Young Adult Literature

Young adult literature is written, published, and marketed to and for young adults, with the majority of the stories having an adult protagonist. According to the American Library Association, young adult readers are between the ages of 12-18. However, not all works fit all of these categories for instance John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men, which was written for adults is frequently marketed as young adult literature. Often the boundaries separating adult literature and young adult literature
are often blurred and loosely defined.

During the nineteenth century publishers didn't specifically market to young readers, even though there were books published that were extremely appealed to the young
adult readers, including Tom Brown's Schooldays and Robert Louis Stevenson's TreasureIsland and Kidnapped. It wasn't until the late 1960?s and early 1970?s that authors, publishers, and even marketers began to see teens as the untapped market of eager readers they were, even though during 1954 more young adult readers purchased and read The Lord of the Flies and The Catcher in the Rye, than the adult audience these
books had been written.

As authors and publishers concentrated on attracting the young adult reader in the United States, librarians began separating works that they felt appealed more to the young adult reader in separate sections of libraries. This move clearly identified
to the literary industry the need for distinction between children's literature, young adult literature, and adult literature. One such author was S.E. Hinton, who became know as 'The voice of the youth' for such books as The Outsiders, (1967),
That Was Then, This Is Now, (1971), and Rumble Fish, (1975).

It is said that authors such as S. E. Hinton opened the door for the modern writer of young adult literature. Today, the young adult fiction includes such genres as graphic novels, a modern take on the comic book, fantasy, mystery fiction, as
well as young adult romance novels.

Other subcategories include cyberpunk, splatterpunk
(extreme fictional horror novels), techno-thrillers, problem novels, and also contemporary Christian fiction.
.

Business resources:
Printing packaging and commercial process
Displays and sales
Data bar codes and software
Graphics and advertising
For Your office

Home Page

About publishing business