbfounded at his suggestion that "motivated authors, librarians, booksellers and publishers" are solely responsible for it.
I teach eighth grade English and feel another reason is at hand: kids today are challenged to read by teachers and state standards. California standards require that an eighth grader read a million words of outside reading a year, and good teachers are finding a way to make this happen.
Unlike 10 years ago, when a program called whole language was in place and students were left to their own devices to find their way to books, and reading at the eighth grade involved crayons and drawing pictures (I swear), today's students must read books and write comprehensive one- and two-page essays.
I have, for a number of years now, predicted a reading renaissance among young kids and eventually adults, but this is after we go through that era of former students subjected to the whole language approach. Each year I feel I get a better prepared student, which means I can send on an even better prepared student to the next teacher.
JOHN BAXTER VALLEY VIEW MIDDLE SCHOOL, SIMI VALLEY, CALIF.
