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Boom in YA Books: Even Grown-Ups Are Reading Books for Kids

September 4, 2015 Arts and Culture

Boom in YA Fiction!

Even grown-ups are hoarding books
for kids and print publishers are
smiling that reading is big in the
age of electronic media

Current bestselling YA book: A fairy tale riffing off the school theme,
comng-of-age story: The School of Good and Evil. Also being
adapted into a movie soon.

Kids today find plenty of role models to overcome the modern dystopia of the 22nd century, in YA books. Some old classics have become sleek movies with the same impact as the novel: like Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card. Others mirror a bleak world view where every grown up is a scheming bastard out to own the world, but good people are kids who keep their wits and scruples: like The Divergent Series by Veronica Roth.

Young Adult Books are becoming the most popular reading across a wide range of readers who yearn for people to emulate or looking to recapture when they were coming of age and enjoying the same reads. And the movie spin-offs are not too shabby either, giving every writer of coming-of-age stories a good feeling that anyone has a shot at having their stories be amazing too.

Suzanne Collins' Hunger Games established YA sci-fi adventure as
a genre that kids would love, and as of this writing, the series has
even surpassed Harry Potter in all-time book sales.

Most teens discover their own sense of identity through fictional characters and get a handle on their own volatile emotions by reading how the 'hero' or 'heroine' copes with life when everything is thrown at them. YA books are having a heyday as voracious readers can't have enough of heroes and heroines in whatever YA genre fiction they can grab.

A Boon for New Writers and Even Fan Fiction Writers

Starting with J.K.Rowling, a welfare mum in London who took a swing at the moon and hit gold, then fan-fiction aficionado, Stephanie Meyer, who wrote her own teenage Lestat riff, and now Veronica Roth's gunning YA science fiction into the Divergent series...the Young Adult Genre book craze has built a readership that will last for as long as interesting stories catch the attention of the next generation of readers looking for moar good reading. The Twilight series authored by Stephanie Meyer has 150 million copies sold and the movies have grossed in excess of £2 billion globally. The Hunger Games series penned by Suzanne Collins have 35 million copies sold and the first film off the first book is already grossing £450 million at the box office worldwide.

Because of these good people, penny dreadfuls, pulp fantasy and adventure stories are no longer WORK but have turned into million-dollar franchise start-ups. Everyone who can pen a tale now wants a piece of heaven.

Despite formulaic stories, the continuing profitability of YA publishing and film adaptations bode well for everyone of any age dreaming of becoming a successful writer (no one worth his chops ever dreams of becoming a starving one). Today's voracious young readers give writers the advantage that ALL stories are brand new to them. YA books offer more than just a one and done deal—one hooked reader of any age is more likely to pick up more books and even move on to read the books written for grown-ups.

Not only do kids find their role models from fiction, grown-ups also find a connection in YA books and relive their own coming-of-age (even if they might not admit it). The huge interest in young adult novels are getting book brands to publish their offerings with two covers – one targeted to adults and one targeted to teens. It's no longer embarrassing for older readers to be caught holding something like the Hunger Games or The School of Good and Evil.

Publishing and Movie Goldmine

When young girls everywhere are slowly hoarding fantasy, horror and other genre YA books, you know it is an incredible age for reading to become more than just a geeky passion or some silly collector's hobby. The fastest growing market in fiction for years now is YA. If you check out any local bookstore, chances are there at least three or more stacks dedicated to just children's books and YA genre fiction alone. Inclusive of any subgenre.

Video is all rights reserved to The Divergent Series You Tube channel.
Divergent was adapted into a YA sci-fi series which is just
starting to break box office records. Bestseller YA books
are becoming film franchises from the get go.

From Twilight to The Hunger Games teen fiction sales jumped almost 150 per cent in just six years. Teenage girls are finding their way into science fiction stacks thanks to the popularity of the Hunger Games. They are learning to enjoy alternate worlds that are as engaging as real world story settings. More girls are bound to explore writing YA tropes immersed in sci-fi and fantasy, where few females dare. YA Fiction has been owning the top of the bestseller lists for more than 2 decades running ever since Harry Potter proved the books were no fluke. The box office blockbusters have been the final affirmation that YA fiction is as powerful as any other story for a cinematic adaptation.

The Wattpad Phenomenon

All those numbers YA genre fiction is generating has gotten one mobile app into the limelight. Right about the same time that mobile computing became a robust platform and an indispensable work tool, one dedicated story-share app: Wattpad, flying under everyone's radar became the critical mass, user-content monster for mobile social media platforms.

Fueled by the unlimited imagination of kids and every other wannabe writer, Wattpad became the de-facto platform for sharing chapter-length stories by kids off their online stash of self-penned stories. Facebook was everyone's photo-share monster app until Wattpad came along and hooked kids into sharing stories instead of selfies. Big publishers and YA authors looking for fiction trends have taken notice, and almost all the big western publishers and even Filipiono imprints, are mining Wattpad authors for book deals as well as putting up content for their stable of authors to get the same windfall of attention from a very dedicated readership community. Even seasoned Young Adult Genre authors are offering FREE look-sees at their latest work on Wattpad. Wattpad IS going to be the YA fiction platform for the future for getting authors work out and in everyone's hands.

Is the YA Book Book Just a Bubble?

After Hunger Games, the Divergent series is now in focus as well as the unusual fairy tale offshoot The School of Good and Evil, and the horror trope, The Girl with all the Gifts as far as YA books with heroines are lined up for movie treatments.

Another beloved YA book, Veronica Roth's Divergent series is
already being adapted into a movie trilogy and her work shows
that sci-fi fantasy themes are what kids love these days.

New books entering the limelight that promise to pick up the slack and carry YA genre fiction forward include Soman Chainani's The School of Good and Evil, a fairy-tale, switcheroo story at face value, but with stellar reviews for inventive storytelling with sales everywhere breaking the roof.

Another sci-fi thriller that has been tagged a YA book, The Girl with All the Gifts has received a Twitter blurb from no less than Joss Whedon, creator of YA classic Scooby-gang horror: Buffy the Vampire Slayer, calling the book: a perfect read--this horror sci-fi zombie novel by comic book scribe M.R. Carey is also being adapted for a film to be released in the next two years. Once the movies hit big, they'll recharge the YA book market for fairy tale retellings and sci-fi horror all over again.

Soman Chainani is the Indian-American author

of The School of Good and Evil YA book

The boom in YA fiction should give everyone the best time of their lives. Growing up or reliving their youth as swashbuckling characters. If anyone in this age were looking for a good read, chances are they will pick up a YA genre book. For both kids and grown-ups. Publishers hope this trend continues forever.

arts and culture, young adult books, grown ups reading ya books, publishers making good with ya, the hunger games, twilight, school of good and evil, the girl with all the gifts

Boom in YA Books: Even Grown-Ups Are Reading Books for Kids

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