DEFINING "NEW ADULT"

Have you heard of "New Adult" books? It's a still relatively new label for books aimed at 17-25 year-olds who are bridging from books like Twilight, Hunger Games and Harry Potter into more adult titles, but the emphasis seems to be sex. Yup. There are quite a few raised eyebrows about it. I think it might be a good thing and here's why.

I've had conversations with many parents of adolescent readers and there is a common misconception that Young Adult books have sex in them. Now, it is true that many YA books do have some sex and/or deal with issues relating to sexuality, but not all YA books do. In fact, from what I've read, a large portion of YA books are "clean." But those books that aren't have given the YA category a bad rap.

Unlike music, TV and movies (which have ratings) you don't know what's in a book until you read it. This is problematic for many parents.  I have on occasion read a book only to be "surprised" half way through. Personally I don't like those kind of surprises.  While I am not advocating a rating system for books, maybe creating this "New Adult" category might help siphon off some of the more sexier YA books, making it easier for readers and parents of teen readers to distinguish books with more "adult" content.

Leslie Kaufman at New York Times wrote an awesome article about it. Take a look and tell me what you think.  Is New Adult just a way for publishers and authors to sell more books, or is it a way for them to innocuously rate books with adult content?

"Vampire and wizard fans are apparently ready for characters who shed their robes and show a little more skin.

Publishers and authors say they are seeing a spurt in sales of books that fit into the young-adult genre in their length and emotional intensity, but feature slightly older characters and significantly more sex, explicitly detailed

They’ve labeled this category “new adult” — which some winkingly describe as Harry Potter meets “50 Shades of Grey” — and say it is aimed at 18-to-25-year-olds, the age group right above young adult..."  Read entire article HERE.

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