New Adult: Needless Marketing-Speak Or Valued Subgenre? Publisher’s Weekly, Dec 14, 2012
"New Adult" was a buzz-word at last year's Book Expo America, and this year it was a topic of more than one session there. I feel that it is useful for the publishing industry, but libraries need not necessarily rush to create new spaces for these books as a collection. We have known for a while that readers read what they like and do not need to be pigeonholed by labels. I am attending ALA in a few weeks, and I am interested to compare the uses of "New Adult" within the library world with that of publishing.
Who is Buying Teen Books? Christian Science Monitor Sep 14, 2012
This article draws very insightful parallels between movie adaptations and book buyers. I think that the idea can trend both ways--movie-goers will seek out the books and readers will eagerly anticipate movie versions of their favorite stories. Teens today are consumers in their own right, and I often have parents coming in to the library asking for books that their teens have read and told them about. An interesting anectode: This morning I had a father and son looking for books for the boy's summer reading list. After they found a few, the dad asked me for The Mark of Athena. The boy said "I've already read that Dad," to which the dad replied "I know...it is for ME!"
I have commented on Doris Somers' and Maureen Roberts' blogs.
Hi Sam,
ReplyDeleteMeliss here. I felt rather smug reading these articles after we "attended" the Teen Lit Webinar a couple of months ago. That was an action packed blast for me. Can harldly wait for him to do another one. One thing I took away from the PW article was that New Adult can signal more mature sex and violence, which I think is a worthwhile designation to be aware of. I definitely agree with you that we don't need to make yet another collection, but I think we libs need to educate ourselves about the NA writers who are including more graphic sexuality and violence in their work.