#will block anyone who misses the point of the video and continues to pearl-clutch

[xiranjayzhao]

I'm here to clear up some confusion about YA books. When some people hear that label, they think "meant for children." Why is it, then, that some books classified as YA have tons of explicit content that doesn't seem "appropriate"? There are actually complex and messy industry reasons behind this, mainly to do with female, qu33r, and POC authors getting pushed into the category and then pigeonholed there. (Also, totally not a coincidence that such authors get funneled toward a lower-paying category.)

I go over the main 3 reasons in this video, but basically, everyone's lives would be better if a clear distinction existed between Teen Lit and New Adult Lit, but this did not work out and forced the YA category to house more than it's nominally supposed to. Pearl-clutching at individual authors (or worse, calling for book bans "in the name of the children") is not the way to resolve this. The industry itself needs to commit to recognizing the necessity of New Adult, or it'll always be forced to room with YA and scandalize people.

[haru-kuneko]

This video is helpful to all authors wanting to traditionally publish their books! I agree that YA is supposed to be for ages 12-18 and there should be a new classification for books that are aimed for readers above 18 (a.k.a. New Adult). It's also important people do their research and not just believe everything they hear.

I also noticed there is a bit of cultural bias, misogyny and queerphobia thrown into the mix. I had no idea that it's a lot complicated to get traditionally published such as how you'd end up being categorized to YA against your will and having to dumb things down to make it suitable for YA.

All I know is YA does not mean it can't explore complex themes and books like "Iron Widow" at least gets to respect its readers' intelligence. At the same time, you have many popular authors who get to write explicit and graphic novels without any issue. I am sure Iron Widow is good as it is now but I wonder how much cooler it would be if it was published as an indie novel.

I'm here to clear up some confusion about YA books. When some people hear that label, they think "meant for children." Why is it, then, that some books classified as YA have tons of explicit content that doesn't seem "appropriate"? There are actually complex and messy industry reasons behind this, mainly to do with female, qu33r, and POC authors getting pushed into the category and then pigeonholed there. (Also, totally not a coincidence that such authors get funneled toward a lower-paying category.)

I go over the main 3 reasons in this video, but basically, everyone's lives would be better if a clear distinction existed between Teen Lit and New Adult Lit, but this did not work out and forced the YA category to house more than it's nominally supposed to. Pearl-clutching at individual authors (or worse, calling for book bans "in the name of the children") is not the way to resolve this. The industry itself needs to commit to recognizing the necessity of New Adult, or it'll always be forced to room with YA and scandalize people.