So, how big… is big?
One of the more popular (and never-ending) games in publishing, and the entertainment industry in general, is “What’s the next Big Thing?” It’s right up there with “What Should We Call Our Band?” Of course, predicting trends and/or reader/viewer tastes beyond what’s top-of-Google’s-mind at the moment is tantamount to tossing darts (actually, tipsy blind-folded racoons tossing darts). Still, it can be instructive, and mildly diverting, to see what’s floating around in the blogosphere and elsewhere in the cybervoid as we approach the post-Hunger Games summer. So, at the risk of being just a little self-serving (because, big shock, my fave genre wins…), here’s what I’ve turned up w/ a quick look around at items posted in the last 3 or 4 months. Check it out… and fire away with YOUR prognostications. What do you see lurking just below the horizon as the next ginormous, media-dominating, attention-gobbling category or genre of books/movies/whathaveya?
From Booklist & Michael Cart, Past president of the Young Adult Library Services Association and columnist for Booklist:
“I confess I’ve never been to the Bologna Book Fair, but word has it that it’s a hotbed of emerging trends, and this year’s fair seems to be no exception. The news on the Rialto is that interest in paranormal and dystopian fiction is waning and thrillers and science fiction are now poised on the brink of becoming the next big thing(s).”
From the popular game/movie site IGN:
“Going from Harry Potter to Twilight to Hunger Games, we’ve seen the trend shift from fantasy to science fiction. Maybe the next big thing is a franchise that delves even deeper into sci-fi territory.”
From “Teen Literature Update 2012”: an Infopeople webinar (hosted by Booklist’s Michael Cart):
“…the word from a recent book fair is that science fiction is going to be the next big thing, along with thrillers. You heard it here first. Science fiction and thrillers will be the next big wave of young adult literature.”
According to the crystal ball-gazers in Hollywood:
“Studios gorge on young-adult fiction amid success of ‘Hunger Games’
“The back-to-back blockbuster successes of “Harry Potter,” “Twilight” and now “The Hunger Games” have turned the hunt for fresh young-adult fiction white-hot in Hollywood, as studios try to turn what used to be a phenomenon into what might be a formula….”
“Frenzied auctions are underway for books that haven’t even been published. Studios are paying as much as $1 million for the rights to adapt titles that are relatively modest sellers, particularly those featuring science-fiction, fantasy and dystopian themes.”
Librarians! Now’s this is a wired-in group with their fingers firmly affixed to the pulse of who’s reading what… Here’s their take from The Hub, the literature blog for YALSA, the Young Adult Library Services Association.
Upcoming trends we see in YA lit
by Gretchen Kolderup
“We here at The Hub read a lot of YA lit, which gives us a broad perspective on what’s come out recently and what trends in what’s published might be emerging. I asked our bloggers what they’ve been seeing recently; here’s what they had to say.”
“I don’t know if the authors are aware of this, but my teen readers are constantly asking for science fiction, not dystopias.”
– Laura Perenic
“A trend I see coming, other than a glut of dark dystopian/whimsical dystopian novels (is that even a thing?) is straight-up, non-dystopian, space-ships-and-aliens science fiction for teens… I’m seeing more books actually set in space, and with the excitement building over the Ender’s Game movie (plus lots of other SF films coming up) I think (hope!) there will be more and more.”
– Julie Bartel
So, there ya have it. Is young adult sci fi the Next Big Deal? Is dystopian defunct? (on this point, see my earlier post linking to Elizabeth Bear’s dystopian dyscussion…). As far as YA SF being poised to conquer the planet, I think we can safely bet all our holocredits that it is…. (check back here now & then to see if all these obviously very bright people are right!)
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