1 / 20

HOW TO WRITE AND SELL NEW ADULT

HOW TO WRITE AND SELL NEW ADULT. By Foreword Literary: Gordon Warnock Pam van Hylckama Vlieg Laurie McLean. What is New Adult?. The transition between adolescence and real, honest adulthood You’re legally an adult, but you don’t really have your act together yet . Why New Adult?.

fritzi
Download Presentation

HOW TO WRITE AND SELL NEW ADULT

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. HOW TO WRITE AND SELLNEW ADULT By Foreword Literary: Gordon Warnock Pam van Hylckama Vlieg Laurie McLean

  2. What is New Adult? The transition between adolescence and real, honest adulthood You’re legally an adult, but you don’t really have your act together yet

  3. Why New Adult? The success of YA in non-YA demographics An underserved audience Recent generations’ prolonged adolescence Society’s acceptance of both

  4. Where Did NA Come From? The stories and themes have been around The term came from a 2009 blog contest by St. Martin’s Press Not much came from that other than controversy The requisite blockbuster novels Reader support led to publisher and agent interest Now we have new, NA-specific imprints

  5. Basic Guidelines An age category Post high school Coming of age - legal adulthood for the first time The world is still new Opportunities and responsibilities High stakes and high drama Often immediate, first person POV Sh*t just got real

  6. The Characters Protagonist Age 18-25 Often female In flux Seeking a “new normal” Strong character dynamics A disruptive figure (good, bad, or unknown) Often represents a new possibility

  7. The Setting Often a new location Could be college, but not necessarily Could even be on Mars Workplace Career environment for the first time A very classic device

  8. The Tension Establishment and definition The future is on the line (hopes and dreams) A real, lasting career A real, lasting relationship A real, lasting self-image and lifestyle Between past familiarity and future normalcy Fish out of water “Adult” themes at an early age

  9. More NA Issues/Firsts Pregnancy Divorce Death Housing Money issues Addiction Mental health Loss of innocence “Crises”

  10. The Plot A resolution of that tension A personal, if not physical journey Reaching out, often toward a person/place/thing that represents the desired solution Whether or not that is the solution is a different matter

  11. Is NA for real? Up for debate Barnes & Noble has not dedicated shelf space Now an Amazon sub-category Publisher’s Marketplace deal listings Public demand has led to huge sales Self-pub Traditional

  12. Misconceptions about NA NA is a genre Contemporary Romance Chick-lit Erotica There must be sex It must be explicit NA is porn NA is “sexed-up YA”

  13. NA Tips Listen to your story Make sure it translates well to the current generation Use trends correctly Know where they are Know where they’ve been Anticipate where they’re going Write to that

  14. Current Climate of NA What’s hot, what’s up and coming, who are the authors, and what we hope comes next.

  15. What’s Hot in NA? Sexy contemporary stories with high heat levels. Billionaire tropes. Issue books. Strong women with interesting jobs. The alpha male. Good schools, but not Ivy League. All the hopes and dreams that come with entering/leaving higher education.

  16. The Hottest Authors

  17. Plot behind the covers Wait For You – Girl running from her past. Boy is dangerous but intriguing. Unteachable – Girl living in small town USA in poverty. Wants to go to film school. Has an affair with a young teacher. A Little Too Far – Lexie has sex with her stepbrother. She runs from the problem straight into a celibate deacon’s (who may not stay celibate for long) arms. Suddenly Royal – Super fun romp about becoming a princess and falling in love.

  18. Hybrid and Traditional New Adult gained popularity by authors self publishing the stories that New York didn’t want to publish. Authors like Colleen Hoover, Jamie McGuire, and Jennifer Armentrout put their books online and they sold well. Those authors went on to become the first of the hybrid authors. St. Martin’s coined the term. But authors made the category a reality.

  19. Making NA a Thing We would love to see some authors who have already built a fan base in the category write in other genres. We want to see new adult as a vibrant and full section that encompasses every genre. The easiest way to make this a reality is to buy books that are new adult and put your buck behind your vote. These books are out there in e-publishing now. Foreword Literary has two such titles. The Iron Belles by Jeannette Battista (fantasy) and Because the Night by Kristen Strassel (paranormal). We’d love to see books covering a cornucopia of issues such as pregnancy in college. We’d love to see a Dead Poet’s Society in NA form.

  20. Thank You! Gordon Warnock (QueryGordon@ForewordLiterary.com) @GordonWarnock Pam van Hylckama Vlieg (QueryPam@ForewordLiterary.com) @BookaliciousPam Laurie McLean (QueryLaurie@ForewordLiterary.com) @AgentSavant

More Related