Week Seven: All This Teen Talk!

   TEENAGERS, WHAT??

As we are all aware, there is a large amount of crossover between teen and adult fiction readership; therefore, it is helpful to be familiar with current titles and trends in teen literature. We all know about Twilight and The Hunger Games, but what’s next? Is it all just vampires and arena battles? Let’s spend this week finding out.
Week 7: Assignment 1Take a look at the “What to Read Next” flowchart from the Lawrence Public Library (also available in PDF format.)
Week 7: Assignment 2
Read any two of the following short articles. Post comments on your blog, and make comments on two colleagues’ blogs.

• New Adult: Needless Marketing-Speak Or Valued Subgenre? Publisher’s Weekly, Dec 14, 2012
• Who is Buying Teen Books? Christian Science Monitor Sep 14, 2012
• The Next Big Thing YALSA; The Hub, Oct 2012
• YA Comes of Age Publisher’s Weekly, Oct 3, 2011
• Not Just for Teens [PDF] Library Journal, Jun 15, 2011   

   I AM A NEW ADULT!!

New Adult (PW article) is the new word in the publishing world of the style of fiction that is geared for the post-YA reader.  Apparently publishing is also about marketing, hence trying to pigeon-hole readers into genres and subgenres - New Adult being the new subgenre for the reader getting out of YA, is in their early 20s, and is okay at handling some more 'mature' themes (ahem, sex and violence).  I have been out of the loop in YA, I suppose.  Are all YA titles meant to be clean and free of sex and scuffles?  This I did not know.  Good to hear publishers are making room.

Of course I am being sarcastic.  I dislike the idea of creating a marketing niche for a segment of readers in this lil' corner of the reading world.  I can see how it can work for marketing, but as a librarian, and as a reader, I hate the idea of people plotting and scheming on what will work for this section of the 'market'.  It's like the music industry formulating and creating boy or girl bands for pop music.  They create a package to appeal to the masses.  These artists/performers may not even write their own songs; they simply sing what a producer gives them.  It become less about artistry and more about mass performance and money making.  Blarg, you can see how this leaves me:  not my taste.  It seems like trying to create a market for readers who didn't realize they enjoyed reading, and oh, wait -- guess what, they do!

Do publishers not believe that good books will be found and read by readers?  Apparently it must mean money, or else this niche wouldn't have been created.  Pats on the back to whatever publishing exec came up with the idea.  Barf.

(I guess I shouldn't be too hard on the idea if this niche creates more readers.  More people reading is a good thing.  Even if -- in the word's a library patron, not mine -- "all this stuff is crap.")

So here is YALSA to shed some light on the subject.  YA isn't just for teens; it's for adults, too.  New Adult is meant to feature the engaging qualities of YA for adults.  Ok, I get that.  I just hate the way it seems so corporate.  I get that readers of YA obviously may go outside of the typical 12-17-year-old age range.   I get that readers are intrigued by the humor, the action, the fantasy, and the lives of teens or post-teens.  But as I said before, a good book can be a good book that stands on its own. Maybe I just hate labeling things, especially for the sake of sales.  READ WHAT YOU LIKE.  My motto has always been, "Get Some!".

(My comments for other Bmore Bloggers on Week 7 are here (Kat's Blog) and here (Zeke's Blog).

Week 7: Assignment 3
Choose any two of the following blogs/websites. Follow them for a week. Post comments to your blog regarding who is writing it, who is the intended audience, is it successful, etc.

• John Green Books or John Green’s Tumblr
• Stacked
• Teenreads
• Forever Young Adult
• Cassandra Clare’s Tumblr
• School Library Journal: Someday My Printz Will Come (Seasonal)
• Squeetus Blog: Official Blog of Shannon Hale

 

Forever Young!  Their tagline is: Forever Young Adult is a community for YA fans who are a little less "Y" and a bit more "A."  Their About Us photo features a couple of their staff reading and sipping cocktails.  I liked them instantly.  They not only review books, but give the latest on other media and pop culture, and if you're really feeling forever young and want their gear, they even have a store where you can purchase cute tshirts with graphics and statements (many of which I am not hip or YA enough to understand).  Their book reviews are also featured on Kirkus.  FYA definitely has a sense of humor, a sense of keeping up with all things pop culture, and all the while making sure to enjoy the ride.  You get a sense they do this site because they love it, not because they have to, and not because it is part of any job requirement from their publishing house.




Teenreads is a site put out by The Book Report Network.   Features include Adult Books You Want to Read, and Books on Screen.  Books on Screen is pretty neat b/cs they keep you up to date not only on what is on the big screen, but also with what is coming out on DVD (movies and tv series).  If you're really out of the loop you may be learning what screen adaptation was made from a book in the first place.

Adult Books You Want to Read explore that lines of opening YA readers up to the, uh, A world.  As I've said, I'm all for readers reading what they like, so encouraging more reading is always a good thing.  This site is another text-heavy one, but if you don't mind missing graphics/images/media with your author interviews or book reviews, you're in good shape.  They also feature contests.  Fun!

Week 7: Assignment 4Choose any two of the following teen imprints and spend some time on their websites. Blog about any trends you find in either current or forthcoming teen fiction.

• Harlequin Teen
• Harper Teen
• Little, Brown Books for Teens
• Teens/Penguin Young Readers
• Teens at Random
• Tor Teen (Macmillan)

 

 Alright, if you haven't figured by now, I am pretty quick to judge a website.  I need it to be easy to navigate, be cleanly organized, and have interesting things to read or do.  When you browse a site, do you ever wonder who it is geared toward?  If that person is you?  Are you a patient academic who loves words, and words only?  Are you a visual person who prefers a graphic oriented page?  Or are you someone on drugs who enjoys looking at websites that assault you with so many images, music, or videos and animation that you feel viewing the page will blow your mind?

I am not the latter.  Nor am I a teen any longer, so I'm not sure what teens like.  Some of the above sites could use a bit of teen feedback, IMO.  But overall, they are alright.  They are obviously put together by publishing companies employed by techies and readers, but they are alright.




Teens @Random seems to be geared toward younger teens.  A pretty straightforward site, it almost lacks for interesting things to look at.  However, there are plenty of tabs at the top to direct the browser to other topics.  I particularly like the option for games (under Fun).  However, I was disappointed by the option of only one game (based on the Inheritance series).  Fun apparently means watching videos (commercials??) for upcoming or current books.  Plus there was a dead link on the fun page (for I guess a video on the Mazerunner series).  This review is souring, no?  Teens @Random needs some intake of fun protein to beef up its appeal.  If I find it lame, I am going to guess the average teen will spend 30 seconds browsing, maybe watch a video of a book of interest, and move on to something else.

 

Macmillan's teen page is called Tor/TeenStarscape.  I didn't know what that was, so I peeked at their about us page and found their Tor/Forge division is for science fiction and fantasy.  I'm not sure why sci-fi and fantasy is geared towards teens; it appeals to adults as well.  Anyway, this is a trend of some libraries to place sci-fi with YA.  I don't know why.  I wonder how that makes adults feel when they're in the teen section looking for books.

Anway, there is no fun section here.  This publisher page is for readers.  Readers who want to know what's coming out on Macmillan.  You can read book synopses, you read previews.  You can look at book covers.  As far as other interactions, they do provide podcasts featuring author interviews, which is a plus.  But as far as fun and games, no such luck, pal.  Readers. Only.

Maybe Macmillan feels like they want to keep it simple, which is respectable.  Only the facts, Sam.  And from viewing Random's page, maybe Macmill doesn't want to be bothered with ensuring links and games are functioning.  But there other ways to have fun and to keep your readers engaged with your products.  Enter, Little Brown.



So the assignment called for two observations, but I'm doing three because I found some stuff on Little Brown's teen site that are worth mentioning.  They do have a 'fun' link (which is full currently?  and that's no fun!), but it's not worth exploring (because you can't!  did I tell you it was 'full'?!).

What they do have are embedded links to other social media.  A promo link for This is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer Smith take you to their twitter feed.  The featured image is a link to a video on Finishing Academy, by Gail Carringer.  Book review, author interviews, social media are nicely spread throughout the site, giving the view options of what to look at and where to go.  My favorite was a link to a tumblr page on How to Finish (tying in with their book).  LB Teens is working hard at appeal and interest, something that text/read only sites are pretty lacking in.