Simon & Schuster launches the Hot Bed for New Adult readers

Sexier than young adult books but not quite as extreme as “Fifty Shades of Grey”: these are the books being called New Adult.

New Adult is a buzzy new category for books geared toward readers -- mostly women -- who have grown out of young adult books and are ready for some romance. New Adult has a promising future, if it becomes an easy-to-recognize genre.

In an effort to cement its presence -- and highlight its authors within it -- Simon & Schuster launched the Hot Bed on Friday.

The Hot Bed is draped across a number of different platforms: Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, and YouTube. It’s a savvy strategy, going where readers already hang out instead of asking them to come to a new website built by the publishing house.

So far, Tumblr is serving as the main hub. On Pinterest, the Hot Bed has been pinning hints to an upcoming novel, “A Beautiful Wedding” by Jamie McGuire. On YouTube -- well, there’s nothing on YouTube yet.

The Bookseller reports that the content is being wrangled by an in-house Simon & Schuster team of romance, erotica and New Adult fans. The team is mostly based in Britain but the Hot Bed is designed to reach readers in the U.S. as well.

All the authors it has announced it will feature are Americans: McGuire, Abbi Glines (“Fallen Too Far”), Colleen Hoover, Alice Clayton and Christina Lauren (the writing duo Christina Hobbs and Lauren Billing). Together they’ve made several appearances on bestseller lists.

ALSO:

‘Fifty Shades of Grey’ rounds out its cast

Nelson Mandela, remembered through his books

Michael Connelly’s Lincoln Lawyer returns in ‘The Gods of Guilt’

Carolyn Kellogg: Join me on Twitter, Facebook and Google+