Sisters Alexandra and Annabelle Chang appear to lead storybook lives. Annabelle, now a sophomore at Stanford, opened her YA-centric bookstore Annabelle’s Book Club LA in 2023, when she was 16. Located on Ventura Boulevard in the Studio City neighborhood of Los Angeles, the boutique bookery has a cameo in the new Jamie Lee Curtis/Lindsay Lohan body-switching sequel, Freakier Friday.

Alexandra Brown Chang, Annabelle’s older sister and a Stanford art history graduate, is the debut author of By Invitation Only (McElderry, Sept.). Set in Paris and spangled with references to couture and Instagram handles, By Invitation Only alternates perspectives between posh Chapin Buckingham—the daughter of a Hollywood star and a rock idol—and science whiz Piper Woo Collins, a Pennsylvania teen who becomes a debutante through a twist of good fortune.

On September 2, Annabelle’s Book Club hosted a book launch for By Invitation Only. Before the party, Annabelle and Alexandra spoke with PW about YA and new adult categories, research for the novel, and why they stan the book industry.

You’re both entrepreneurs who are into art history, fashion, product design, and media. What keeps you so invested in the publishing world?

Annabelle: I love all sides of the book industry that I’ve been lucky enough to explore: the bookseller side, the writer’s side through Alexandra and my mom [author Amanda Brown], and the many wonderful authors we host at the store. In everything that I learn and do, I always come back to books as my first love.

Alexandra: That’s very well said, Annabelle. With the rise of book clubs and the incredible community that Annabelle’s built through her store, I feel excited about the future, seeing how books can really be such a positive force.

What literary categories do you two enjoy when you’re reading or writing?

Annabelle: The store is young-adult focused, but we aim to have something for everyone. We have a lot of new adult, adult, children’s books, kind of a mix of things. But people get so excited about YA, and in addition to these stories being impactful for readers of all ages, I think one thing driving the excitement is screen adaptations, shows like The Summer I Turned Pretty, for example.

Alexandra: When I was working on By Invitation Only, I felt inspired by a middle grade series, The Clique by Lisi Harrison. That was a formative reading experience for me. Even though the protagonists are a bit younger [than YA], I love her characterization and her sense of humor and language. I also read a lot of Edith Wharton—I’m reading The Buccaneers right now, another adaptation and a great TV show that gets people excited about YA and new adult.

When did you decide to try writing YA fiction?

Alexandra: Even before I came up with the idea for By Invitation Only, I wanted to write a young adult novel. I keep revisiting YA because coming of age never stops. You can go through it multiple times in your life, because every new stage that you hit, you kind of have to figure out who you are, who you want to be, and where you fit in. YA allows you to explore the big emotions that characters are feeling, along with the fun parts of growing up, the cringey parts, the awkward parts, all of it.

As a writer and a reader, I also love unlikely friendships or partnerships, so I created two seemingly polar-opposite characters. It made sense for each of their points of view to alternate every chapter, to give them equal narrative weight.

Did you two bounce ideas off one another while the book came together?

Alexandra: Annabelle has been hearing about this idea for a little over five years now, so she was very gracious! She read pretty much every single draft, because I value her opinion and feedback so much. We have two other sisters, and I asked them to read it as well, and all of their feedback means the world to me.

Annabelle: We do have a shared interest in books and fashion, and I loved seeing By Invitation Only at every stage. I got to see it come to life, and it’s been fun getting to collaborate around the release. We were able to do a panel together at South by Southwest earlier this year, too. There’s no one I’d rather do that with.

Have your personal experiences influenced By Invitation Only?


Alexandra: The whole idea was sparked by my own experience as a debutante. I was supposed to participate in a ball in New York during my freshman year of college, but I ended up becoming a debutante dropout—I did not go through with it. By the time it concluded, I had enough inspiration to complete the story. I also did tons of research online, looking through old Vogue and Vanity Fair articles to get the details right, and I’ve been lucky enough to visit Paris several times. I went recently and did a ton of research when I was there, which was the best excuse ever to go to Paris and visit the museums I included in the book.

You both know the book and entertainment industries well—how did you go about finding a publisher?

Alexandra: Jenny Han is one of our shared all-time favorite YA authors, so I went to her website, and under her contact section was Michelle Weiner, who’s a media rights agent at CAA. I emailed Michelle my book, hoping it would end up in her inbox, and she did click on it. She kindly responded and said, “I’m not a literary agent, but I like the idea.” She introduced me to Molly Glick, who is amazing.

You then worked with McElderry Books senior editor Kate Prosswimmer.

Alexandra: I loved how collaborative the entire process was. I felt like Kate understood the vision and the characters from the beginning, and I felt very supported throughout the editing process.

Do you two have any other collaborations coming up, or anything else you’re looking forward to as a family unit?

Alexandra: I’ll let Annabelle speak for the store, but we do have a few projects that we’re working on together. I’m working on a second book, and I work at a production company; I’m interested in writing in all formats, hopefully producing film and TV in the future.

Annabelle: My major is product design, which at Stanford is kind of a combination of business, technology, and all things creative, and I’m also thinking about a creative writing minor. I just spent the summer in New York, interning at [talent agency] WME’s literary department, which was incredible, too. In a dream world, I would love to see Annabelle’s Book Club expand to other cities. And it’s also been a dream of mine to launch a young adult imprint, so—maybe one day.

By Invitation Only by Alexandra Brown Chang. McElderry, $19.99 Sept. ISBN 978-1-66597-243-7