Comments on: Baby boomer author Claude Nougat knows the next trend in publishing

By: Claude Nougat

Claude Nougat — Thu, 28 Mar 2013 14:37:30 +0000

Thanks everyone for all the wonderful comments!

I just wanted to add that in addition to our Goodreads Group that has now exceeded 300 members and has over 80 boomer titles on its bookshelf, we have also set up a Facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/BoomerLit. Come and visit our page, “like” us and post your Boomer lit news there, tell us about your book or about the latest boomer read or film you’ve discovered and enjoyed.

And be sure to follow us on Twitter, the handle is @boomerlit, to get all the latest news!

By: Mike

Mike — Sat, 26 Jan 2013 22:31:17 +0000

Claude, Thanks for the tip. Boomer Lit seems a very popular genre. Just joined up & am msg #183.

You can read an excerpt of YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE I CAN TRUST, by Michael E. Petrie right here at BoomerCafe, just go to http://www.boomercafe.com/books-baby-boomer/baby-boomer-writer-conjures-up-california-dreamin-mystery-novel/

Unrequited love, tropical islands, nostalgic references to the 60s &70s, Rock-n-Roll, sandy California beaches … all wrapped up nicely in a cleverly written murder mystery, based upon actual cases of the attorney/author. YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE I CAN TRUST is available wherever books are sold. For synopsis, reviews, and more info regarding this book, go to http://www.CalWriter.net

By: Claude Nougat

Claude Nougat — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:42:59 +0000

Sandra, I’m so happy to hear that you are passionate about this because so am I! I’m about to set up a boomer lit Facebook Page linked to our Goodreads Group discussing baby boomer novels and I hope that through our page we can take our cause one step higher! I know you are a member of our Group and I count on you to contribute interesting stuff to our FB page once it’s up, so that boomer readers flock to it and learn about boomer lit…

By: Claude Nougat

Claude Nougat — Thu, 24 Jan 2013 14:40:14 +0000

It sounds like the perfect boomer novel! Why don’t you join our Goodreads Group discussing BB novels? We have a bookshelf (with over 50 titles now), a growing membership (over 190)and we are reading a BB novel every month as a way to explore boomer lit. These books are selected democratically through a poll set up using the books pitched at us in an appropriate discussion thread (so that we are sure these are BB novels and not nostalgia pieces evoking our young days back in the 1960s/70s). Come and pitch your book at us and get your chance to be selected as our monthly read (it’s good exposure and fun!)
Link: http://www.goodreads.com/group/show/81261-baby-boomer-novels-a-new-genre

By: CAL

CAL — Sun, 13 Jan 2013 21:01:06 +0000

Boomer Lit – YOU’RE THE ONLY ONE I CAN TRUST by Michael E. Petrie should fit quite nicely. The story, set in the here and now, depicts baby boomer characters who are active, youthful, and sexy. A stressed-out lawyer, about to turn a certain milestone age, abruptly finds himself getting a second chance at truly enjoying life. Meeting up with a long-lost love at a school reunion, he finds her just as desirable as she ever was … maybe even more so. But he’s not the only one pursuing her affections. Another former classmate has his eye on her as well. Unrequited love, tropical islands, nostalgic references to the 60s &70s, Rock-n-Roll, sandy California beaches … all wrapped up nicely in a cleverly written murder mystery that will keep you guessing right to the end.

By: Sandra Peddle

Sandra Peddle — Mon, 07 Jan 2013 19:41:54 +0000

I couldn’t agree more Claude, the babyboomer genre is ready to take off and I think it could do a great deal of good. Indeed, my main ambition for the next 5 – 10 years is to develop The Crone Club series as an inspiration for the ‘older’ woman. I am passionate about the need for my generation (the babyboomers) to reinvent the over-60s stage of our lives into something much more positive and rewarding. Even when we were young we never passively accepted being pushed into the sidelines of mainstream life and it is no time to start now.

By: Claude Nougat

Claude Nougat — Sat, 05 Jan 2013 16:29:13 +0000

Heidi, I’m glad you found a publisher who supports you! What we are talking about here goes to the heart of the definition of genre: there are basically two broad categories of genres. One is theme or content-related (which is what you are talking about) and the other is audience-centric (which is what I am talking about). The two categories may overlap: it is clear that YA lit has many sub-genres, ranging from paranormal romance to sci-fi, all of them content-related – ditto for boomer literature!

By: Heidi Angell

Heidi Angell — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 20:25:39 +0000

It is a movement that has been happening in the last ten years or so, and although YA is probably the biggest movement we have seen, Midgrade has been around at least as long. You even mentioned the New Adult category. What bothers me about this shift is that it becomes more about targeting an audience based on their age, rather than their interests. Twilight was a much bigger hit among middle aged moms than it was with the teenagers (which is actually terrifying, when you know how many teenagers were obsessed with it!)

Fortunately I found a publishing company who is willing to sell my book without the need to slap the label on it! They agree that the age of the characters is not what decides the group you pitch to, it is the content. I certainly agree with the principle that you shouldn’t discount any particular age group when writing or marketing a book.

By: Claude Nougat

Claude Nougat — Wed, 02 Jan 2013 16:19:04 +0000

Heidi, your comment of course stands out from the rest and I’m moved to respond because I think the boomer literature concept requires clarification.

Let’s be clear:I’m not at all against classifying books by genres the way you do, i.e. defining a genre as being related to the kind of story told: sci-fi, historical, romance etc Indeed, all these theme-related genres are part of boomer literature.

What is different about boomer lit is that it is audience-centric. As Mike Shatzkin recently wrote on his blog (he’s that famous e-publishing guru), there is a need for publishing houses to focus more on audience-centric marketing, i.e. reach out to communities, satisfy people’s current interests, have a better/clearer idea of the audience they are aiming at – all things that they don’t do much nowadays, if at all (the exception are small presses that are often closer to their communities and specific interests).

Historically, only YA lit has ever been an audience-centric genre. And more recently, in fact since 2009, there is a New Adult genre: from 18 to 30 or so, one step up from the very restrictive definition of YA seen as concerning only the 14-18 age group. So now we have identified another audience-centric genre: boomer lit that covers the some 78 million boomers in the US alone (plus many more around the world). Which is also why boomer lit like YA spans across just about all theme-related genres of the sort you are interested in.

Returning to your book, since it’s for the 17 to 23 age group and contains material not suitable to younger people, this is typical of New Adult, I think your agent should consider re-classifying it as a New Adult…That’s a big, growing market!

By: Heidi Angell

Heidi Angell — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 16:18:04 +0000

It bothers me that authors are pigeonholing their work in such a way. I don’t think that the age of the characters is nearly as important as the story! I am in the process of publishing a book called The Hunters. Because my main characters are 17 to 23, an agent was all excited to have a YA title. I totally freaked. My book is NOT YA. I would not put this in the hands of fifteen year old children. There is language, sex, violence, stuff that I sure wasn’t allowed to read at that age! She said, “Well then why are the characters that age?” Because adults wouldn’t respond to the situation the same way they do. That is what makes the story. Doesn’t mean it is for kids. But then my son, who is in 6th grade, is mad at me because I don’t think he is emotionally ready to read The Hunger Games. His school has it in the library, so he thinks it must be ok. I don’t know, maybe I am a prude (which just about blows my mind, because I NEVER would have thought that!) I guess I am just weird, but I don’t read or write books based on the age of my characters/ audience. I stick to genres because that is what I like. I justr as interested in reading a Sci-Fi exploration with young kids as main characters as I am about a Sci-Fi adventure with old people as the main characters. Why? Because it is Sci-Fi! Meh, oh well. Guess I’ll miss out on the BB bandwagon as well.