Should we be worried?

Young adult authors writing for grown-ups, why we shouldn't shy away from scary stories for our kids, and the glorious new rom-com that pulled my out of my reading slump.

“It’s hard to sell at the moment.”

An Australian publishing trend that I’ve noticed recently is adult new releases from authors who were previously known for writing for teenagers. This includes Mark Smith with the upcoming Three Boys Gone (December 2024), Nina Kenwood with her recent novel The Wedding Forecast (September 2024), Holden Sheppard’s forthcoming Two Kings (June 2025) and Kay Kerr’s debut adult fiction (2026), currently untitled, which was just announced this week. There may even be more!

I’m hoping to be able to have a chat to some of these authors about their move to adult fiction—what influenced them to do so, and what they think about it as a wider shift in the industry. It’s always interesting to see how things change and evolve, and this is a particularly fascinating trend, whether it is just a coincidence or not.

I am not critical of it by any means. Authors that have typically written young adult novels do not owe us anything. I’m genuinely excited about them trying …