hahaha it truly is an unsung hero. I wish there was a larger push for it to be more recognized! I think it would solve 99% of issues that I discussed here.
Omg heyyyy Mer :) Missed you!! I'm so glad you liked it. I completely agree with everything you said. And teens can totally read "adult" books if that is something they're comfortable with, but yes! YA should be written with and published for the youngest readers in mind (IMO). Not the other way around.
They look SO similar it blows my mind. If I knew nothing about these books, I would totally buy one not knowing anything and be SHOCKED at some of the stuff inside. I think there just needs to be some sort of distinction! And then also those looking for spicier stuff also don't feel let down if their book is all closed doors and fade to black. I think it would be able to work both ways.
we might just have to bring back the half naked ppl on the covers cuz atleast those covers weren’t misleading lol I’m begging the publishing industry to recognize new adult as a legitimate age category so we can leave books for preteens and teenagers alone!! loved the video ❤
Ahahaha I definitely don't disagree, unfortunately. I would really love for New Adult to become a standard so we can stop pushing things into younger audiences. Thank you for your comment!
dude, first off, love the mic, second, when I first saw those cutesy animated covers, I genuinely thought they meant to be fluff romance without smut, and like, thats why they looked like that. Then when I heard reviews of them, and people are saying they had really good sex scenes or really bad sex scenes I was so beyond baffled. Like theres no way those books are adult sex books....
Omg thank you Erin I'm glad you like my mic!! Yes, the fluff covers definitely are hiding secrets within! They are all most certainly. Well, not all of them look like that of course, but lots of them do!
´lisa frank´ illustrations haha yess! i think some kind of colour coding system would be a good idea. i wonder if that would be able to be expanded out to adult books too. i remember reading some stephen king as a preteen that for sure needed some colour coding on there haha
I think it would be a great way to do "trigger warnings" without labelling it explicitly (since for some reason that seems to be the biggest reason people don't want them). Or to just warn people of the types of content inside (gore and other topics included).
I don't write YA myself (I stick to NA or simply Adult Fiction). My own work, a sort of genre mash-up of Historical/Paranormal Romance-Fantasy (with very dark gothic horror elements) often includes mature content (sexual situations, graphic depictions of violence, and just dark themes) which would never be appropriate for YA. My fiction explores very shadowy experiences, goes to some very bleak places, and I'm just not equipped to write for a YA audience.
And I think that's totally great! It's just odd to me that we keep pushing more adult themes and content to younger audience groups (by we I mean publishing houses). If people are old enough and want to read it, that's one thing, but there should be other options in YA.
I think its a case of the fandom aging. So people who loved YA when they were 12/13/14 etc. now they are grown but with all the stresses of adulthood, everything going on in the world, more adult experiences that are grating it is nice to retreat back to a time (and books) that represent that comfort period but there is an element of wanting a more adultier version of the books that more reflects what they have experienced in order for them to want to go back to that time. There are age restrictions on video games, movies, tv series etc. Is it time that books have to follow suit? And this wouldn't even be the authors fault, its the publisher for pushing it into a category that the content just doesn't belong.
This is such a weird topic, and it should not be, if we would have proper age categories. A 12 year old is not a Young Adult, 14-15 year olds already read smut, but mainly as fanfic. Why? Because those are written by also 14-16 year olds. if it is about teenagers (mostly, not talking about sick people now). I wrote my first smut at 15 and I have read some online, that is part of turning to be an adult. The problem is writing explicit seens as an adult about teenagers and also reading about them feels just so so wrong. Many of us have to age up caracters in our heads to avoid that awkwardness. This could be avoided if we would have proper age categories, having fade to black seens as a max until 18-19, they could still read more explicit things in fanfic or going an age category above, you can't really stop them if they want to find it anyway. :D Sorry to bring up this comparison, but kind of the same way as teenagers can find porn online, but there is a reason there is (or should not be) porn about teenagers.
Yup! You've got it. I also see it as, if we push smut too young, then where does that leave readers who do not want it in their books (speaking for teen readers right now)? If teens want smut, they can find it (as you've stated) and also can read up an age category if they are ready for that. But if we push this stuff younger and younger, then young readers who wish not to have it in their books are what? Forced to read children's books where the protagonist is 10? 8? I just see it as potentially very damaging. I agree with your thoughts on p*rn as a comparison. It's kinda where my mind goes with it as well.
This video is the first time I've heard about the "New Adult" genre, and that's the age category I am currently in!
hahaha it truly is an unsung hero. I wish there was a larger push for it to be more recognized! I think it would solve 99% of issues that I discussed here.
love your discussion videos
Omg heyyyy Mer :) Missed you!!
I'm so glad you liked it. I completely agree with everything you said. And teens can totally read "adult" books if that is something they're comfortable with, but yes! YA should be written with and published for the youngest readers in mind (IMO). Not the other way around.
They look SO similar it blows my mind. If I knew nothing about these books, I would totally buy one not knowing anything and be SHOCKED at some of the stuff inside. I think there just needs to be some sort of distinction! And then also those looking for spicier stuff also don't feel let down if their book is all closed doors and fade to black. I think it would be able to work both ways.
we might just have to bring back the half naked ppl on the covers cuz atleast those covers weren’t misleading lol I’m begging the publishing industry to recognize new adult as a legitimate age category so we can leave books for preteens and teenagers alone!! loved the video ❤
Ahahaha I definitely don't disagree, unfortunately. I would really love for New Adult to become a standard so we can stop pushing things into younger audiences. Thank you for your comment!
Excellent video Emily! This is such an important conversation, and you handled it with such care and thoughtful insight!
Thank you so much, Meghan :) That means a lot!
dude, first off, love the mic, second, when I first saw those cutesy animated covers, I genuinely thought they meant to be fluff romance without smut, and like, thats why they looked like that. Then when I heard reviews of them, and people are saying they had really good sex scenes or really bad sex scenes I was so beyond baffled. Like theres no way those books are adult sex books....
Omg thank you Erin I'm glad you like my mic!!
Yes, the fluff covers definitely are hiding secrets within! They are all most certainly. Well, not all of them look like that of course, but lots of them do!
´lisa frank´ illustrations haha yess! i think some kind of colour coding system would be a good idea. i wonder if that would be able to be expanded out to adult books too. i remember reading some stephen king as a preteen that for sure needed some colour coding on there haha
I think it would be a great way to do "trigger warnings" without labelling it explicitly (since for some reason that seems to be the biggest reason people don't want them). Or to just warn people of the types of content inside (gore and other topics included).
I don't write YA myself (I stick to NA or simply Adult Fiction). My own work, a sort of genre mash-up of Historical/Paranormal Romance-Fantasy (with very dark gothic horror elements) often includes mature content (sexual situations, graphic depictions of violence, and just dark themes) which would never be appropriate for YA. My fiction explores very shadowy experiences, goes to some very bleak places, and I'm just not equipped to write for a YA audience.
And I think that's totally great! It's just odd to me that we keep pushing more adult themes and content to younger audience groups (by we I mean publishing houses). If people are old enough and want to read it, that's one thing, but there should be other options in YA.
I think its a case of the fandom aging. So people who loved YA when they were 12/13/14 etc. now they are grown but with all the stresses of adulthood, everything going on in the world, more adult experiences that are grating it is nice to retreat back to a time (and books) that represent that comfort period but there is an element of wanting a more adultier version of the books that more reflects what they have experienced in order for them to want to go back to that time.
There are age restrictions on video games, movies, tv series etc. Is it time that books have to follow suit? And this wouldn't even be the authors fault, its the publisher for pushing it into a category that the content just doesn't belong.
This is such a weird topic, and it should not be, if we would have proper age categories. A 12 year old is not a Young Adult, 14-15 year olds already read smut, but mainly as fanfic. Why? Because those are written by also 14-16 year olds. if it is about teenagers (mostly, not talking about sick people now). I wrote my first smut at 15 and I have read some online, that is part of turning to be an adult. The problem is writing explicit seens as an adult about teenagers and also reading about them feels just so so wrong. Many of us have to age up caracters in our heads to avoid that awkwardness.
This could be avoided if we would have proper age categories, having fade to black seens as a max until 18-19, they could still read more explicit things in fanfic or going an age category above, you can't really stop them if they want to find it anyway. :D Sorry to bring up this comparison, but kind of the same way as teenagers can find porn online, but there is a reason there is (or should not be) porn about teenagers.
Yup! You've got it. I also see it as, if we push smut too young, then where does that leave readers who do not want it in their books (speaking for teen readers right now)? If teens want smut, they can find it (as you've stated) and also can read up an age category if they are ready for that. But if we push this stuff younger and younger, then young readers who wish not to have it in their books are what? Forced to read children's books where the protagonist is 10? 8? I just see it as potentially very damaging.
I agree with your thoughts on p*rn as a comparison. It's kinda where my mind goes with it as well.