Literature - Series (4) For publishers, retailers and readers, New Adult is more than just a book
The New Adult book genre is a stroke of luck for the industry. Trade fair appearances specifically for the genre are reminiscent of Taylor Swift concerts, female authors go on tour, there are smaller festivals - because female readers are extremely keen collectors.
17.01.2025, 07:00
SDA
8000 square meters were allocated to the New Adult genre at the world's largest book fair: Last October, Hall 1.2 at the Frankfurt fairgrounds belonged to the novels with the pastel-colored covers; their authors, who sat on stage dozens of times to talk about their work; and the fans, some of whom queued for hours to get their idols' autographs.
It could have been a Taylor Swift concert. It was mainly women in their 20s who wanted to get into the hall. Many of them were wearing wristbands. And just like pop albums, New Adult books don't just make money with the actual products, but also with everything that goes with them. The genre is giving the book industry a boost, it was said at the trade fair. The New Adult growth area is almost exploding, the trade fair organizers announced.
Millions of fans on social media
A detour to the USA: just a few weeks earlier, the US publisher Atria from the publishing house Simon and Schuster had announced the ten millionth sale of Colleen Hoover's "It Ends with Us". The book, which has since been made into a movie, had also remained on the bestseller list for 169 weeks. And: successful author Colleen Hoover has almost 4.5 million fans following her on social media platforms. Her works are said to have sold a total of 35 million copies.
Colleen Hoover has been writing new adult novels for over eleven years, almost as long as the genre has been around. Initially only in the USA. However, the trend soon spread to Europe, where some publishers reacted early. Ullstein Buchverlage, for example, is celebrating the tenth anniversary of its romance imprint Forever this year. It was one of the first programs on the German market to focus on love stories for and about young adults. According to Piper, the publishing house also published new-adult novels back in 2014, "even if the genre name may not have existed back then".
Exact figures are still lacking for the new adult genre and its subgenres, such as romance or fantasy. Publishers are keeping a low profile. "New adult is an important factor in the book industry as a whole. The extent to which this is the case can certainly be seen in its presence at the book fair," says the publisher Piper, for example.
New publisher, new concept
The Penguin Random House publishing group, which already publishes a lot of new adult with publishers such as Blanvalet, Heyne and Penhaligon, has recently launched Heartlines ({heartlines}), a new publisher with a new concept. It publishes so-called true fiction, novels with fictional elements based on true stories.
The stories come from first-hand sources, so to speak, from storytellers who are generated via the Instagram channel @penguinlovestories, among others. The plan is for well-known authors and new voices to write the true-to-life stories with a high potential for identification. The names of the writers and the story providers will appear on the cover. The latter receive a fee.
The cadence is high: new true fiction novels are to be published monthly by the new publishing house. The first novel from the new imprint, "Your Eyes on Me", was written by Leonie Lastella based on the true story of storyteller Alexa: she struggled with body shaming in her closest environment for years - and thus inspired the protagonist Alea. The book will be available in bookstores in German-speaking Switzerland from January 22.
Books with a lot going on
New Adult readers, who are mostly young women, are also looking to get close to female authors and their books outside of the book fair. And they turn out to be avid collectors. Publishers respond to this in different ways, for example with specially designed books with tactile covers or special editions, or with events and lots of merchandise.
"At KYSS, we don't just publish books - we create a home for our readers and authors," writes Rowohlt-Verlag, for example, which founded its Kyss imprint in 2018. Which means nothing other than: Money can be made from the new-adult hype. Small festivals are organized, Penguin Randomhouse has even been touring with its authors since 2023 - with the "it.love tour bus". Forever, the new adult imprint of Ullstein, has its own spread store with merchandise for the books. It offers character cards, postcards depicting the protagonists, which are often included in the first edition, as well as cotton bags, sweaters and T-shirts with sayings from the books.
Piper offers merchandise such as caps, bags, buttons and stickers in the "fully booked by Piper & everlove" spread store. At events for New Adult novels, there are goodie bags for visitors, the contents of which are individually tailored to the event or a novel.
Separate departments in the bookstores
Bookstores in German-speaking Switzerland have also long recognized the potential of New Adult - and have responded with their own departments for this genre. These are growing in size and the corresponding sales are increasing at double-digit rates.
Independent sales figures for New Adult do not yet exist, but "the relevance of the genre is high", says Alfredo Schilirò, press spokesman for Orell Füssli Thalia (OFT). As the largest bookseller in Switzerland, OFT invests a lot to keep young readers interested.
"The target group is a very loyal readership and keeps coming back when it feels its needs are met in the bookshop." According to Schilirò, the New Adult audience often buys books more than once - once to read and once to "decorate" the bookshelf. Color sections on books, for example, play a major role here.
There is no end in sight to this trend. The future, or so it seems at the moment, is pink.
*This text by Nina Kobelt, Keystone-SDA, was realized with the help of the Gottlieb and Hans Vogt Foundation.
