KEY SELLING POINTS: Stories about ill and dying teenagers and young adults are overwhelmingly popular right now (think The Fault in Our Stars, Everything, Everything, Me Before You, Five Feet Apart, All the Bright Places); many have been made into major motion pictures within the last few years. The first book in the series Above the Star (June 2018) won the 2018 IPPY Bronze Medal Winner in Fantasy, and was a finalist in three categories in the 2018 International Book Awards: Best New Fiction, Fiction: Fantasy, and Fiction: Young Adult. The teen fantasy adventure genreseries specificallysells well, as is evidenced by Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy, which sold a combined 6.7 million copies in 2013 alone and Laini Taylor's new fantasy series and Stephanie Garber's Caraval series. Below the Moon appeals to both YA and adult audiences. This book will be purchased by readers 12-18 years old, but also by adults, who make up 70% of all YA books purchased. The first in the series was described as "A Wrinkle in Time meets The Princess Bride" by the publisher of The Perpetual You magazine and "a young adult fantasy with teeth" by the US Review of Books. Readers today are hungry for books with strong female characters, including The Hunger Games trilogy and Divergent trilogy. These have inspired archery lessons, makeup campaigns, and fashion spreads, not to mention inspired activism such as "We are the Districts" campaign and the "Girls on Fire Leadership Camp" in Kenya, inspired by singer Alicia Keys.
AUDIENCE: Young adults Adults who enjoy young adult fiction Teens searching for their meaning in the world, trying to make sense of their lives People who love portal fiction (stories that transport them out of their ordinary lives and into something extraordinary) Young adult readers who enjoy other worlds, epic quests, and coming-of-age stories Adult women who read for pleasure and an escape from work and home life Adult men who read for entertainment and grew up enjoying the fantasy genre Dreamers; those that love travel, creativity, new experiences, and games Readers who enjoy stories of people with dynamic, complicated relationships who are thrust into situations where they must overcome obstacles and come together Readers who are struggling in some way and need to be inspired toward personal bravery and self-growth