New Release Awareness | Discussion

Posted July 10, 2019 by Cristina (Girl in the Pages) in Discussions / 7 Comments

I’m certainly not the first person in the YA book blogging world to lament the lack of attention many YA titles get when it comes to marketing and release hype, but it really stood out to me recently while reading an ARC I quite enjoyed. I picked up the ARC at ALA Midwinter this year on a total whim- I just saw it sitting in a stack on the publisher’s booth, but there was no signage or advertising for it and no one pitching it or even grabbing it. So I decided to pick it up because I liked the cover and after scanning the back found it was compared to some other YA novels I really enjoyed. Come to find out, the author has written over 5 other books, plus novellas, and I was just now encountering her work for the first time.

Now, I know it’s impossible to be in the loop with every single YA release and author because there are so many these days (which is a wonderful thing!) but I was genuinely shocked I hadn’t heard of this author before and hadn’t seen any marketing done for this title, considering how much YA Contemporary fiction I read, and how similar it was to a lot of other novels I’ve really enjoyed (and that have received quite a bit of marketing). While this could fully be due to my own ignorance or lack of time and research, I also feel like it could be reflective of the wider trend of seeing the same titles and authors marketed over and over again while a lot of other titles are overshadowed or ignored, even if they are being published by a major house. Now I am as big a fan as anyone of some of these major titles (I live for SJ Maas books) but as a blogger it’s frustrating to see the same titles/series/authors on rotation in the advertisements, emails, etc. from publishers. It really got me to thinking about how I do find out about the majority of “lesser known” or “quieter” new releases, and it’s really due to the following:

  1. Other bloggers including the titles in recommendation lists or upcoming releases lists on their blogs.
  2. Booktubers/bloggers sharing their hauls from events.
  3. Goodreads lists.

For every big name author or title, I feel like there’s so many lesser known releases that are honestly just as amazing (or even more so)! I’m lucky and have been able to attend events like ALA in the past and have been able to pick up ARCs of less hyped YA titles, but not everyone is able too and sometimes it’s hard to find new titles and authors amidst the handful of ones that get heavily promoted online.

And another thought- a lot of these titles that I come across that are new to me aren’t even by newer authors or authors with small followings! Many of them have several titles under their belts, a devoted following, and/or have been active for years. Tenure doesn’t necessarily seem to correlate with success in the YA world (especially with debuts- I’ve seen some debut authors with so much visibility because they had amazing marketing campaigns). It really got me thinking- if I, as a YA blogger, feel like I see/am aware of such a narrow amount of releases, then how overwhelming must if be for a non-blogger to keep up and stay aware of new releases?

Let’s Chat!

I’d love to get other insight from other readers and bloggers as to how you navigate finding out about titles that aren’t “blockbusters.” Do you feel like it’s relatively easy or is it a challenge? Do you feel like you miss out on a lot of YA books because so many books get released but aren’t heavily promoted? What are some of your favorite “lesser known” YA novels or upcoming releases that you’re excited for? Let me know in the comments!

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7 responses to “New Release Awareness | Discussion

  1. I feel like I always get books added to my radar from other people adding them on Goodreads or when someone in my network does a post (like the ones I do haha)! I can’t imagine keeping up with upcoming releases as a non-blogger, especially if I didn’t use Goodreads

    • Completely agree! This is why I have so many random purchases from before I was blogging, because I’d just go to a bookstore and sort of randomly purchase. I think now there’s more cohesion to buying books in store with more displays by genre, new releases, staff picks, etc. but it’s still overwhelmingly dominated by the big name titles and authors!

  2. Totally agree on this! It’s so sad how some stories get so much hype yet others that are similar get little marketing backing.
    I like to think at least with the internet, we often do post about books we wish would get more hype, or underrated books, etc., so at least we can try and spread the love that way!

  3. Whoa, so weird you mention this. I’m a fan of A.S. King’s work but hadn’t known they were releasing a book this year until a blogger I followed reviewed it. I find that I have to take a whole day to scavenge for new release books, otherwise I’m clueless. Thanks for a great post!

    Ericka recently posted: Mid-Year Book Freak Out Tag!
  4. It always amazes me how I feel like I’m keeping on top of the YA new releases and yet there are still a million books I’ve never heard of. It sort of feels impossible to keep up with them all. It would be nice if there was more marketing for all the books, but I do know that marketing resources aren’t unlimited—it’s probably a tough balance!

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction recently posted: Goodreads’ YA Books Lists: 2019 Edition. Let’s Discuss.
  5. This is such an interesting topic! I read about books from other bloggers—but that brings up how homogeneous my blog feed is—as well as the monthly New Books newsletter from Goodreads, the weekly All the Books newsletter from Book Riot, book journals (Pub Weekly, Kirkus, Booklist, and Library Journal), and emails from Net Galley. But again, how many books am I missing out on because they aren’t promoted?

    • You make a great point, the blogs I follow are pretty homogenous in some ways too (because I tend to follow those who read books similar to those that I read as well) and sometimes it feels like we are all constantly talking about the same books! I’ve recently started to branch into watching Booktube and follow some folks who read more romance/adult in addition to YA so it’s been a nice way to diversify the titles that are being brought to my attention, at least a little bit!

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