The New Adult Trend

One of the biggest conversation topics in publishing right now is the new adult categorization of books. I'm not sure where the trend started - if it was a decision from industry insiders to better market growing readers or if those readers demanded a new category to call their own or, most likely, if it was a combination of the two - but everyone has a bold opinion on the subject.

There has been a lot of backlash towards new adult. The biggest criticism has been from those who define new adult as "young adult with porn." However, steps are being made to show that the category will be really important to the future of publishing. Authors are writing it, Amazon and Publisher's Marketplace now have it listed as a category, and new adult shelves are appearing in bookstores.

The thing is, new adult has always existed. Novels for young adults existed before "YA" was a thing and novels featuring characters moving on from their teenage days have always been available, whether or not people are ready to accept new adult as a category. 

I tweeted about a local (Canadian) bookstore's new new adult shelf and there were a lot of people interested in what the store decided to include in the section. This bookshelf had approximately 30 titles (all facing out) with the label "New Adult" very clear. It was part of the general fiction section - the children's and YA books were on the other side of the store, so it made a bold transition from YA to NA.

I'm not going to post a picture of the shelf (I was almost kicked out of the store for taking it, to be honest), but I'll list some of the books included in the section to give you an idea of what one bookstore is considering new adult material. I was surprised by some of the books (taken from both general fiction and YA).

• WARM BODIES by Isaac Marion
• NOUGHTIES by Ben Masters
• MY SISTER'S KEEPER by Jodi Picoult
• THE AGE OF MIRACLES by Karen Thompson Walker
• THE OFFICE OF MERCY by Ariel Djanikian
• HOW I PAID FOR COLLEGE by Marc Acito
• EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED by Jonathan Safran Foer
• NEVER LET ME GO by Kazuo Ishiguro
• LOVE IN THE TIME OF CHOLERA by Gabriel García Márquez
• TRAINSPOTTING by Irvine Welsh
• The FIONAVAR TAPESTRY by Guy Gavriel Kay
• EVERY LITTLE THING by Chad Pelley
• Y by Marjorie Celona

Let me know what you think of the choices: Do they belong in a new adult category?