Why Are So Many Adults Reading Young Adult Fiction?

 What is the allure these days of young adult books and their crossover appeal to the adult crowd the world over?  Many YA books, in fact, are standouts with the adult community.  This industry has grown astronomically to become worth millions of dollars worldwide, with authors such as JK Rowling and Suzanne Collins.  In fact, (55%, according to a 2012 study), are actually adults. So what's the reason?

Perhaps the real mystery, then, is not why the works of the authors above have been so successful commercially, but why they, and other books like them, have appealed to so many people beyond their target audience. This in itself creates a sub-mystery, too: why do these books remain popular years after they are first published, and what is it about society today that means that their messages and values are still applicable to us?

One reason is that adults have discovered this: that young adult authors are doing some of the most daring work out there. Authors who write for young adults are taking creative risks -- with narrative structure, voice and social commentary -- that you don’t see as often in the more rarefied world of adult fiction.

YA books can be a vehicle for evoking nostalgia; they can often remind older readers of their childhoods and teenage years.  Society nowadays is so intricately and overwhelmingly critical of YA, and yet it is its simplicity that often provides the most pleasure for young people and adults alike.

Their universal appeal is palpable New generations of young people grow up, and they are often found reading the same books as their predecessors due to the sheer quality and sense of purpose behind the writing, making them applicable to anyone, at any time.

So to all of my adult readers out there:  Check out a few young adult books.  See if you feel nostalgic, or excited, or better for having read your choice.  You may be surprised!

What is New Adult Fiction?

An emerging genre, New Adult Fiction is here to stay.  Below is a primer of the genre, complete with free samples of books by leading adult fiction writers. 
 
The label was first used in 2009 when St. Martin’s Press hosted a contest looking for stories that could be marketed to both YA readers and adult readers. The contest described for new adult fiction as books “with protagonists who are slightly older than YA and can appeal to an adult audience.”

Last year, new adult fiction author Cora Carmack landed a three-book deal, bringing the term into a New York Times headline.

To get a definition beyond that simple description, YALitChat.org founder Georgia McBride interviewed JJ, an editorial assistant who worked on the St. Martin’s writing contest. Here’s an excerpt:

There is a gap in the current adult market–the literary fiction market–for fiction about twentysomethings. You never stop growing up, I think, but little in the market seems to address the coming-of-age that also happens in your 20s. This is the time of life when you are an actual, legal adult, but just because you’re able to vote (in the US, anyway) that doesn’t mean you know HOW to be one. This is the first time when you are building a life that is your OWN, away from your parents and the family that raised you. It’s a strange and scary place to be. Just as YA is fiction about discovering who you are as a person, I think NA is fiction about building your own life. (Very generalised, of course.) I hope that the creation of this category will allow the adult market to develop and expand in similar ways the children’s market did.

This is an exciting new genre, reflecting the reading tastes of young people.  With such a large crossover market today, these books will undoubtedly be read by younger as well as older folks as well!

Free Samples of New Adult Fiction Authors Who Landed Book Deals

Losing It by Cora Carmack

Because of Low by Abbi Glines

Slammed by Colleen Hoover

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire`

Easy by Tammara Webber