Thursday, March 6, 2014

Special Topic Paper



GeNEWration Adult: New Trend or Marketing Trap?

Nicole Elischer


Imagine this scenario: you are wandering through the library, looking for a good book to read. You wander up to the reference desk, where a librarian ask “ Can I help you?” You say you are looking for something in New Adult fiction. The librarian says “ Oh we're always getting in new adult fiction.” You perk up and ask her to take you to the shelf. The librarian takes you... to the shelf of new adult books. “ What are you interested in?” Once again, you say New Adult fiction, and the librarian looks perplexed. “ Perhaps you can tell me what you want” , she asks. After you explain what you are looking for ( young adult, just out of college starting a new life, lots of sexual content featured), the librarian find you:
A) something in chick-lit/ YA fiction
B) something in erotica that would make Grandma blush
C) by some miracle, a New Adult fiction book

New Adult(NA) fiction is a brand new genre aimed for readers, ages 18-29, who are too old for the high school and dating antics of Young Adult but still too young (and inexperienced) for the adult fiction. Created in 2009 as a way to gain new authors (and to speak to the audience of the next generation), it has taken off by storm but creating little controversies here and there. Is it a marketing trap to create teen erotica? Do you shelf it with the Young Adult or the adult books? Do you really want to trust a teenager with a book with loads of foul language and sex? In this paper, I will explain what this genre is (and how it was started), some of the books featured in this genre, and what the issues with this genre are. I will also provide some tips on how parents can handle this genre for their teenage reader and a few additional resources on finding New Adult books.

The Birth of New Adult
As mentioned, New Adult ( NA)fiction is a fairly new genre. While the theme of young college/ post-college adults staring new lives in the big world has existed in many movies ( Reality Bites, Garden State) and television ( Friends, How I Met Your Mother), they are mainly marked as “ Contemporary Romance” or “ Romantic Comedy-Drama.” There has also been very little in the way of books featuring college-aged adults ( or if any, grouped as “ College stories” within books about college professors.) In 2009, book publishing company St. Martin's Press held a contest looking for “ great, cutting edge fiction with protagonists who are slightly older than YA can can appeal to an adult audience.” (Jae-Jones). The contest rules going on further saying they are seeking fiction similar to YA but could be marketed as “older YA” or “ new adult.” “ New Adult is about young adulthood, when you are an adult but have not established your life as one ( career, family, what-have-you)” ( Jae-Jones, 2010).

After over 300 entries, 18 winners were selected. Kristen Hoffman, one of the winners for the ebook Twenty-Somewhere said in an guest columnist featured January 7 2010 in Writer's Digest:

“There’s a period of time where adulthood feels like a new pair of shoes. The expectations of independence and self-sufficiency are still new, still being broken in. New Adults are the people who have just begun to walk in those shoes; New Adult fiction is about their blisters and aches. “
(Hoffman, 2010).

The genre has become more popular in recent years due to word of mouth and books originally self-published or as an ebook being bought by major publishers. Jennifer Armentrout, author of Waiting for You( written under the pen name J. Lyn) said in a 2013 article about NA fiction featured in USA Today “ Two years ago, agents and publishers couldn't place New Adult in the market.( Donahue). She also added that is “ it's more serious. The characters are older. They love more strongly and they are doing it without the safety net of parents or close high school friends ( Donahue, 2013.)

What is New Adult?
 
New Adult (NA) fiction are stories where college/post college protagonists(usually female) are between the ages 18-26 ( or in some cases, 18-30), leaving home for the first time to learn how to make ends meet, starting a job, experimenting with sex and substances, dealing with more adult peer groups, marriage( and maybe starting a family. and any other adult experience that is new to them ( Argyle, 2013). It is also told in first person, features high drama and fun plots ( Watters, 2014), and usually in a contemporary setting. Most are contemporary romance but there are NA titles in science fiction, historical, urban fiction, horror, and paranormal.

Cora Comack, author of the NA book Losing It, said in an interview for TODAY“ It's about that time in your life when you're trying to assert your maturity and forcing yourself to grow up against the odds. “ ( Fears, 2013). In this same interview, Pamela Spengler-Jaffee, a publicity director for Avon Books at HarperCollins, told TODAY . “New adult is going to help teachers classify books that have that same heightened level of emotion, but with an open door policy.” ( Fears, 2013)
In a 2012 study, entitled Understanding the Children's Book Consumer in the Digital Age, it was found that adults 18 and up purchased 55 percent of YA books, with 78 percent of them purchasing the bookshelves ( Cleeton,2013).

Examples of New Adult Books
 
In the article “ What is New Adult Fiction Adult Fiction, Anyway?” (featured in the September 2013 issue of RA News) Molly Wetta mentions a few NA books, some listed as “ Contemporary Romances in a College Setting”, others “ Contemporary Young Adult Novels with College-ages Protagonists. ( 2013)” For YA novels, Wetta mentions Gayle Forman's Just One Day( which is about a college-aged girl who goes to Paris to hunt down an actor who she had a one-stand with),and Paul Rudnick's Gorgeous ( which is about a college girl who gets into the fashion world after her mom dies.) For Contemporary College-aged Romances, she mentions Cora Comack's Losing It ( which is about a college girl who loses her virginity to her college professor), and Jamie McGuire's Beautiful Disaster ( which is about a girl who leaves college and falls for a bad boy/professional fighter).
 
Other popular NA books ( featured on websites like NA Alley ,A Tapestry of Words , In the Best Worlds and the Goodreads NA shelf) include Easy by Tammara Webber, Brooklyn Girls by Gemma Burgess, Flat Out Love by Jessica Park, and Slammed by Colleen Hoover.

What's The Drama?
 
While most authors, publishing companies ( such as Entangled Publishing editor Karen Grove, who in a 2013 Writer's Digest article said “ The new adult brings their adult experiences and discoveries to an new level, and they get to choose who they want to become ( Klems, 2013)) and twenty-something fans are for this new genre, others find problems with it. One of the major issues is the amount of sexual content featured in the books. Liate Stehlik, a publisher at Avon Books, says “ Sex is an element. It's not the driving thread.” ( Donahue, 2013). Sara Megibow, an agent from Nelson Literacy Agency says “assertion that New Adult is just sexually explicit YA feels confrontational to me—as if the person doing the asserting were dismissing the sexual content as a hook or a marketing scam to get more people to buy a book. The good New Adult submissions I’ve seen tend to focus on the conflicts of early adulthood—somewhat like the first Bridget Jones book—dating, jobs, first apartments, money, identity, self-sufficiency, etc” ( Klems, 2013).

Another issue is where the place the books. Do they belong in the YA section, in the adult section, or does there need to be a separate shelf. Kevan Lyon of Marsal Lyon Literary Agency says “Bookstores have still not completely resolved the issue of where NA titles should be shelved” ( Cleeton,2013) but adds that mass merchandisers are working to create areas for NA. “The NA print market is rapidly developing and changing, allowing authors to reach readers through both a digital and print platform.” ( Cleeton,2013). And while it is aimed for “mature audiences” ( which some authors mention on their website), there are also kids as young as ten reading NA books. “ Kids always read up Seventeen is clearly read by 13 year olds” said HarperCollins editor Carrie Feron ( Fears, 2013.)

Still a few books, such as Gayle Forman's Just One Day ( and upcoming sequel, Just One Year) are still listed as YA. Author Michelle Argyle, in a blog post titled “ What is New Adult Fiction and Should You Reading It says “ Maybe that author mostly writes YA and the publisher wants to keep all of his/her books in that category. Maybe the book, in its general feel, appeals more to a YA audience despite the age of the characters. Maybe the publisher hasn’t embraced NA yet and they prefer to market to a YA readership.” ( posted July 31, 2013.)

There are also those who view as a worthless category or genre altogether. In the Huffington Post article “ The Problem with New Adult Books”, Lauren Sarner feels NA is an insult to readers and authors, that it acts “ like training wheels between Young Adult and Adult.” ( Sarner, 2013), saying they are superior than Young Adult but not worthy of being “adult” ( Sarner, 2013.)

Tips on Handling NA ( Create Communicaton Time)
 
With sexual content (and the racy covers) being a major issue, parents, teachers, and librarians are not really sure in recommending NA books to young readers Lauren Myracle, author of “ttyl,” “ttfn” and “l8r, g8r,” said “Sometimes I worry I’m writing ‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ for teenagers, but I’m not” ( Fears, 2013).
In the Chicago Sun Times article, Dr. Laura Berman offers a few times on how parents can handle NA fiction. She recommends reading the book ( or reviews) first before giving to the teen reader, and creating a “book club” or time where the parent and teen can read and discuss the material in the book ( Berman, 2013). She also suggest to consider the age of the reader, that it might be okay for age 16 and up, but to let someone 15 and under to stay with traditional YA.

Looking for NA
 
Here are a few websites/blogs that showcase popular NA books:
Future of NA?
 
What is the future of NA? Will it last or just be pasting fad? For now, it's hard to say. It might take more books or it's own shelf ( or a movie deal).
In Gemma Burgess's 2013 NA book Brooklyn Girls, main character Pia Kellar has this to say about being a twenty-something girl-
“That's what's the post-college struggle truly is: finding a life worth living, and making it yours.”
( 274).


Bibliography

Argyle, Michelle D. “ What is New Adult Fiction and Should You Reading It?” Michelle D. Argyle .31 July 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2014. http://michelledargyle.com/2013/07/31/what-is-new-adult-fiction-and-should-you-be-reading-it/

Berman, Laura. “ Are your teens ready for the New Adult fiction?” Chicago Sun Times 15 January 2014. Web. 26 Feb. 2014 http://www.suntimes.com/lifestyles/17501716-423/are-your-teens-ready-for-new-adult-fiction.html


Burgess, Gemma. Brooklyn Girls. New York: St. Martin's Griffith, 2013. p 274

Cleeton, Chanel. “ What's New about New Adult: Marketing to Reach the New Adult Reader” Chanel Cleeton. 1 Dec. 2013 Web. 4 March 2014.http://www.chanelcleeton.com/blog/2013/12/1/whats-new-about-new-adult-marketing-to-reach-the-new-adult-reader

Donahue, Deidre “ New Adult fiction is the hot category in books” USA Today 15 April. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. http://www.usatoday.com/story/life/books/2013/04/15/new-adult-genre-is-the-hottest-category-in-book-publishing/2022707/

Fears, Danika. “ Sex and the “new adult” novel: Teen Fiction Gets Steamier” TODAY Show 6 Jan. 2013. Web. 4 March 2014 http://todaynews.today.com/_news/2013/01/06/16350538-sex-and-the-new-adult-novel-teen-fiction-gets-steamier?lite

Hoffman, Kristen. “ New Adult: What is it?” Writer's Digest 7 Jan. 2010. Web. 3 March 2013.

Jae-Jones, S. “St. Martin's New Adult Fiction Contest” S. Jae-Jones. 9 Nov. 2009. Web. 26 Feb. 2014.

Jae-Jones, S. “ New Adult is not Necessarily Chick Lit” 10 Dec. 2009. Web. 4 March 2014.http://sjaejones.com/blog/2009/new-adult-is-not-necessarily-chick-lit/

Klems, Brian. “ “New Adult”:The Next Big Thing” Writer's Digest. 15 Nov. 2013. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. http://www.writersdigest.com/online-editor/new-adult-the-next-big-thing


Sarner, Lauren. “ The Problem with New Adult Books” Huffington Post 14 August 2013. Web.27 Feb. 2014. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lauren-sarner/the-problem-with-new-adul_b_3755165.html


 
Watters, Carly. “ What is New Adult Fiction?” Carly Watters, Literary Agent. 12 Feb. 2014 Web 3 March 2014.http://carlywatters.com/2014/02/12/what-is-new-adult-fiction/ 


Wetta, Molly “ What is New Adult Fiction, Anyway?” RA News Sept. 2013. Novelist/EBSCO. Web. 26 Feb. 2014. http://www.ebscohost.com/novelist/novelist-special/what-is-new-adult-fiction-anyway







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