UKYA Blog Tour - Sara Grants Asks "Why when book sales are going down, YA sales seem to be going up?"

As a UK blogger (and one that seems to devour YA), I am thrilled to be taking part in this blog tour to promote UK YA. If you want to know more about Project UKYA, please visit their blog! Today, the lovely author Sara Grant (author of Dark Parties and Half Lives) will be trying the answer the question: With UK book sales in general going down in the past few years, why do YA sales seem to be going up? So, I'll hand you over to Sara for her thoughts on this question....

Why when book sales are going down, YA sales seem to be going up?

My short answer is…because there are so many amazing young adult books being published!

            Yeah, I’m biased. That’s what I write and primarily what I read. But it’s true. Here’s a snapshot of my reading pile – some of these I’ve recently finished and others I’m dying to read. When I check out the teen sections in bookshops, I always come home with a stack of books. (My husband would tell you that I personally am the reason for this upturn – because I buy so many YA books.)

            I think we need to thank trailblazers like J.K. Rowling, Suzanne Collins and Stephanie Meyer for expanding the appeal of teen books. Their series established a habit and hunger for reading in millions of children and teens. Readers of Harry Potter, Hunger Games and Twilight are now – I hope – lifelong readers.

            We also know that YA books aren’t just for teen. YA books have an ever-expanding readership. Tweens to pensioners pick up books that are branded YA. And once they’ve read one, they will read others. Perhaps initially parents check out what their teens are reading, but I know empty-nest mums and dads who still enjoy a teen novel from time to time.

            Teen characters and issues are timeless. Whether you are experiencing puberty now or still healing from secondary school scars, we can all appreciate this time of life when we experience the thrill of so many firsts and the possibilities seem endless. It’s the time of life when we begin to break away from our parents and discover who we really are. I wonder if we are all still struggling to either live up to our teen expectations or overcome our teen issues. Oh, maybe that’s getting too deep…

            On a more practical note, teen books can be face-paced and highly charged stories. They are often a fairly manageable length. I think many teens and adults appreciate the fleeting escape YA fiction offers.

            No matter what the cause, I’m thrilled that YA is flourishing. Not only because I write it, but also because as a teen, I needed it. I’m pleased that teens can find themselves and lose themselves in teen fiction. Long may it endure!

About Sara Grant

Sara writes books for both children and teens. DARK PARTIES, her first young adult novel, won the SCBWI Crystal Kite Award for Europe. Her next novel for teens – HALF LIVES – is a story told in two voices from a pre- and post-apocalyptic time. She also writesa new funny magical series for young readers – MAGIC TRIX. Sara is part of a team of editors and writers – called Book Bound – which is offering a weekend writers retreat in 2014. Find out more about Sara at www.sara-grant.com and Book Bound at www.bookboundretreat.com

Dark Days Of January - What Are You So Afraid Of?

As part of the Dark Days of January, Sara Grant takes over the blog and chats about fear. And, before we get scared, want to quickly thank Sara for writing this and Nina at Indigo for allowing me to take part in this blog tour. So, take it away, Sara!

What Are You So Afraid Of?
US President Franklin D. Roosevelt said, "We have nothing to fear but fear itself". Seriously? He must not have had an active imagination or Sky TV.

I hate being frightened. I don’t watch horror movies and even refuse to watch Dexter – and American TV drama that focuses on a serial killer – after 8 p.m. I don’t think of myself as a scaredy cat, but responding to this question has revealed this chronology of fear...

Needles. When I was a kid, I hated needles. I have a vivid memory of being held down by multiple doctors and nurses to be given a shot before I had my tonsils removed when I was four. When I was old enough, I decided to donate blood to help overcome my fear of needles. I was so terrified that my blood pressure sky rocketed and the volunteers made me wait until I’d calmed down. I was eventually able to give a pint of blood. Needles don’t scare me anymore.

Fire. Not fire in general, but very specifically my house burning down in the middle of the night. When I was probably ten years old, I saw part of a TV show on home safety. The image of a house engulfed in flames stuck with me. My bedroom was on the second floor and I was terrified of a fire starting at night. I kept a fire extinguisher under my bed and – for some strange reason – the bathroom light on. (Yeah, I can’t explain in now but it somehow made me feel better.)

Sharks. Jaws kept me away from the swimming pool the summer it came out. I must admit that to this day I probably never dive into a body of water – from a chlorinated swimming pool to a lake or the ocean without hearing those ominous opening notes from the Jaws soundtrack.

Snakes. I shut my eyes or turn the page if an image of a snake appears. Just the idea of Snakes on a Plane freaks me out. There’s something about their slithering hissing ways that – even if they aren’t the deadly variety – I just can’t bear.

But the only thing I truly fear is losing my family and friends. I think I could survive being hurled into a pit of rattle snakes while set alight before being dunked into shark-infested waters if I knew that my family and friends were safe and waiting for whatever was left of me.

The main character in Dark Parties must face the loss of her beloved grandma. She risks everything to find out what happened to her. Dark Parties tapped into my fear of losing my family and friends. I can’t imagine being faced with the decision Neva must ultimately make: her life, her freedom, or her family and friends?

So what’s your biggest fear?

GoodRead - Dark Parties

Earlier this year, I went to the launch party of Indigo and four authors were there, chatting about their books. One of which was Sara Grant, whose debut novel, Dark Parties was going to be published in October. And it was a book I wanted to read. It got me very excited. And Indigo had to push it back to late December/early January due to events that were out of their control. Which got me slightly annoyed me. But then I suddenly thought, "Hang on! I can read this before it comes out!" (am writing this the first week of December, FYI!).

So, here we are. With two days before this book comes out and here we go...

Under the Protectosphere, Neva and her friends hold a Dark Party. It's illegal to throw one. In the darkness, they agree to start a small rebellion. Expect, in the dark, someone kisses Neva. Someone who happens to be her best friend's boyfriend. And all the while, Neva has been keeping a list of the Missing - people who vanish and everyone else pretends they never existed. Including Neva's grandmother.

In the quest for truth and freedom, how far will Neva go? And will she ever escape from the dark?

Now, I have to say this from the word go. If you are expecting a dystopian novel like Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games and Vernoica Roth's Divergent, this isn't it. It's more, to me, like Matched by Ally Condie. It's much slower in pace, but there is something completely gripping about this book.

What I loved about this book is Neva and all the other characters know that there's something wrong. They aren't like other characters from dystopian novels where it slowly dawns on them that something's wrong. Neva knows from the word go that's something wrong and something has to be done. She's very pro-active about finding out the truth and trying (not going to say if she got it or not... in the words of River Song, "Spoilers") to get freedom.

Now, I know there will be a few people going "But the dome thing... it's been done before. Under The Dome by Stephen King. The Simpsons' movie." and yes, I saw that too. But this was much more interesting. While in the previous two took place and people had to cope with it, the Protectosphere has be up for years and we saw the effects this had to people as no one could enter or leave. No materials could enter or leave. No new ideas could enter or leave. And because of this, everything is a hand-me-down, history can easily be rewritten and erased (when Neva and her best friend, Sanna discovered the word "globalization", they instantly thought it was a disease) and people are getting sicker and are looking more and more similar. There was one scene that shocked me about this idea of people becoming more and more similar when Neva and Sanna see a statue of one of the founding fathers of the Protectosphere and we were told that he had blue eyes and it was shocking to realise that no one who lives under the Protectosphere has blue or green eyes. That seemed the most shocking thing. And that was in a throw-away comment...!

Now, the whole Neva/Braydon/Sanna love triangle... I don't want to say much but there was one point where I got very angry. So angry, I ranted about it on GoodReads (don't click if you don't want to be spoiled!) then ranted at my other half, the PIW. And it's not the scene you guys are probably thinking... I'm not going to reveal much. Actually, come to think of it, I'm not sure I can say anything at all!

I guess I should say the bad about this. There are times when you might go "Really?" or "That seems a bit two dimensional" and yes, I felt like that, but I fell for this story. I thought it was gripping and I was hooked by it. I want more (even though I tweeted Sara and she said this is a standalone, but the seeds are there so you never know...)!

At the Indigo event, Sara kindly signed my copy. It reads "Make Your Mark". Oh, Sara, this book is your mark! I can't wait to see what you write next...