So this is it, the big one. Interning for Headline was an unexpected windfall opportunity, having made a fortuitous contact with publicist extraordinaire Samantha Eades at a Book House signing last December for Eowyn Ivey’s magical novel The Snow Child. Sending her my cover letter and CV, I was incredibly excited to be offered the chance to intern for the Headline Publicity department for an entire month.

On my first day I was ushered up to the sixteenth floor of the Hachette building on Euston Road. Having spent the previous week at the beautiful but compact Hot Key Books office and my internship before that in a little three man office in Oxford, this big skyscraper of an office block was a bit of a shock. It had views! It had glass elevators with no buttons! Swanky.

Along with a fellow intern, I was immediately thrown in at the deep end. Introduced to Publicity Director, Georgina Moore, we were then given a desk, a computer and an email account. OICPS alumni Elaine Egan distributed newspapers and it was time to read through the weekend articles and search for references to any Headline or Tinder Press books in the reviews. Helena Towers was working on a brilliant and far reaching campaign for The Yonahlossee Riding Camp for Girls that had a lot of media coverage, and there were some great mentions for Tanya Byrne’s Follow Me Down. These clippings were collated and scanned for a weekly round-up.

I was able to sit in on a board meeting with the MD to discuss upcoming titles for the season, a highly informative way of learning about how departments interrelate when coming up with effective campaigns. This suddenly made New Product Development make sense, watching everything come together.

As I was lucky enough (ha – who would have thought I’d be saying that?) to be taught InDesign in my first semester at Brookes, Caitlin Raynor gave me the task of designing a press release for Seven for a Secret by Lyndsay Faye. It was very nice to realise that I’d indeed learnt something beneficial in those classes, and to experiment and hone my design skills. These press releases were printed and folded alongside posting out books for review.  My hand soon got well acquainted with the particular ache of stapling 500 or so envelopes a day. Carrying the piles to the post room area was strangely satisfying. I also learnt to do other exciting things like convert Excel spreadsheets into printed labels, and track down editor addresses on Gorkana media coverage.

I was asked to read Peggy Riley’s Amity & Sorrow (a book of which I had picked up a proof from work, but had not yet read). It was incredibly powerful and affecting, a story that refuses to sugar coat, that uses language as an expository force. My task was to design a Pinterest board for Tinder Press, taking pictures and matching them with quotes from the book. Peggy responded very favourably to the board, which might have induced a little happy dance, and I was incredibly proud to work on it.

In my first two weeks I was lucky to meet the wonderful Sophie Lay, my fellow intern and partner in crime. Sophie’s positive and approachable manner meant that I was learning the ropes with a friend. She let me know about some amazing opportunities that were happening in London. Together we went to the Southbank Centre for London Literary Festival’s event with Audrey Niffenegger, my second time meeting the author. This time she was discussing her new illustrated fairy tale for adults, Raven Girl, which I reviewed for MuggleNet.

Sophie also told me all about Stoke Newington Literary Festival. We spent one sunny Saturday distributing programmes, and the following Sunday I was able to FINALLY see Sally Gardner speak at an event for her Costa and Carnegie award winning Maggot Moon. It was really nice to see so many people new to Sally’s work buying books and approaching her for the signing at the end, as well as catch up with Hot Key Books staff. With a free afternoon, I volunteered to help out with the festival and ended up with a ticket to see Caitlin Moran.

Back at Headline, Sophie created a Pinterest board for Silver Linings Playbook author Matthew Quick’s heart stopping new young adult novel, Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock. With a dark plot and plenty of references to film noir and Bogart and Bacall, the visual element was exciting to pin down. I took over completion of the board from Sophie when she left to go back to her full time job, although it felt a bit like looking after someone else’s baby. It was fun to see Matthew’s Little, Brown editor, Alvina Ling, follow the board, showing how internet promotion campaigns can reach across the pond!

We’d also been able to meet Mock the Week’s Hugh Dennis (aka Pete) who came in to sign stock of his book Britty, Britty, Bang Bang. It was interesting to see his editors, cover designer and so on get their copies signed. The following week we repeated the process of boxing up signed stock, this time for football manager, Neil Warnock. These signings coincided with press days, the authors being interview by newspaper and radio journalists. They also made great candidates to be interviewed by Ben Willis for a feature on the Headline website, Men Who Stare At Books.

For the final two weeks I was joined by fellow OICPS student, Clara. Press Officer, Vero Norton gave us copies of The Outline of Love to read, another Tinder Press novel about love, obsession and celebrity. If anyone else has read it, I would be very interested to know who you think of when casting Leo Ford!

One of my tasks was to design posters and showcards, including some for Crimefest authors, some for Kate Humble’s new book, and a couple for a school visit from New York YA author Jennifer E. Smith to promote her new novel This Is What Happy Looks Like. (Which is NOT based on Justin Beiber, but might have a tiny hint of RPattz!) I’d heard of Jen’s books from a John Green video, and was very happy to act as publicity assistant on her trip to a nearby girls’ school. The girls had a great range of questions, and every single person bought one or both of the books. Jen’s first book, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, is soon to be made into a movie, helmed by the director of Milk.

As this was all happening, I also got involved with a project run by Beth Cox. Together with Alexandra Strick, they run Inclusive Minds, which aims to promote equality in children’s literature. Beth asked me to help with proofreading papers for the ‘Diversity, Inclusion and Equality’ edition of Write4Children. I have also joined Inclusive Minds as a content collaborator for the website, reviewing books and reporting on news items such as the launch party for Alex Strick’s Max the Champion.

For the entire month, there were many excited whisperings about The Ocean at the End of the Lane, the new novel by Neil Gaiman. Sam received many requests for interview copies, so my task was often posting out copies for review (being very careful to peel off the ‘book at bedtime’ stickers from each copy until it was announced) and including the press release.

So my final official day was spent with Clara, flapping 1200 books ready to be signed.

And then the thing that deserves a blog post all of its own happened.

GAIMAN DAY.

The big buzz at London Book Fair was the emerging market for New Adult fiction. New Adult is a term coined by St. Martin’s Press in 2009, and later adopted by readers on the social review site Goodreads as a means of categorising fiction for books that appeal to an audience a little older than the coming of age high school tales. But with the 50 Shades hype last summer the genre momentum has really picked up some steam…if you’ll pardon the pun. And publishers are paying attention.

On Tuesday, LBF featured New Adult & Steamies: Reinventing Teen Fiction panel and on Wednesday booktrust presented New and Opening Markets: Young Adult, Teen, New Adult and Crossover. The titles would suggest that New Adult is purely a marketing term, a reinvention of an existing genre to give it more spice. Publishing expert Brenda Gardner from Piccadilly Press suggests that New Adult is a marketing ploy in terms of packaging, see the numerous front covers that look like watered down mimicry of the monochrome E.L. James covers, but the content itself is hitting a fresh nerve by simply fulfilling a demand from readers for more mature narratives. Simon & Schuster representative Ingrid Selberg said that self-publishers are enticing to publishers, with established fan base readerships and PR skills, developing buzz & connections that are good for ebooks sales.

The authors on the panel, Alabama born Abbi Glines from Hot Key Books and Liz Bankes from Piccadilly Press, are published examples of the trend. Abbi read an extract of her Western New Adult romance While It Lasts to a rapt audience and Liz read from her first novel Irresistible. Both have had huge support from online fan bases, Glines building a steady base of self-promotion on her twitter feed and websites, teasing her readers with extracts from The Vincent Boys and hints about future books in the series. Her self-published New Adult novel, Never Too Far sold 30,000 ebook copies in the US in the first three days, whilst Simon & Schuster sold 10,000 ebook copies in the first three days of publication in the UK.

New Adult is not, they insist, erotica. It is the middle ground between young adult and romance.

New Adult, according to Glines, is the second coming of age. Modern day Judy Blume Forever tales exploring the time of life after first school crushes and relationships, where young protagonists are actively engaging in sexual relationships and figuring out love on the cusp of adulthood. It is a world, according to her, where anything is possible and the future awaits. Tanya Byrne, author of Follow Me Down and Heart Shaped Bruise, laughingly admitted to not initially knowing what the genre referred to, assuming that New Adult would mean paying bills, doing laundry and figuring out flat shares for first year university students. The panellists agreed that they didn’t set out to write ‘New Adult’ books. 

Glines noted that at her signings she has seen readers from anywhere between 16 and 60, suggesting that New Adult appeals not only to those readers who are heading into the adult world, but also those who enjoy reminiscing.

On Wednesday Byrne wondered if categories such as Middle Grade, Young Adult and New Adult were in fact the concern of parents and reactionary media, not readers. She cites self-publishing as a response against the gatekeepers of traditional publishing expectations contained as they are by the market age banding from booksellers and parents. She also expressed concern with the trend in books such as Twilight where sex is unequivocally linked with bad consequences for the protagonist. 'Get pregnant and die' or be shamed, or contract a disease, or simply feel guilt. It is common for scenes of violence to make their way into young adult books and even younger, yet sex remains a taboo. New Adult gives readers the opportunity to reclaim sex as a topic that is talked about responsibly and without blushes. 

Liz Bankes explained that the content in these books aren’t a new phenomenon, and in fact the publishing industry is slow to catch up with a genre that is well established in television for teen audiences, with shows from the U.S. such as Dawson’s Creek, The O.C., 90210, and in England, Skins, Hollyoaks and Made in Chelsea. Liz and Tanya also noted the recent popularity of films such as Pitch Perfect and childhood franchises such as Toy Story and Monsters Inc that are making the move into college era. Besides the Twilight origin of Fifty Shades of Grey, none of Tuesday’s panellists admitted to knowing much about fanfiction, the term given to works of homage fiction written by fans of an existing Intellectual Property such as a book, TV show or movie. This is a huge proportion of content online, offering free content to internet savvy readers that span up the rating system. Publishers should be aware that writers are honing their skills within pre-existing fan networks and gatekeepers should be aware that teens are capable of seeing more 'shocking' content online than in their book shops. As the epub phenomenon proves, new adult content is out there; authors and traditional publishers repackaging it for the consumer allows the stories to become mainstream.

Questions from the audience raised concern with bricks and mortar sales points such as book shops and libraries, and ensuring that ‘steamy’ content doesn’t fall into young hands. But that, the panel replied, is the responsibility of the establishment. Finding a place for specialised content gives the books their own market corner. If parents are concerned about content then it is their prerogative to engage in what their child is reading, to actively take interest in the books and even read them themselves to get the low down on what content is being consumed. Publishers make the crucial decisions about packaging the books and giving just enough information away on the blurb to let consumers know what to expect and where to shelve it, covers enticing not explicit. The trend is here for now, making its presence felt mostly on ebook charts, so if booksellers and publishers want to ride the wave of the genre's popularity then they have to make the brave move into stocking and shelving the books.

Tanya Byrne insists that writers and publishers should not patronise or underestimate teens, asking if it is a bad thing if readers are shocked. As readers teens invariably know what they want through discovery via online recommendations and word of mouth. They are their own self-censors and are unlikely to buy or finish reading content that does not appeal to them. Most importantly, readers are aware that books are fiction, and being more honest about real life situations does not affect reader behaviour but might open minds to asking pertinent questions regarding safe sex. If the schools aren't providing education, then books such as these are methods of directing readers to websites and information that they aren't getting elsewhere. 

With this in mind I would also encourage authors and publishers to think carefully about representation in their novels. The Young Adult market is slowly getting to grips with inclusivity, with titles such as David Levithan's Two Boys Kissing, I hope that New Adult can likewise carve a space for an array of relationships and characters represented.

The one thing the authors insisted is that their stories are plot led, character explorations and not smut without purpose. I wonder whether the marketing and connotations of ‘steamies’ allow uninformed readers to be aware of story heavy books. Is New Adult in danger of falling victim to its own PR if booksellers are reluctant to stock them? Or will booksellers fall behind?

Either way, with the buzz from London Book Fair it looks like New Adult is here to stay. Oh my!


Abbi Glines latest novel Twisted Perfection, Tanya Byrne's Follow Me Down and Liz Bankes' Irresistible are available now.