The End of the World for Dystopian YA
The incredible popularity of dystopian YA seems to have come to an abrupt end. News came last week that the last movie in the Divergent series will suffer that most inglorious of cinematic endings—going straight to television. New book releases in the genre are down markedly, with no breakouts since Divergent in 2011. The Divergent movie franchise got off to a solid start with the first two installments, but box office results for the third movie were weak. The series apparently will wrap up with the TV finale of the series followed by a TV spin-off series. It’s unclear at this point if the stars of the first three movies will return or if series author Veronica Roth will be involved in the TV series. (Between this and The Hobbit, I hope this spells the end of splitting books into multiple movies.)
Also of note: Divergent author Veronica Roth’s new book, Carve the Mark, will be released in early 2017 with an initial print run of 2 million copies.
The Romance Juggernaut
In an in-depth presentation at Romance Writers of America last week, Author Earnings provided a motherlode of insights into the romance industry. Anyone who knows anything about romance readers knows that they read a ton of books, but the numbers are truly staggering. Romance has been a clear winner in the ebook and self-publishing revolutions, with more than 89% of romance purchases happening digitally and self-published titles being more than 50% of all romance sales.
And perhaps the most stunning number: 45% of all paid ebook downloads on Amazon are romance titles. The next time you hear someone decry ebooks or self-publishing, remember what a boon they have been for the romance community.
Hero of the Week: John Harris
Ohio Librarian John Harris decided to spend a few days outside the Republican National Convention last week just handing out books. His message was simple and non-partisan: “literacy is awesome.”
Have you ever wondered what wine would pair perfectly with your favorite book? Diane McMartin can help with that. The Certified Sommelier and author of This Calls for a Drink! will be pairing wine with select other Book Riot Live speakers’ books and hosting a discussion and reading with them on Friday, November 11, 7 p.m. at the Strand’s Rare Book Room. Tickets are live now, and include admission to the event, refreshments, and a $15 gift card to the Strand Bookstore!