2011 Debut Novels Observations

So last weekend I was going through all the YA and MG debut novels that are going to be released in 2011 adding them to my Goodreads for the challenge and I decided to take notes on things that I observed. However, I am not qualified to study trends or predict them.

Genres and Subjects:
  • Fantasy appeared to still be very big
  • A few paranormal romances, but not as many as I expected.
  • Quite a few dystopian and apocalyptic novels
  • A few mermaid novels
  • A few faerie novels
  • Tale retellings -- particularly the lesser known tales
  • I was surprised to see how many books there were about girls that want to be popular and then discover the pitfalls of becoming so
  • Still a few books featuring female characters that discover they have special abilities and are sent to schools for people with those abilities that end up falling in love with a guy that has a "dark secret"
  • Did not see a lot of vampires, though there were a couple of funnier takes on vampires
  • Didn't see a lot of werewolves
  • Less of a focus on creatures and more of a focus on ghosts and psychic abilities
Male Love Interests
  • Mysterious, sexy, and dark male love interests are still prevalent.
  • Dark secret that threatens to destroy him/the girl/life as the know it may or may not be included.
  • Mysterious love interest may also be "beautiful" or "brooding".
  • In novels with something threatening to destroy everything the girl loves, it's usually hinted that the dark, mysterious, sexy, beautiful, brooding love interest is involved.
I'm looking forward to the mermaids. What are you most looking forward to seeing next year?

Comments

LM Preston said…
This is a great idea! Can I shout out this post? If we studied trends it may help us writers know the market of or stuff.
December 3, 2010 at 8:16 AM
Rachael said…
Of course! :) I'd be honored.

Though, I think everyone either studies trends too much or not at all. I think it would be better to find a happy medium: not to try chase trends, but not to ignore them either.
December 3, 2010 at 4:39 PM
Ann Elise Monte said…
I hope dystopian and fantasy novels are still reasonably popular by the time I'm querying my novel, a blend of dystopian and fantasy :)
December 5, 2010 at 6:31 PM
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