What classifies as YA?

[Kate]

I'm in another group that is discussing the book Poison Study for the month of March. Poison Study is classified as an adult book, but the publishers are pushing to market it as a YA book because of all the response lately in YA books. Poison Study does have more gory details than most YA novels have.

What I'm getting at is this: in your opinion, should a book be marketed based on content, or by who will buy more of it?

[Charlizechat]

Well, since there's always going to be some arbitrariness about the distinctions between genre and age-group, I can't blame the publishers for at least considering the topic of where they're going to find a bigger audience.

In truth, it can't be denied that publishers are already guilty of a lot of 'pandering' in the YA section! I don't disapprove so much, but there may be some dishonesty in pushing the envelope on 'content' (ie the gore and other 'adult themes') when parents and educators are sorta looking to the Teens section as a place where they can trust their kids to pick for themselves. Obviously the whole 'troubled teen' genre has dealt with uncomfortable subjects for a long time, but the uptick in 'mature' content in YA books in more escapist genres like fantasy and horror might give some people pause.

Not that I mean to sound prudish about that. But since YA novels are really often for a tween audience the publishers should feel a little bit of a sense of responsibility, imo

[Catamorandi]

I think it should be based on content. I don't agree with pushing to sell it to the largest audience at the moment. There are some things that might be more "mature" that a YA would not benefit from and might hurt. I have never agreed with the "let's put it where we can get the most from it" category.

[Kate]

We kind of had a discussion like this, and a lot of people said to market it as a YA book, because a lot of YA could benefit from it, and like more adult topics. I think that if teens want to read adult books, they can just go over to the adult section. In our society, topics like violence and sex are becoming less and less regulated. I think we need to go back to drawing a line somewhere.