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Re: From Young Adult to New Adult
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From: Stacy Whitman <stacylwhitman_at_gmail.com>
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 16:14:04 -0400
I'm interested in the growing number of adults who are reading young adult, and what that means for what's getting published in YA. The books seem to be skewing more toward the older side of YA than the younger--more toward the 16-18 set, rather than the 12-13 set--and that as a result, we have a gap that's starting to be made up for in older middle grade. Is new adult going to even this out? I'm not sure I'm seeing that happening. I've heard good things about Sara Zarr's Roomies, though, and that's the kind of thing NA could really excel at, that gap in adult books, stories about college and all those firsts after high school. However, I haven't yet read any NA to see for myself.
It isn't necessarily a bad thing that YA is skewing older--those older readers had a gap that's being addressed at last--as long as those readers in the space between MG and YA aren't left out. There is such a developmental gap between 12 and 18!
I've found I've adjusted the way I talk about some of my younger YA books and make sure to note that they cross over well to the middle grade market--sometimes those who read only older YA don't find them edgy enough. Most younger YA titles are clean enough that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to a mature MG reader, though sometimes they handle subjects that might be handled more obliquely published in MG. Has anyone experience similar shifts and blurring around that younger end?
Adult readers, particularly the bloggers KT mentioned who have no professional connection with teen readers, often look at YA in a completely different way because they aren't necessarily reading with teens in mind. Take a teen character who is acting in a developmentally appropriate (but arguably stupid) way: sometimes I've seen bloggers call the behavior
"juvenile" in a disparaging way. But the whole point is that the character is a teen, and teens sometimes have limited choices and immature brains. Teen readers might also be annoyed by such behavior, but they seem to understand the reasoning behind the bad choice more often.
I prefer to only think about potential teen readers while editing books, because they are, in fact, the target reader. But we have to consider those adult readers, too, and that brings with it challenges at every stage of the life of a book. Check the YALSA-bk archives, and you'll find multiple discussions of librarians talking about the policies they have to put in place for adults browsing the YA shelves to keep the YA space a welcoming one for teens. (This real-life challenge has a parallel in the way teens are now viewing Facebook now that so many parents are on the site.)
I think that's about 5 different directions, but all related to the changes in the YA market that I find fascinating and challenging!
Best, Stacy
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 2013 16:14:04 -0400
I'm interested in the growing number of adults who are reading young adult, and what that means for what's getting published in YA. The books seem to be skewing more toward the older side of YA than the younger--more toward the 16-18 set, rather than the 12-13 set--and that as a result, we have a gap that's starting to be made up for in older middle grade. Is new adult going to even this out? I'm not sure I'm seeing that happening. I've heard good things about Sara Zarr's Roomies, though, and that's the kind of thing NA could really excel at, that gap in adult books, stories about college and all those firsts after high school. However, I haven't yet read any NA to see for myself.
It isn't necessarily a bad thing that YA is skewing older--those older readers had a gap that's being addressed at last--as long as those readers in the space between MG and YA aren't left out. There is such a developmental gap between 12 and 18!
I've found I've adjusted the way I talk about some of my younger YA books and make sure to note that they cross over well to the middle grade market--sometimes those who read only older YA don't find them edgy enough. Most younger YA titles are clean enough that I wouldn't hesitate to recommend them to a mature MG reader, though sometimes they handle subjects that might be handled more obliquely published in MG. Has anyone experience similar shifts and blurring around that younger end?
Adult readers, particularly the bloggers KT mentioned who have no professional connection with teen readers, often look at YA in a completely different way because they aren't necessarily reading with teens in mind. Take a teen character who is acting in a developmentally appropriate (but arguably stupid) way: sometimes I've seen bloggers call the behavior
"juvenile" in a disparaging way. But the whole point is that the character is a teen, and teens sometimes have limited choices and immature brains. Teen readers might also be annoyed by such behavior, but they seem to understand the reasoning behind the bad choice more often.
I prefer to only think about potential teen readers while editing books, because they are, in fact, the target reader. But we have to consider those adult readers, too, and that brings with it challenges at every stage of the life of a book. Check the YALSA-bk archives, and you'll find multiple discussions of librarians talking about the policies they have to put in place for adults browsing the YA shelves to keep the YA space a welcoming one for teens. (This real-life challenge has a parallel in the way teens are now viewing Facebook now that so many parents are on the site.)
I think that's about 5 different directions, but all related to the changes in the YA market that I find fascinating and challenging!
Best, Stacy
--- Stacy Whitman Publisher Tu Books, an imprint of LEE & LOW BOOKS 95 Madison Avenue Suite 1205 New York, NY 10016 t. 212-779-4400 x. 30 f. 212-532-6035 e. swhitman_at_leeandlow.com http://www.leeandlow.com/p/tu.mhtml KILLER OF ENEMIES <http://www.leeandlow.com/books/506/hc/killer_of_enemies>is “a good bet for fans of superhero fiction and graphic novels and readers in search of superpowered female warriors." —*Kirkus Reviews* The Open Book Blog <http://blog.leeandlow.com/> • Twitter<http://twitter.com/tubooks> • Facebook<http://www.facebook.com/home.php?sk=lf#%21/pages/Tu-Publishing/112191230046?re> Please consider the environment before printing this email. On Mon, Oct 7, 2013 at 9:44 AM, K.T. Horning <horning_at_education.wisc.edu>wrote: > Marc Aronson has reminded us how much schools have determined the library > definition of young adult in the past, even though it doesn't always fit > with developmental stages. While schools and libraries have always been an > important part of the market for YA lit I'm wondering how much that has > changed in recent years? I'm seeing more and more bloggers, for example, > who review (and, apparently, read) exclusively YA lit, who have nothing to > do with schools or libraries. They don't seem to be reading to review for > other professionals or for teens, but for readers like themselves. They > even now attend ALA and ABA to acquire Advance Reading Copies so they can > be among the first to review the books. But for whom are they reviewing? > Do their readers, whoever they are, go out and buy the books? Are they > having an impact on the market? And is this what is driving the invention > of New Adult? > > I first became aware of this phenomenon about five years ago when I > attended a big extended family holiday party where a Twilight trivia game > was put into play. The enthusiastic players were all young women in their > twenties and even thirties. All the teens at the party were either watching > football, playing video games, or texting friends who weren't there. > > --KT > > --- You are currently subscribed to ccbc-net as: ccbc-archive_at_post.education.wisc.edu. To post to the list, send message to: ccbc-net_at_lists.wisc.edu To receive messages in digest format, send a message to... ccbc-net-request_at_lists.wisc.edu ...and include only this command in the body of the message: set ccbc-net digest CCBC-Net Archives The CCBC-Net archives are available to all CCBC-Net listserv members. The archives are organized by month and year. A list of discussion topics (including month/year) is available at http://www.education.wisc.edu/ccbc/ccbcnet/archives.asp To access the archives, go to: http://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/ccbc-net and enter the following: username: ccbc-net password: Look4PostsReceived on Tue 15 Oct 2013 03:15:24 PM CDT
