BMB Week 7

Assignment 1

That's a nice graphic. It's an infographic, not a flowchart, because flowcharts involve a process or steps of action. It is pretty but it needs to be updated fairly regularly as new books are published and the "latest new releases" books get older. Otherwise, it's very informative and gives a decent sketch of what the books are about just by connecting them to a larger idea. And it's very cool to see that there are so many facets to the genre that can keep a reader busy for months if not years.

Assignment 2

The article from Publisher's Weekly explores the term "new adults" and how it originated as a marketing term but is developing into its own subgenre. I've heard quite a bit about "fiction for new adults" and have even read some. I think that whatever we call it (YA fiction, "fiction for new adults," etc) it fills a gap in the market, and it emergence reflects the times. Nowadays, more twenty-somethings are returning home after college unemployed and with lots of debt. These books offer escapism and focus on the second "coming of age" of the post-college adult (the first is during those tumultuous teenage years in high school, of which there has been no shortage of coverage in fiction). I think the "fiction for new adults" genre is also expanding because the books themselves are comparatively quick and easy to produce (a boon for writers and publishers), and quick and easy to write (essential for time-pressed adults and teens over-committed to extra-curriculars).

The CSMonitor article has a great line about "mother and daughter reading the same book" that I think is a very important--and rare--component of book marketing. Libraries, of course, are not as concerned about "selling" as bookstores and publishers, but  as books with cross-generational appeal appear on our shelves , we can encourage families to share their books, open up communication, and better relate to each other. That's a big part of knowledge creation in our communities, which is a primary point in our mission as librarians.

Assignment 3

Let's choose Forever Young Adult (which I keep reading as "For Every Young Adult"--I think this is intentional) and Teenreads.

FYA has a variety of contributors, from librarians to YA authors to self-espoused "fangirls." According to their About page, they tend to write towards young adult women. Judging by the amount and quality of the comments that each post garners, I would say that FYA is reaching its audience and engaging them with topics and reviews that are relevant. Some of the posts are even relevant to me (a late 20s male)! So I've really enjoyed reading FYA.

Teenreads really shows how YA authors can be proactive about engaging with readers through blog posts. Discerning the success of this site is more difficult because there aren't as many comments. However, their monthly poll results show about 200-500 readers are voting per month, which is not a ton of readership, but pretty good considering there are probably 50% more readers who passively "drive by." I'm hoping that both Teenreads and FYA have mobile versions of their sites, because that's really where teens are accessing the Internet, and it's important for each site to be visually appealing and easy to use, or else risk declining readership. I don't have a mobile device to check on this, but I'm confident the webmasters of the blogs have taken this into consideration.

Assignment 4

I really like the Teens@Random page. First, the design of the site is clean but still quirky and inviting, which I think will appeal to teens. There's also quite a bit of interactivity, like polls and Facebook games (most likely cleverly-disguised market research and revenue). The site also features author interviews and book trailers. I like the idea of book trailers, but they should be done carefully and sparingly because I've seen some truly awful ones. One trend that I noticed about new fiction from Random is that the covers feature an illustration (or heavily-airbrushed photo) of a main character, and that the readers can identify with this character because he or she looks like them (or looks how they want to look). Book covers are turning into artsy magazine covers. Not that this is a bad thing, since it helps us as librarians identify the targeted audience of the book.