Crossover på bokmarknaden

Sammanfattning: In Sweden and abroad, crossover literature (meaning children's books that are read and appreciated by adults as well) has been one of the more noticeable publishing trends of the new millennium. The aim of this thesis is to examine how Swedish publishing houses are working with crossover fiction, both with the genre as a whole and with individual novels. The method is an analysis of the packaging of a few select crossover books, their publishing houses and interviews with people from the book industry. In order to analyse packaging we have chosen literary theorist Gérard Genette’s ideas about paratext, and Publishing Studies professor Claire Squires use of the concept. Squires examines how marketing, where paratext is a notable part, contributes in defining what genre is in the literary marketplace. The results of our study show that publishers working with crossover literature face many obstacles. Problems include the lack of a generally agreed upon definition of and the unpreparedness of the Swedish book industry when handling books with a dual audience. There is simply no category for works found in between children’s and adult literature, a problem that could be solved by focusing on genre instead of age. Regarding packaging, there is no obvious way to design and market crossover books. But our study shows a frequent emphasis on emotion in copy texts, blurbs, titles and also in the often graphic cover, which seems to be what both teenagers and adults respond to. This also applies to the general view of crossover literature as a genre of feeling as expressed by publishers, readers, critics and authors.