Comments on: Young adult : what’s the criteria?

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 03:25:00 +0000

I think the boundaries are blurred these days. It's a shame that good books, enjoyable by a wide range of ages, should be confined to the adult or the YA sections of book shops when they could be sold to both.

I just bought Hal Spacejock one for my niece's 13th birthday and she was tickled pink. Especially seeing as the author signed it:-)

And right now I'm re-discovering one of my favourite authors from my teenage years, Rosemary Sutcliff. I like her as much as 63 as I did at 13!

By: Simon Haynes

Simon Haynes — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 01:31:00 +0000

Mine are marketed to stores as adult, but they’re selling them to schools as YA. Best of both worlds, because if they mentioned YA to bookstores they’d stash them with Potter and Unfortunate Events. Instead, they’re in with the Pratchett and Douglas Adams books, which is where they should be. (I didn’t set out to write YA, as mentioned. It’s just that they decided the books were clean enough for that market.)

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 10 Aug 2006 00:39:00 +0000

It weirds me out a little to see books I enjoy repackaged for YA. Maybe part of that's because as a YA, I was already reading mostly just SF&F, so I just went to the SF&F section of the store. ;-) YA? What's that?! ;-)

BTW, Bookseller Chick (who works in a U.S. chain bookstore) is talking about YA today, too! Warning: I linked to you from there. ;-)

By: Glenda Larke

Glenda Larke — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 23:13:00 +0000

Probably a wise decision. And I think many adult readers are aware that some very good sff is coming out as YA. One of the big problems is that so many bookshops have one track minds when it comes to where to place a book. One area, and that’s it.
If you are marketed as YA, your book won’t be obvious to the adult shopper.

By: Simon Haynes

Simon Haynes — Wed, 09 Aug 2006 09:37:00 +0000

Penguin is actively marketing the Hal Spacejock series as YA, particularly to the schools market.
It wasn’t at first, but someone realised the books lacked sex, swearing and violence, and kids as young as 9 were enjoying them. Nice clear language, funny bits and some action.
I should explain that I wrote the books for adults, and there are quite a few double-entendres, but my kids are under 12 and I knew they’d want to read ‘dad’s book’ so I sacrificed my artistic integrity in order to please them.
Actually, I’m not a big fan of swearing, sex and violence in books so it wasn’t that hard to keep mine clean. It also more than doubled the potential market.