Dual adult/ ya books

[Jo Zebedee]

Sorry, my night for angst...

I seem to tread this ground a lot and I really don't mean to. I have, once again, a very engaging ya character, and her storyline is shared, about 50/50 with a strong adult protagonist. Both stories are intertwined, and neither can stand without the other, so I don't have the option to ditch one or the other. The adult bits are tame enough for late teens to read - the sex bits are mild - although there is one scene which might discourage teens from giving birth.... But, how to sell it? Inish got no interest as crossover, but is as ya, even though i am pushing that envelope with an adult pov.

Any market? Does NA cover dual-age povs?

 

[Kissmequick]

YA is not a genre, it's a marketing category -- it's all about target audience

Who do you see reading/enjoying your book? Just because you have a teen protag doesn't make it YA or NA or whatever (or Ender's Game for instance would be MG)

What makes it YA is themes (growing up etc) not necessarily ages.

PS also there's lots of sex etc in some YAs so that won't be the problem. The problem is -- will YA readers want to read it?

 

[bluenimbus]

i would consider it for both markets, not that i know much about this mind, but it may appeal to adults and YA. have you tested it on beta readers?

and i agree with all the above.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

YA is not a genre, it's a marketing category -- it's all about target audience

Who do you see reading/enjoying your book? Just because you have a teen protag doesn't make it YA or NA or whatever (or Ender's Game for instance would be MG)

What makes it YA is themes (growing up etc) not necessarily ages.

PS also there's lots of sex etc in some YAs so that won't be the problem. The problem is -- will YA readers want to read it?

The problem is that neither theme is dominant. I thought it would be the adult storyline, but the ya has shown its teeth now. Who do i see reading it? 18-35 market, maybe a little older. So crossover. God, i need a massive crossover to break the market!

i would consider it for both markets, not that i know much about this mind, but it may appeal to adults and YA. have you tested it on beta readers?

and i agree with all the above.

It is starting to be inflicted on betas, who are a mix of adult, ya, and all fab. But i think i already know i have a marketing problem...

 

[bluenimbus]

well theoretically if it appeals to more people= more profit?...

 

[Jo Zebedee]

well theoretically if it appeals to more people= more profit?...

I like your reasoning...

 

[Brian G Turner]

If this book isn't completed, I would suggest you'll find it shape one way or another as completed, rewritten, and edited.

However, so far as I understand it, it is not the age of the protagonist that defines a YA book, but the fact that they have to deal with coming of age issues and adult responsibilities as a new experience.

But it all depends on context - Game of Thrones had Arya and Sansa, Jon and Robb, but I don't think it's ever been classed as YA.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Chris Beckett comes to mind, too, bearing in mind it's sci fi -- he has teen protagonists but the book is adult. I was trying to shape it to a specific market but this is the fourth book of mine that has determindely straddled this demograph. One is dominant adult and being marketed as same, one ya, ditto, and i suppose at the end of this I will lean to the dominant, too. The emerging NA is worth watching too, maybe.

 

[MattC]

well theoretically if it appeals to more people= more profit?...

Well, logically it should, but it can go the other way too. The emphasis on the YA element may put off adult readers. If the sex content is too strong it may dissuade schools or parents from promoting or buying it (tho I suspect teens will revel in it!).

It's also about tone and theme, as I, Brian says. Many adult books are fronted by teen characters, (a fair few of Stephen King's books for one) but they are not seen as YA novels due to the adult themes. It's trickier these days as kids are growing up quicker and know more about life in general at certain ages than the generations before. There will come a time, I suspect, when the YA thang is done away with completely and there's only pre-adolescent fiction and adult fiction.

Or YA fiction will continue but appeal to an earlier age range.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Who do i see reading it? 18-35 market, maybe a little older.

Until recently, when YA started slanting older -- I remember a time when it was early to mid teens (though it must have been older once, or why the name?) -- 18 year old readers had all graduated to adult fiction anyway. And since SF readers (I assume this is science fiction, since it's you) tend to be more literate, I would imagine that on the average they start reading adult books much earlier than that. So 18-35 sounds like adult fiction to me.

 

[TheEndIsNigh]

Having recently seen the last Twilight offering, I suspect your fear of putting people off giving birth is unjustified. Plus as an adult reader, if I'm already hooked and a book turns 'nasty', by introducing YA themes as opposed to Mills and Boon, I'll probably grit my teeth and read on.

In fact, thinking about it, wouldn't a bit of discouragement about the issues surrounding 'birth' be a good thing?

 

[bluenimbus]

Until recently, when YA started slanting older -- I remember a time when it was early to mid teens (though it must have been older once, or why the name?) -- 18 year old readers had all graduated to adult fiction anyway. And since SF readers (I assume this is science fiction, since it's you) tend to be more literate, I would imagine that on the average they start reading adult books much earlier than that. So 18-35 sounds like adult fiction to me.

i agree here, i would say most sff teen readers move to adult material at the age of around 16.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Until recently, when YA started slanting older -- I remember a time when it was early to mid teens (though it must have been older once, or why the name?) -- 18 year old readers had all graduated to adult fiction anyway. And since SF readers (I assume this is science fiction, since it's you) tend to be more literate, I would imagine that on the average they start reading adult books much earlier than that. So 18-35 sounds like adult fiction to me.

Yes, it's sci fi. It's probably quite similar in demograph to AC, where Inish was a little younger, I think. I'll go adult, then, which is where the main focus of the story is, anyway.

Couldn't agree more, I'll make sure it's suitably grisly.

Many thanks, everyone. Adult it is. Happy me.

 

[Rolynd]

I'm interested in this topic springs. I'm writing a book (well, trying to) which is definitely YA. Themes are about growing up and taking on responsibility when you don't want to etc, but I want to put it in a realistic world setting, with real issues of loss and genuine danger for characters...I.e. some scenes may not be suitable for children type thing!

The hunger games I think proves that you don't need to tone down violence etc for a YA book within reason, so long as it keeps their interest, but my stuff is more fantasy oriented than that. The YA genre really appeals to me, but I do struggle sometimes thinking..."is that too grown up for a twelve year old to read?"

Its a difficult one. When do certain themes stop appealing to young people? Sounds like you're happy that this one has gone towards adult fiction, what was it about the adult story that made you thing "this won't appeal to a YA audience." If you don't mind me asking.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

Hiya,Rolynd. The last time I was faced with this, the challenges the main protagonist faced weren't coming of age ones -- or they were, but only for the first 25 k words of a trilogy. With the current one, I think it's mostly to do with theme -- while there is a bit of relationship stuff for the teen pov, they're not the dominant theme, which is more sort of mystery-like. Also, because the adults storyline is the one the book hangs on. But it's a hard call!

Incidentally, with the one I did go ya with, it was because the ya's story was the one they're all trying to resolve and there were definitely themes around growing up within it.

 

[bluenimbus]

I'm interested in this topic springs. I'm writing a book (well, trying to) which is definitely YA. Themes are about growing up and taking on responsibility when you don't want to etc, but I want to put it in a realistic world setting, with real issues of loss and genuine danger for characters...I.e. some scenes may not be suitable for children type thing!

The hunger games I think proves that you don't need to tone down violence etc for a YA book within reason, so long as it keeps their interest, but my stuff is more fantasy oriented than that. The YA genre really appeals to me, but I do struggle sometimes thinking..."is that too grown up for a twelve year old to read?"

Its a difficult one. When do certain themes stop appealing to young people? Sounds like you're happy that this one has gone towards adult fiction, what was it about the adult story that made you thing "this won't appeal to a YA audience." If you don't mind me asking.

well children are not YA.
it is hard to get the tone right, i guess (not done much YA stuff myself ).
however if it is a coming of age type novel consider that shocking your reader is not always a bad thing. with all the horror and psychological thrillers out there it is unlikely you will severely traumatize your readers. the danger and reality of the moments you create is more likely to attract than deter your readers.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

When do certain themes stop appealing to young people?

Some themes remain interesting to many readers all the way through until they are old people -- if they are handled well and the writing is very good.

 

[Timba]

Some themes remain interesting to many readers all the way through until they are old people -- if they are handled well and the writing is very good.

Totally agree with this. I am OTD and I regularly read YA my granddaughter suggests. She regularly reads "adult" books I suggest. I think the distinctions are much ado about nothing.