Books for young adults aren’t just for young adults

When you’re browsing books for young adults at your local bookstore, you’ll notice that the YA section is busy, but not just with teenagers and tweens. The reality is that many readers of young adult novels are actually middle-aged—it’s clear that young adult fiction books, especially paranormal romance novels and young adult fantasy novels, have a wide-ranging audience, resulting in sales that far surpass those of adult books, even the best fantasy novels.

Twilight started a trend for paranormal romance books, which was soon followed by a growing demand for dystopian novels, post apocalyptic books and fantasy romance novels. A perfect example is Suzanne Collins’s Hunger Games series, which were all hailed as the best fantasy novels of the last few years. The third in this series of post apocalyptic books, Mockingjay, has sold more than 1.3 million hardcover copies and takes science fiction and fantasy books to an entirely new level. This series of young adult fiction novels is also an Amazon Kindle bestseller.

Most book publishing companies, including Sand Dollar Press, are adapting to this reader-driven industry shift. Publishers are seeking acquisitions of young adult fantasy novels and paranormal romance books, with larger publishers expanding each niche into own department. Bookstores are devoting entire sections to fantasy romance novels and paranormal romance books.

The Twilight series clearly started the trend of adults reading young adult fiction novels, and opened “grown adults” up to genres they left behind when they graduated high school or college. More and more readers who were once thought as older than the YA demographic are now searching for fantasy romance and dystopian novels at an unprecedented level.

In addition, science fiction and fantasy books are enjoying significant growth amongst older readers. You’ll find readers of all ages in forums, blogging about young adult fiction books and browsing the YA section of their local bookstores. Publishers like Sand Dollar Press are taking note, so we can look forward to even more growth of these genres.

Tips for Writing For the YA Market—Part Two

Voice
Whether you’re writing post apocalyptic books or a YA fantasy adventure romance novel, one of the most important elements is voice. Once you find your voice in young adult novels, the language and right sentence structure should come easily. If it doesn’t, it could easily be a sign that you don’t really have your voice down yet. Another thing to keep in mind when writing books for young adults is to never talk down to the reader—treat them like they’re adults, because a lot of times, your readers are.

Controversy
Young adult fiction books tend to cover touchy subjects, and publishing companies look for such controversial issues to be addressed, including Sand Dollar Press. Whether you’re working on a young adult fantasy adventure romance book or a series of post apocalyptic books, YA readers are used to the gamut of themes. While issues are a key element, it’s more important to find the character and their voice and tell their story—rather than build the story around the issue.

Hope
Another popular aspect of young adult novels is the happy ending. YA readers want to finish the story with at least a glimmer of hope. Even if you leave your protagonist on the brink of a romantic apocalypse with the love of their life, a little bit of hope goes a long way.

Tips for Writing For the YA Market—Part One

Writing young adult books, whether your niche is post apocalyptic books or a young adult fantasy adventure romance like the Save the Pearls series, can be tricky yet extremely fulfilling. At a small publishing company like Sand Dollar Press, there are certain things we recommend to writers who want to write young adult novels for the first time.

Surrender boundaries
The beauty of young adult fiction and other books for young adults is that the genres blend seamlessly and can have parts that transcend typical demographics. Novels for young adults can easily incorporate elements of young adult fantasy and romantic apocalypse with adventure romance, harlequin romance, sci-fi and mystery. Currently, the independent publishing world is seeking post apocalyptic books with a bit of each genre. For example, Sand Dollar Press was ecstatic that the first book of the Save the Pearls series crossed so many genres that they were able to deem it a young adult fantasy adventure romance.

Point-of-View (POV)
It is so important to get the POV right. The most important thing to consider when writing young adult books is that your narrator is writing from an immediate perspective, not as an adult remembering the past. The story should be told from the POV of a teen protagonist who lacks the knowledge we have in adulthood—that’s the only way YA fiction will work.

Age
The age of the protagonist in young adult novels should suit your targeted audience. A book publishing company will typically want the main character’s age to be the same as the book’s ideal reader. Another thing to keep in mind is that readers of young adult books tend to read upwards in age, not down. A high school age reader of books for young adults will not want to read about the trials and tribulations of a middle school character. What is most important to a book publishing company is that the characters in novels for young adults are relatable, even if it’s a protagonist of a young adult fantasy book with superhuman powers—they can still suffer the same issues as real teenagers and that is where they become relatable.

What’s also important to independent publishing companies is the character’s arc—readers of YA fiction will want to watch the character learn, grow and change throughout the story. The reader can even possibly not like the character at first, but grow to truly relate and admire them by the end of the story. Whether it’s a theme of harlequin romance or romantic apocalypse, we want to watch them learn lessons and apply what they’ve learned.

New YA Fiction Books Have All the Appeal

It’s clear that young adult books appeal to all ages— adult women flock to YA conventions and attend book signings, and it’s not just to accompany their teenage daughters (though they’re big fans of novels for young adults as well). Every small publishing company, including Sand Dollar Press, is seeking young adult novels, especially those with young adult fantasy themes. It’s an interesting phenomenon and something worth looking at—why do young adult novels appeal to readers of all ages?

We surveyed a group of women who prefer novels for young adults to find out the reasons why. Many said that books for young adults are usually written in more straightforward language, as opposed to some of the flowery prose found in many adult novels. They can incorporate young adult fantasy elements and harlequin romance style love stories, but without some of the stylistic devices and gratuitous content. Young adult books, even those from genres like young adult fantasy adventure romance, are all about the story—Save the Pearls Part One Revealing Eden is a perfect example—like many other post apocalyptic books, it’s got a strong story with themes of romantic apocalypse woven in.

Books for young adults, especially YA fiction, let you escape into an imaginary world, away from reality. The best part is, even young adult novels that encompass themes of young adult fantasy adventure romance are intellectually stimulating. Plus, it’s fun to get into the mind of fantasy characters or those that are usually found in Harlequin romance books.

Every independent publishing group and book publishing company is looking for YA post apocalyptic books, especially those with an underlying theme of a romantic apocalypse, such as the Save the Pearls series. The publisher of the series, Sand Dollar Press, is a small publishing company that is definitely releasing and seeking books of this genre.

YA novels can be from any genre, whether it’s romance, sci-fi, mystery, steampunk or paranormal—and tends to transcend several genres at once. It seems that a smart independent publishing company (or any book publishing company, for that matter) will open its doors wide to any form of YA fiction.