Publishing & Other Such Business

[TheBookishBabe]

Emery Lee always go out of their way to subtweet and disagree with people in the book community. And the claiming not to be subtweeting while clearly subtweeting. How can you disagree with the idea of writing YA for teens instead of adults when it's an age category that's supposed to be aimed at teens? Thing is most of the authors with this type of view are writing for themselves and their peers and aren't writing books for the teens of today or tomorrow or 3 years from now.

This is a bad take worthy of twitter.

She has a point, that YA should be resonant to teens instead of topical due to long publishing scedules. You are not writing YA for the current 12-16 y.o to read, but for the current 9-13 y.o to read in 3-4 years.
This is why successful YA (Twilight, The Hunger games) were popular, because most people would get them despite their age.
A YA novel about TikTok will probably make the readers go "this is so 2020" and "OK, boomer".

It takes on average 2 yrs for a book to publish after a deal has been signed not 3-4. So yes the current 12 yr olds would still be the audience for this book. Teens don't start at 16. And many of these writers are writing forvtheir teen self vs the teens of today. If the book is not set in the 80s, 90s or early 2000s it shouldn't read like it is.

TikTok has been around for a few years. Before it was called Musically. And a writer doesn't have to use those exact brand names but it's glaring how so much current YA is devoid of things that interest teens. Teens have been watching and creating for Youtube for years yet you'll rarely encounter that in a YA book. The concept of vlogging isn't going away any time soon. Where are the teens who play sports at their high school? The teens who love makeup and shopping? Why is prom barely relevant unless it involves standing for social justice? Why are all these teens into old school music soley? Em took writing for teens to mean add a bunch of pop culture references when no one said that. Also teens do need those books that are very much a product of their time. Very few YA books will be a timeless masterpiece.

[somebodysomeone]

Emery Lee always go out of their way to subtweet and disagree with people in the book community. And the claiming not to be subtweeting while clearly subtweeting. How can you disagree with the idea of writing YA for teens instead of adults when it's an age category that's supposed to be aimed at teens? Thing is most of the authors with this type of view are writing for themselves and their peers and aren't writing books for the teens of today or tomorrow or 3 years from now.

This is a bad take worthy of twitter.

She has a point, that YA should be resonant to teens instead of topical due to long publishing scedules. You are not writing YA for the current 12-16 y.o to read, but for the current 9-13 y.o to read in 3-4 years.
This is why successful YA (Twilight, The Hunger games) were popular, because most people would get them despite their age.
A YA novel about TikTok will probably make the readers go "this is so 2020" and "OK, boomer".

It takes on average 2 yrs for a book to publish after a deal has been signed not 3-4. So yes the current 12 yr olds would still be the audience for this book. Teens don't start at 16. And many of these writers are writing forvtheir teen self vs the teens of today. If the book is not set in the 80s, 90s or early 2000s it shouldn't read like it is.

TikTok has been around for a few years. Before it was called Musically. And a writer doesn't have to use those exact brand names but it's glaring how so much current YA is devoid of things that interest teens. Teens have been watching and creating for Youtube for years yet you'll rarely encounter that in a YA book. The concept of vlogging isn't going away any time soon. Where are the teens who play sports at their high school? The teens who love makeup and shopping? Why is prom barely relevant unless it involves standing for social justice? Why are all these teens into old school music soley? Em took writing for teens to mean add a bunch of pop culture references when no one said that. Also teens do need those books that are very much a product of their time. Very few YA books will be a timeless masterpiece.

If I wrote a YA novel, I would not bet my money on a trend of 2020 that may have fallen down the memory hole by 2022. Remember snapchat, that was a thing like in 2018?

But I get what you say. A book about a teen vlogger would work, regardless of platform, because it captures something teens can identify, either them doing it in secret and becoming viral or getting cancelled for something they did (or maybe falling for a vlogger and trying to meet them).
Traditional, beloved stories with a modern twist.

And yes, books about 80's/90/00's nostalgia should not be called YA, we need a label for grown ups who grew up reading YA (and NA won't do)

[TheBookishBabe]

Emery Lee always go out of their way to subtweet and disagree with people in the book community. And the claiming not to be subtweeting while clearly subtweeting. How can you disagree with the idea of writing YA for teens instead of adults when it's an age category that's supposed to be aimed at teens? Thing is most of the authors with this type of view are writing for themselves and their peers and aren't writing books for the teens of today or tomorrow or 3 years from now.

This is a bad take worthy of twitter.

She has a point, that YA should be resonant to teens instead of topical due to long publishing scedules. You are not writing YA for the current 12-16 y.o to read, but for the current 9-13 y.o to read in 3-4 years.
This is why successful YA (Twilight, The Hunger games) were popular, because most people would get them despite their age.
A YA novel about TikTok will probably make the readers go "this is so 2020" and "OK, boomer".

It takes on average 2 yrs for a book to publish after a deal has been signed not 3-4. So yes the current 12 yr olds would still be the audience for this book. Teens don't start at 16. And many of these writers are writing forvtheir teen self vs the teens of today. If the book is not set in the 80s, 90s or early 2000s it shouldn't read like it is.

TikTok has been around for a few years. Before it was called Musically. And a writer doesn't have to use those exact brand names but it's glaring how so much current YA is devoid of things that interest teens. Teens have been watching and creating for Youtube for years yet you'll rarely encounter that in a YA book. The concept of vlogging isn't going away any time soon. Where are the teens who play sports at their high school? The teens who love makeup and shopping? Why is prom barely relevant unless it involves standing for social justice? Why are all these teens into old school music soley? Em took writing for teens to mean add a bunch of pop culture references when no one said that. Also teens do need those books that are very much a product of their time. Very few YA books will be a timeless masterpiece.

If I wrote a YA novel, I would not bet my money on a trend of 2020 that may have fallen down the memory hole by 2022. Remember snapchat, that was a thing like in 2018?

But I get what you say. A book about a teen vlogger would work, regardless of platform, because it captures something teens can identify, either them doing it in secret and becoming viral or getting cancelled for something they did (or maybe falling for a vlogger and trying to meet them).
Traditional, beloved stories with a modern twist.

And yes, books about 80's/90/00's nostalgia should not be called YA, we need a label for grown ups who grew up reading YA (and NA won't do)

I read a YA that published this year that was full of early 2000s pop cultural references and it was horrible. The book never said when it was set so the assumption is 2020 however the characters were referencing music and shows claiming they loved them as kids when thry wouldn't have been old enough to experience them. And overall the book had the writing style of something written in the early 2000s. It was weird and I can't imagine teens relating to that.

[TheBookishBabe]

This is an article about indie publishers in the UK
https://www.theguardian.com/books/2020/ ... ed-in-2020

[kimberlieek]

So with the YA books being set in the 80s, 90s thing... Concrete Rose, Angie Thomas' new book is set in the 90's because it's a prequel, but it's full of references that were almost too old for me as a 24 year old, so it's interesting to think that its technically marketed to current teens. To be fair I think Angie Thomas has marketed herself as an author that kind of transcends genre with THUG, but I'm curious if teenagers would actually like that book less than adults because they probably have no idea what pagers are and how they work. It's a really good book though if you're considering picking it up

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[TheBookishBabe]

So with the YA books being set in the 80s, 90s thing... Concrete Rose, Angie Thomas' new book is set in the 90's because it's a prequel, but it's full of references that were almost too old for me as a 24 year old, so it's interesting to think that its technically marketed to current teens. To be fair I think Angie Thomas has marketed herself as an author that kind of transcends genre with THUG, but I'm curious if teenagers would actually like that book less than adults because they probably have no idea what pagers are and how they work. It's a really good book though if you're considering picking it up

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I feel like more adults hype her books than teens though. Which is the case for alot of popular YA.