Monday 7 January 2013

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Discussion: My Thoughts on New Adult

So, New Adult. I first discovered the term a few months ago when I started receiving emails from publishers about "New Adult" novels they would soon be publishing. Since, I have done a lot of reading about NA, and have decided I want to discuss the subject myself.

I'm not going to define it for you. Lots of people have already done so and I recommend you check out the posts by Elizabeth Burns, where she has blogged about NA in three separate posts on the School Library Journal site - be sure to go to the very first one mentioned, there are a number of posts she links to. What do I think NA should be? Julie from Bloggers Heart Books wrote a brilliant post which I pretty much agree with about what NA can be, so I won't repeat what she's already said. And lastly, before I get on to what I actually want to say, NA author Tammara Webber wrote a post about what NA isn't, or assumptions made about NA that aren't correct for all (i.e. It's not just YA with sex).

So now to my thoughts. When I first heard about it, I was seriously excited. Books about me! People my age, having the same confusing thoughts about what life is now I'm an adult and where I'm going to do. This is great, this is exciting! Books I can relate to properly! And then I was hearing people think it's not a great idea.



I don't see what is such the big deal for those who are against New Adult. I've read all the arguments again in the various posts I've read, but many new books have been put on my radar with the discussion of New Adult. Some people are saying there were already books like this out - well, hey, I didn't know about those books before, and the sudden popularity of the term "New Adult" has put those books on my radar. Books are being written about those in the 19-25 age range - before publishers suddenly wanted all these books, they were being self-published and doing exceptionally well. And now publishers are interested, hopefully more will be written. This is all good in my eyes.

I can kind of understand where people are coming from when it comes to a category in bookshops, as in having their own section. At the moment, there aren't enough in the UK for this to be feasible. It would be one shelf, if that. I am a bookseller and I've heard from booksellers in the children's department, who have been sent copies of New Adult books being published by the children's departments of book publishers, that  they're having difficulty deciding where books should be shelved. Children's booksellers, I'm told, have a responsibility when it comes to their customers to not sell them something that might not be appropriate for their age, and so they have to decide if certain NA novels are appropriate for being shelved in YA. Yet, at the same time, there are YA novels I know of that are shelved in Fantasy/Sci-Fi and others in Horror, so this shouldn't really be a problem. As long as you know the books you're looking for, a bookseller should be able to direct you to the ones you're after. Maybe not so easy if you don't know any titles and want suggestions and are asking for NA recommendations.

In which case, I think NA - or whatever term it may end up with in future if it changes - is a good term or phrase to use online, like on sites such as Goodreads. I don't see any problem with grouping certain types of books together - like books containing protagonists aged 18-25 who are experiencing uni or college/first job/leaving the parental home, etc. - and giving them some sort of name - New Adult - if it's going to make similar books easier to find.

Which leads me to a question of my own. If I read a book that isn't marketed as NA, but as YA or adult, but would fit into NA, how would you, dear blog readers, like to label them? I would of course label them YA or adult as they are marketed, but should I also include a NA label? A mature YA label? A "feels like NA/mature YA" label? How can I best help you find "NA" reviews on my blog?

But yes, I'm all for NA novels, I'm looking forward to reading the popular ones that are recently being published, and any others that are written. I may even start looking at the self-published NA books. I am all for NA, and look forward to seeing how it evolves. And if, in time, it turns out NA does get it's own place within brick-and-mortar shops, I'll be happy to know where to find my future reads.

What are your thoughts on NA in general, and, if you're for, the negativity from some?

11 comments:

  1. I love the idea of YA-type novels with 20-something year old protagonists, for the reasons you said, but I'm wondering whether it needs its own category like adult/children's/teen/young adult. Will we get NA mystery, science fiction, fantasy, or historical? Or is it exclusively YA contemporary with sex? Or with older protagonists? I do appreciate that labels help discoverability immensely though. It'll be interesting to see what happens with the term a few months from now and whether it really catches on.

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    1. It's not just YA with sex. Easy is the only NA novel I've read so far, I'll admit, but it focusses on college life, dealing with rape, and has a romance. There is some sexual content, but there are some things it skirts around. I'm sure there are other NA novels where there is a fair bit of sex, but I do think there will be others were there isn't.

      And as for the genres, I know adult author Jeaniene Frost has a three book deal for an urban fantasy NA series (you can read more here). And NA Alley lists NA novels by genre, split into contemporary NA and a grouping of fantasy, sci-fi, dystopian and paranormal NA. Sure, some of these may still be self-published titles and yet to be picked up by traditional publishing houses, but the books are being written. I'm sure other genres will follow too :)

      What are your thoughts on bloggers labelling books that could fit into what is currently considered NA in some way when they're not marketed as such? I'm pretty sure Lovely, Dark and Deep by Amy MacNamara, which is published as YA, could be considered NA, (no sex, by the way). Don't Let Me Go by J.H. Trumble is published as adult (which I only recently found out! I thought it was YA when I read it), but could be considered NA - and only has some sexual references. Should I mark these only as YA and adult, or should I put some indication as to their overlap?

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    2. If that's the case, I'd love to see how they differ from YA or adult. I have a few that are considered NA (albeit contemporary romance too) so it'll be interesting for me to see which category I think they belong to.

      I figured that we already have 'YA crossover' although I suppose that term denotes the target market and not the age of the protagonists. I suppose if everyone does agree on what NA is, it'll be very useful to discover books of that type. But then I feel perhaps we shouldn't try to fit books into narrower labels. We had children's, teen and fiction. Now we have children's, teen, young adult, and adult. Do we need another one? Will this narrow definition mean that some people won't pick a book up, in the way I'd argue young adult has done in some ways? Although reportedly half of YA readers are over 18, which is interesting in itself, it also has this stigma attached to it now and so you get people feeling they know 'what type of books' fit into that category and say they 'don't read YA'. Maybe they would have if it wasn't given that YA label? I'm just throwing ideas out there now. *Ideally* I'd love to not talk about whether a book is adult or YA or NA at all, and just talk about the book! But like you said, these types of labels make finding books you like a lot easier.

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  2. I'm all for the material being published IN this category but I'm not certain another label was really needed for the reading community at large. I think it was more of a marketing technique (nothing wrong with that of course) than a helpful aid for consumers because to a degree they get confused enough as it is now as to where a book would be shelved and I also agree, there are some that are in one category or the other and due to content should be rated "higher". It's a slippery slope...but hey, bring on the stories; I'm game! ^_^

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    1. I think for those who know what NA is and want to find NA novel recommendations online, it's good.

      When it comes to finding books on the shelf, I think it's generally difficult anyway. In my shop, when it comes to fiction, we have a fantasy and sci-fi section, horror section, and crime section, and then a general fiction section, where you find your romance/chick-lit, literary novels, etc etc are all in the same place in order of author's surname. It's where the booksellers come in, because they need to direct customers to where the book they want is.

      For people like me who are looking for a particular type of book, I have the term is useful. Saying "NA" when asking for recommendations is much quicker than saying "stories with 18-25 y/o protagonists who are at college/uni/first job/moving out of the parental home/etc". If other people know what I mean on NA - and I do generally get my recommendations online - it's helpful.

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  3. This is the first I've heard about NA, but I honestly think it's been a long time coming. I'm surprised that it took this long. It will be nice to read about college age individuals, and not be subjected to the high-school going-ons all the time.

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    1. Those against NA will say those books were already there, they were just marketed as YA or adult. At least with the term "NA", we're now hearing about them when we didn't before. So I'm happy! :)

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  4. I did love Easy by Tammara Webber and also Irresistible by Liz Bankes which feels more YA than anything with a 16 year old protagonist. Other than that though, I will be treading carefully when it comes to NA as I've not enjoyed my experiences with the others.

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    1. Oooh. That's a shame, but I think it just depends on the books. I had issues with dystopia when it first came out, thinking it wasn't for me at all. Then all of a sudden, the right books were put in my hands, and now I'm in love :)

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  5. I agree with you! I don't see what the big deal is with having a new shorthand term to describe these kinds of books, so that people who want them can them more easily.

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    1. Yes! It's just helpful! Before reading all the other posts, I didn't see a problem with putting a shelf in bookshelves, but I understand it all now having read everything. But nothing wrong with a way to group certain kinds of books together :)

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