Tip of the Day: Add my forthcoming book, THE PAPARAZZI PROJECT to your "to-read" list on Goodreads.
It must exist! Ok, something rather cool popped up on Wikepedia this week. An entry for New-Adult Fiction. Maybe you've heard the term tossed around between your cool author friends and wondered what the heck is New-Adult? I know I did the first time I heard it. According to Wikipedia:
"New-adult Fiction or post-adolescent literature is a recent category of fiction for young adults first proposed by St. Martin's Press in 2009.[1] St. Martin’s Press editors wanted to address the coming-of-age that also happens in a young person’s twenties. They wanted to consider stories about young adults who were legally adults, but who were still finding their way in building a life and figuring out what it means to be an adult.[2]"
I remember a time, not terribly long ago (about 2006), when I was querying agents with a book about a college freshman and was told several times that no one would ever buy a book with a main character of that age. That I either had to jack up the ages of my characters and make it an adult book or lower the ages and make it a young adult. I'll tell you that I made the characters younger and went along with what I was being told. But I often wondered, why don't people want to read about characters in college? What do the readers who feel young adult books are too young for them (and I don't know what age this happens at as I've yet to reach it myself) and don't want to read adult books read?
And finally there is a genre! New Adult is getting increasingly popular with stand-out self pubbers like Jessica Park and Jamie McGuire.
And you may have noticed that traditional publishers have taken notice of these NA self-pubbers and are snapping up their books left and right.
And finally Wikepedia has given the genre their own entry!
What do you guys think about New-Adult Fiction? Would you read it? Would you give writing it a try?
Kristina, Miss Author in Action
2 comments:
I have read it (in my opinion, books like Bret Easton Ellis's RULES OF ATTRACTION, Rona Jaffe's THE BEST OF EVERYTHING, and Alicia Thompson's PSYCH MAJOR SYNDROME all qualify) and would read more.
If NA were a movie, "St. Elmo's Fire" would be the quintessential example, don't you think?
I think that self-pubbing is the PERFECT arena for this genre! I'd love to write one, too, and have a general idea. I think the "problem" with it for bookstores/libraries is that they think the books will get lost in adult, and are possibly too racy for the YA shelves. I did buy C. K. Kelley Martin's NA title for my Nook and am looking forward to it!
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