Week 7

Week 7: Assignment 1:

Cool visual breakdown of various dystopian subgenres.

Week 7: Assignment 2:

New Adult: Needless Marketing-Speak Or Valued Subgenre? Publisher’s Weekly, Dec 14, 2012

So, “New Adult” is a new subgenre in YA fiction or just a marketing ploy (depending who you ask). Regardless it certainly has major appeal for many readers. The Goodreads New Adult Fiction group is up to over 2500 members! When scanning through titles labeled as “new adult” in Goodreads, I noticed most of them have fairly spicy covers. I wonder if significant sexual content is one of the primary qualifiers. It will be interesting to see how this new subgenre plays out.

Who's buying teen books? Lots and lots of adults

http://www.csmonitor.com/Books/chapter-and-verse/2012/0914/Who-s-buying-teen-books-Lots-and-lots-of-adults

This article referenced the study that showed 55% of YA novels are being read by readers who are over 18. This article goes on to cite “gateway” YA novels for many adults, such as Hunger Games, Harry Potter or Twilight. For me, the Harry Potter series revealed the magic of children’s literature again. I didn’t get around to YA books until much later when someone convinced me to try Sherman Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian. That was it for me.  I’ve been reading YA ever since.

I commented on the blogs of Maureen R. and Sandy L.

Week 7: Assignment 3

John Green’s Tumblr:

http://fishingboatproceeds.tumblr.com/

 I followed John Green’s Tumblr. John Green is the author; his readers (and general public) are the audience. Yes, it’s successful. It seems to be pretty rare that an author can have such a fervent following online. He’s been a major success in YA fiction for years, has a separate web presence that is not just about marketing his books. He is genuinely passionate about what he does. I like what he says about why he writes YA fiction:

“Writing novels takes a long time, and it’s completely impossible for me to do it unless I feel like the thing I’m working on is going to be helpful to people. Maybe to my discredit as a writer, I like to make stuff that is useful more than I like to make stuff that is beautiful. In short, I write because I share DFW’s belief that books can actually make human life better. For me, at least for the conceivable future, that means writing YA novels.”

 

Forever Young

http://foreveryoungadult.com/about

 I also followed the Forever Young blog. Forever Young is part of the Badass Digest blog, a site devoted to “all the things movie lovers love.” I particularly enjoyed the content here. As the Forever Young blog states, it’s for “readers who are a little less Y and a bit more A.” This site does a good job of incorporating book and movie reviews with lighter fare – e.g. internet distractions and drinking games. Forever Young seems to be pretty successful, lots of interaction in the comments and “shares” on Facebook.

 

Week 7: Assignment 4

Looking at trends in the teen sites was interesting. There are many common elements out there, namely DYSTOPIAS and riffs on fairy tales. Also, angels seem to be a hot topic right now. Hmm.

Harper Teen Trends:

·         Greek mythology

·         Dystopias

·         Paranormal fiction

 

Teens/Penguin Young Readers Trends

·         Dystopias

·         Vampires

·         Fantastical creatures: angels, fairies

 

Teens at Random Trends:

·         Dystopias

·         Stories related to fairy tales, folklore

·         Paranormal fiction

·         Historical fiction