Buzz Worthy News: 21st March 2016

Welcome to Buzz Worthy News where the stories are awesome and not at all well-written. Need your YA industry news? Never fear, Kat Kennedy is here to give it to you straight.

In this week’s Buzz Worthy News: Miss Peregrine Movie trailer drops, Harry Potter readers are driving the reading boom, The Love that Split the World and it’s appropriation, and Shadowhunters gets a second season. All this and more!

Buzz Worthy News is Cuddlebuggery’s weekly news post bringing you all the best information about the book and blogging world, particularly for the venn diagram of people who overlap between the two.

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children Trailer:

From visionary director Tim Burton, and based upon the best-selling novel, comes an unforgettable motion picture experience. When Jake discovers clues to a mystery that spans alternate realities and times, he uncovers a secret refuge known as Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As he learns about the residents and their unusual abilities, Jake realizes that safety is an illusion, and danger lurks in the form of powerful, hidden enemies. Jake must figure out who is real, who can be trusted, and who he really is.

The movie, starring Eva Green and Asa Butterfield is expected out on 30th September 2016 and has been directed by Tim Burton. Honestly most people just seem relieved that it doesn’t star Johnny Depp or Helena Boheme Carter.

am i the only one waiting for johnny depp or helena bonham carter to show up while watching miss peregrine's home for peculiar kids trailer?

— Noelen (@noelendeocampo) March 19, 2016

Couldn’t have said it better myself…

Ransom Riggs, the author of the book, for his part, has been on twitter allaying the fears of some fans who found the trailer less than satisfactory:

@jessethereader it's still in there & very important. Just wasn't in this trailer!

— Ransom Riggs (@ransomriggs) March 15, 2016

Other reactions were not so good. We highly recommend reading this entire thread.

https://twitter.com/eveewing/status/709802323841851392

Shadowhunters Greenlit for Season 2 – There is no god.

Reporters are reporting, and Staters and stating that definitive proof that there is no god arose this week with the continuation of the Shadowhunters series. It seems that Disney, who owns the show is who we have to thank for any non-theistic apocalypse that results from this decision.

Shadowhunters launched in January and collected 2.9 million total viewers and 1.6 million among the advertiser-coveted adults 18-49 demographic. The debut ranks as Freeform’s second-best series premiere on record among adults under 50 and adults 25-54. Additionally, the drama ranks as Freeform’s top launch among men under 50 and men 25-54 — as well as its third best among total viewers.

Shadowhunters is the second adaptation of Cassandra Clare’s novel, City of Bones, though has been more successful than the movie incarnation, The Mortal Instruments, which was a significant theatrical flop. Still, fans have been energised about the TV reboot giving it such praise as:

I'm kind of getting used to the shadowhunters show. But I cannot take this Magnus. He's so bad. 😖

— Andye Reads (@AndyeReads) March 17, 2016

https://twitter.com/bookmarauder/status/710069956076036096

And, my personal favourite:

Well.. we're getting a season 2… Hope S2 is better than S1. 😁😶

Freeform Picks Up Shadowhunters For A 2nd Season! https://t.co/S0cgTf65iB

— Jesse (@jessethereader) March 14, 2016

SOURCE, SOURCE

Disney Acquires Movie Rights to Chronicles of Prydain

According to Variety, Disney is already in early stages of production for The Chronicles of Prydain, a book I know almost nothing about.

TIME TO GO CORRECT MY IGNORANCE!

The five novels by Lloyd Alexander, based on Welsh mythology, were published annually from 1964 to 1968 and followed the protagonist Taran from youth to maturity. He’s an assistant pig-keeper but initially dreams of being a grand hero.

OH, I see. Lloyd Alexander. Welsh mythology. Assistant pig-keeper with visions of grandeur. Sounds like it could be fun!

I kind of question the books being in early stages of production considering there is no producer, writer or director reported.

The novels, reportedly, have a very Welsh-like backdrop, which is a good thing to, because fantasy imagined in a medieval european setting with a young male protagonist is really hard to come by.

SOURCE, SOURCE

Original Harry Potter Fans to Blame for Book Reading Boost Weirdly Titled ‘Grip Lit’

Obviously the most disturbing thing about this story is that someone, and I’m not naming names, is trying to make “Grip lit” a thing.

So let’s break down this story into every single facet that can possibly be mocked.

Statistics from Nielsen Book show that fiction sales were up 5.2% last year, with crime and thriller novels accounting for 29% of the market, the second-largest genre behind general and literary fiction, which was worth 41%. The crime sector is estimated to have increased last year to a record volume of over 25m copies sold – including ebooks – with psychological thrillers such as The Girl on the Train, called “grip lit” by the book sales monitor, helping drive the growth.

Literally everybody still reading this post, all of two people, knew this gif was coming. 

Nielsen said that 67% of grip lit is bought by women, with 25 to 34-year-olds accounting for the largest age category within that. Women accounted for 60% of the sales for Paula Hawkins’ smash hit The Girl on the Train, with the same age range dominating sales. Just 17% of sales of the novel were to males aged 25 to 34.

Imagine that! Lots of women reading a novel written by a woman. I bet this doesn’t have anything to do with the fact that, statistically, men won’t. But now we get to some of the more baffling parts of this think piece.

According to Bookbrunch editor Neill Denny, these trends show the influence of a “Harry Potter cohort”, pointing out that a 12-year-old who read JK Rowling’s first novel in 1997 will become 31 in 2016. “A generation of women in their 20s and early 30s, who grew up reading Harry Potter, are now energising the book trade,” he wrote.

“It is Generation Potter … Two years ago they were reading YA, now they’re coming on to grip lit – it’s the same cohort,” said Henry. “I think it’s a generation we have to keep an eye on – they’re obviously really heavy book readers, and we have to make sure we’re reaching them in the right way. They have huge spending power, and this will only increase.”

Why do I suddenly feel watched and somewhat sullied by some guy named Henry that I never met? I mean, it’s a first, is all.

Samantha Eades, who is nearly 31 and an editor at new Orion imprint Trapeze, signed up to the label with enthusiasm.

“As a teen I crossed my fingers each night,” she said, “hoping for a letter for Hogwarts to be delivered and in my 20s I queued up for the final midnight signing with a lightning bolt on my forehead.” Eades may still imagine herself a Gryffindor, but her taste in fiction has definitely moved on. “I, like many women in their 20s and 30s, am completely addicted to grip lit,” she continued, citing titles including The Girl in the Red Coat, Disclaimer, In A Dark, Dark Wood and I Let You Go, as well as The Girl on the Train.

Men: Literary thriller.
Women: "grip-lit."
Men: Features female protagonist.
Women: "chick-lit."
Men: Writes for children.
Women: "kid-lit".

— Joanne Harris (@Joannechocolat) March 18, 2016

It’s kind of a disturbing trend when you see it laid all out like that.

The Potter generation of female readers are also driving growth in non-fiction, according to Nielsen’s data, with health and dieting sales up 61% in value last year thanks to strong sales of clean-eating titles such as Deliciously Ella. Females [emphasis by us] account for 68% of sales in the genre, with 25 to 34-year-olds the largest age category, said Nielsen, which drew its data from Nielsen BookScan, Nielsen PubTrack Digital and Nielsen Books and Consumers.

Sorry, I have to leave it there or I could make fun of this post all night.

ALL. NIGHT. LONG.

SOURCE

The Love That Split The World to Possibly Be Adapted into a Movie and This is Problematic

Lionsgate has picked up the movie rights for The Love that Split the World and it ended up being The Book that Split Twitter this week as people argued back and forth about the appropriation and use of Native American stories in the book.

Debbie Reese was one of the more prominent voices speaking out against themes and use of stories that were problematic. She storified her tweets here and explained in greater detail why exactly the book was so troublesome to her.

Reese and her take down was later criticised by those who thought it was unfair to tag the author or ask that allies call her out for her problematic appropriation of Native American culture.

Debbie Reese also storified and wrote about what it was like to have the conversation derailed by tone policing here.