I share a lot of your concerns about this New Adult business. I don't believe there is a marketing gap at all. I do not believe that readers are falling through the cracks. Young adults read up and adults read down (where "up" and "down" are in no way indicative of quality so much as age, of course.) I entered the New Adult contest though (and won, weirdly), because I wrote a book with a protag right in this range. I'm worried that it's a marketing black hole--that if my book is published in this "genre," it will die a long, slow, unnoticeable death for indiscriminately appealing to no one.
But I also know that my book was reeeeally tough to market when it was on submission to editors the first time around for exactly this reason. Folks didn't know exactly what to do with it. Some editors wanted to buy it but couldn't, because they couldn't go to a marketing meeting and say "This book fits perfectly RIGHT HERE."
So, I see New Adult as something that might be empowering to editors--a way for them to acquire stuff they love, even if, for instance, a book has some coming of age themes along with an adult voice. The pub business is so tenuous and strange right now, and there's a lot of abracadabra involved in the decision-making process about what gets bought and what doesn't. So maybe anything that gives editors a way to push a book they love is a good thing?
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Date: 2009-12-04 08:33 pm (UTC)But I also know that my book was reeeeally tough to market when it was on submission to editors the first time around for exactly this reason. Folks didn't know exactly what to do with it. Some editors wanted to buy it but couldn't, because they couldn't go to a marketing meeting and say "This book fits perfectly RIGHT HERE."
So, I see New Adult as something that might be empowering to editors--a way for them to acquire stuff they love, even if, for instance, a book has some coming of age themes along with an adult voice. The pub business is so tenuous and strange right now, and there's a lot of abracadabra involved in the decision-making process about what gets bought and what doesn't. So maybe anything that gives editors a way to push a book they love is a good thing?