Assignment 1: I loved the flowchart of teen reads. I do not generally read teen books, especially the distopian novels, but I do try to keep up with the new titles. I loved the way the titles were organized by genre type, and then the way new titles were linked to them. Crewel is on my to-read list, and I had not linked the theme of the book with the Hunger Games. When I read it, I will look out for those similar themes.
Assignment 2: I read the PW article "New Adult: Needless Marketing-Speak or Valued Subgenre?" because I was interested in more information the New Adult category. I had read something about New Adult online and looked at the title Losing It at Towson. After looking at Losing It, I was wondering is New Adult was another category of Romance. The article explained more about the group of customers that the publishers are trying to reach. I will be looking at titles with a more open mind toward books geared to the 18-20 something age group. The next article I read was "The Next Big Thing" in Yalsa's The Hub. I really liked the Hub article, and I will be reading that webpage in the future. The article looked at adults reading teen books. I thought the list of reasons for adults reading teen books was enlightening. I had not thought about the link between books and tv shows and the popularity of fantasy and dystopian novels. While there are adult distopian and fantasy titles, the teen titles are written differently. The growth of adult authors writing for teen audiences also increases the popularity of the teen titles for the adult audience.
I made a comment on Becky K's Looking Up blog and on Amie L's Kraft Frog Reads.
Assignment 3: Stacked is a blog by librarians about young adult literature. There was an in-depth review of Absent by Katie Williams. I especially liked a post about contemporary realistic fiction. It included a list of recommended books with short summaries and a discussion of what constitutes realistic fiction. The blogger has other posts concerning genres that I will have to look at. The authors of Stacked state that they are writing to draw the interest of YA readers to new books.
TeenReads includes reviews of teen books and interviews with authors. The website is part of the BookReport Network which includes blogs about childrens books, 20somethings, graphic novels, and a few other topics. The author interviews are easily accessible from an index. The book reviews are clearly posted on the front page of the website. I like to be able to see new titles and reviews at a glance, and TeenReads makes it easy to access the reviews. The Ultimate Reading list is ambitious (it includes 400 titles) but it sounds like a great resource for title suggestions, and the Adult Books and Books on Screen are also very useful. There is also a newsletter that can be subscribed to. TeenReads is visually interesting with photos and graphics that would appeal to teens. They also advertise a Teen Board which contributes to the blog, and they have book giveaways and polls for teens to participate in.
Assignment 4: I looked at the LB Teens and TOR Teen websites. Both sites highlighted fantasy, steampunk and sci-fi titles. LBTeens featured Gail Carringer's Etiquette & Espionage, a steampunk/fantasy take on the boarding school story. Popular authors Cornelia Funke and Chris Colfer are also featured. TOR/Starscape also has fantasy/vampire books, sci-fi and humor stories. Adult book authors Brandon Sanderson and Cory Doctorow both have books on the top sellers list. Vampire and dystopian stories are still well represented in the new books on these websites.
I enjoyed reading your thoughts on the same 2 articles that I read in assignment 2. Like you they made me think through the rationale of the publishers. I think merchandising is a great way to promote Adult Books to Teens and vice versa. Changing the label to Young Adults does not seem necessary to me.
ReplyDeleteDang you: you've made me want to go and read two of the articles that I haven't had a chance to read yet! I want to hear more in YALSA's "The Next Big Thing" article about the link between books and TV shows and the popularity of fantasy and dystopian novels. I also agree that it's a brilliant marketing ploy to increase a bestselling "adult" author's market share by contracting with them to write novels--preferably a series--for teens. They're a crafty bunch.
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