April 24, 2012

Guest Post with Abria Mattina + Giveaway! (18+)


Hey GCReaders!

Today we have author Abria Mattina sharing a guest post with everyone and celebrating our blogoversary with us!

She is also giving away a copy of her book, Wake, to one lucky visitor today.

Now over to Abria!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Does New Adult need to be a distinct reading level?

Lately I’ve been having a lot of discussions with readers and bloggers about the term “New Adult” and how it affects the books we read and recommend to others.

I came across the term “New Adult” when I first began to promote Wake. It was a hard book to categorize because although the characters are young, they face issues and use words that are appropriate for a slightly older audience. Essentially, Wake is a book geared towards readers in their early twenties and beyond. It appeals to college-aged people who want to read about young characters but are bored with “teenager” topics like prom and chasing boys.

The problem is that New Adult isn’t a category listed on most retailers’ websites, on bookstore shelves, or even on most book blogs. I had to find a way to convey to potential readers that this was a book about young people, but not necessarily for young people. My worst fear was that someone would hand Wake to a thirteen-year-old and then send me hate mail for scarring that kid. I went so far as to list Wake as general fiction just to prevent this from happening.

One blogger I discussed this with made an excellent point about identity. She’s an avid reader, still in her early twenties, and said she felt that there was no distinct level or term to describe who she is as a reader and what she wants out of a book. The industry has tapped into the teen market with Young Adult, but the college-aged market seems to be under-served. It’s a nice feeling, to pick up a book and recognize that it was written specifically for who you are at any given phase of life.

I hope that over the next few years, with the YA market continuing to boom as it has been, that the term New Adult will take hold. I think it could be a helpful way to guide the choices of readers and parents when it comes to books that contain mature content and young characters. What do you think? Would labeling a book “New Adult” help you make decisions about what to read or recommend?

Links:
My blog: http://www.abriamattina.com
Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/dp/B005OMWXZE
Goodreads: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12698518-wake
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Abria-Mattina/300311570026746
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/#!/AbriaMattina


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Giveaway:

One copy of Wake to one lucky commenter.

  • If you live in the US and win you have the option of a Kindle copy, or Paperback copy. 
  • If you live outside the US you will automatically get a Kindle copy. 
  • Must be 18 and over to enter.
  • Winner be announced on our Facebook and Twitter account.
  • This giveaway will end one week from today. 
  • To enter just leave a meaningful comment with a way for us to contact you. 


About Wake:
Eighteen isn’t too young to run your life into the ground, but it’s not too old to fix it, either. The desire for change drives Willa Kirk from St. John’s, Newfoundland back to her hometown of Smiths Falls, Ontario, away from her mistakes and the place where her sister died. She’s looking for a place to settle and rebuild, but Jem Harper just wants to get out of town, back to the life he knew before cancer. By letting the tragedies in their lives define them, they are both dying a little more every day. Welcome to the wake.






13 comments:

  1. Tragedy can really bring out the inner strength of a person. This sounds like a very emotional book that packs a punch.

    Vivien
    deadtossedwaves at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I think the New Adult market is a fabulous idea! Granted, in college I was steering toward General Fiction, but if we can segregate YA into Middle Reader, Children's Literature, and General Young Adult, why not pinpoint the college demographic with New Adult (which sounds better than Straddling The Boundary Of Teenager And Old Fart). :)

    bethwade1 at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  3. The cover is really intense! I like how it has the childish game of tic tac toe, yet it's involving drugs. Of course the tag line is pretty intimidating as well. Thanks for doing this giveaway!

    email: saldelmaz@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  4. Thank you for the chance to win this book, I love the cover and the plot sounds so unusual, but good. edysicecreamlover18@gmailDOTcom (USA)

    ReplyDelete
  5. Thanks for the giveaway. I really want to read this book. It sounds very good. Please enter me in contest. Tore923@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I really think that New Adult is a great way to start labeling books that really are more appropriate reading for 18 and older. Young adult still says to me 13-18 and some books, such as Hunger Games, with their violent content may not be right for that age group. Debateable but NA would help me make my decisions for reading.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Didn't leave my email in post above, sorry.

    puttputt1198eve at comcast dot net

    ReplyDelete
  8. Sounds very good! Thanks for the chance to win!
    natasha_donohoo_8 at hotmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Great post. I guess I hadn't realized that there was an actual category and I definitely feel that it's needed. There have been some books that people assume are YA based on the characters' ages but have topics that aren't necessarily suitable for the under 18 crowd. Kudos to you for making sure that your book is marketed correctly.

    Congrats on the new release and best wishes!

    ReplyDelete
  10. Thank you for the chance to win this book. I Cant Wait To Read It. The cover is really intense and i love it. butterfli262002@yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete
  11. I think "New Adult" for 18+ is a more accurate descriptive term than "Young Adult," which always sounded strange to me. I prefer the term "Teen" to YA. I do hope "New Adult" catches on as a genre. I live in the US and am open to either a Kindle or paperback copy. (extemter at hotmail dot com)

    ReplyDelete
  12. Nice post. The book sounds good.

    bn100candg(at)hotmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  13. I agree that New Adult would be a fantastic new way to categorize those books that aren't quite teen yet aren't quite adult or a book that could work for both. Some books are too mature to be labeled YA or teen and would benefit from the new label. It would also be helpful to readers and parents alike. Thank you for the opportunity to read this, it looks very intense and emotional read. My favorite!

    jaidahsmommy(at)comcast(dot)net

    ReplyDelete