New adult

The big talk in publishing these days is the emerging genre of "New Adult" fiction.  It's fiction for those too old to still read "young adult" books (targeted at adolescents), but not quite in their 30s/40s.  Women who liked the "Twilight" series are growing up and looking for more.  Combine that with the popularity of "50 Shades of Grey," which features a protagonist who's still in college, and you have a whole subset of literature for women who are 18-25, trying to find their career and perhaps navigate first love (or first painful love) if their prior romantic experience was somewhat innocent.  "50 Shades" was actually fan fiction inspired by "Twilight."

Many of the books contain either erotic romance, or supernatural/vampires, or both, but since every book can't be the same, the genre is broadening to include first-person stories about women in those just-starting-out years, with some romance.

I have started writing books, over the years, in that age category, even though they didn't involve vampires or 50 Shades-type extremes.  I wished, at the time, there was a market for them.  Now that I know the category is broadening, do I try to rush to finish these?  I don't get a lot of time to write anyway, but it's hard to ignore the possibilities.  I didn't think there was a category for books for that age group...and now there is.

There's also one book I've been working on for a long time that just happens to fall into that age group, but I do not want to rush it, because it's very involved and I want it to be perfect when I send it out.

Anyway, the "New Adult" trend is on the upswing.  I'm keeping my eye on it.

Here's ABC News' recent take on the genre.