Young Adult vs New Adult - What are you reading these days?

I feel a change in the air...

Okay, maybe I'm being a bit dramatic with this.

But, I do feel like things in the reading world have shifted a bit.  Young adult has been HUGELY popular for the past few years (maybe more like decade).  And I am NOT saying that it is going out of popularity, at all, but I do feel it isn't as popular as it once was.  There has been a big shift in the last two years or so toward new adult.  I have my own theories on this, but I don't think I'll share them at this very moment.  Maybe later.

The point of this post is research.  I have about 3 new ideas tumbling in my head these days, all equally exciting to me.  One is young adult, one is new adult, and one is adult.  The results of this research may end up effecting what I decide to work on next.  I posed these questions on my Facebook fan page yesterday, but I wanted to expand this and get some more responses.



I want to know:


Do you still love young adult as much as you once did, or do you see yourself leaning more toward new adult or adult?  
Why do you read what you read these days? 
Do you feel like there has been a shift in the reading world? 
 Thoughts on this topic?

I really want to know.  So to motivate you to share your opinion, I'm offering up a giveaway of a $25 gift card to Amazon for vocalizing (or rather typing out...) your thoughts.


Here are the rules:
  • Leave your thoughts in a comment below.
  • Once you've done that, fill out the Rafflecopter form below.
  • You can gain extra entries by sharing this post.
  • Giveaway ends September 8th.
  • I will email the winner about the gift card.


So speak up and tell me what you think!

  a Rafflecopter giveaway

25 comments:

Kasi Blake said...

Wow, I get to be first. I love YA and probably always will. It started when I was 12 and the English teacher told us to read The Outsiders. I was totally hooked.

Unknown said...

I prefer YA... it seems that a lot of YA writers are writing "adult" books because of the whole 50 shade phenomenon. Authors evolve and mature with each book they write, it's how things go, but most are following the hype and not what they truly love.

I feel books should be written without an audience and then let them find their own crowd. Most well known, renowned authors and respected authors usually write the same type of books. I can't picture Mr. King writing a romance novel. Why? He's good at what he does, an expert in his genre. He writes for HIS audience, not for the hype.

Unknown said...

I like ya

Unknown said...

I like ya writers they touch me in their writings

snscuster said...

While I love YA I do find myself gravitating more towards NA simply because I have gotten older. I find NA can attempt more risky situations. High school situations are still good but I find I'm looking for things I can connect with on a new level. Now I'm not really talking about reality based scenerios, it's nice when your lead character can disappear into an alternate world and "how will this be explained to the adults of this character" is not the first reaction. I do still read a lot of YA and is my go to genre,but I can see more NA getting on my TBR list.

Anonymous said...

Looks like I'll be the black sheep, unless someone has commented before me, but I love smut. I'm gravitating towards more adult novels these days because YA is just looking more and more immature. If I ever acted like some of these characters, god I wish someone would have slapped me. It takes a lot for me to give a YA book anything more than 3 Stars these days(:

Sharonda Isadora said...

I have to agree with Neyra. I've read YA & some NA and the characters are just too immature. Do young folks really act like this now? smh. Give me my Adult theme books anyday of the week. I'm around teenagers and new adults all day...I don't want to read about them too.

Little Bookworm said...

I love both but as I keep reading more and more books I feel as if I am starting to like NA more but I still love YA and read a lot more of it.

I am a hopeless romantic and I find more honest and down to earth romances in NA more than I do in YA so that's why I read those.

I don't feel that there has been a shift in the world but I feel as my reading choices are expanding or changing I can see more of what the world reads and that might be why it feels like the world has changed.

Harman @ Little Bookworm Reviews

Kate McMurry said...

I read both. When I read NA, I prefer a traditional romance with no romantic triangles, and I'm not particularly into erotica.

Michelle said...

As long as the story and characters are good and hold my interest, I don't care if it's YA, NA or Adult.

Fly to the Sky said...

As a teen I tend to gravitate more towards YA. Personally I find the characters easier to relate to because obviously I'm around the same age as them.
The other reason is a reason that many will disagree with me about. NA to me is an older age range and.... Well a greater focus on sex. People disagree with me on that and it's true I've read a few good NA books but so many have such a heavy focus on sex which is something I am sooo not interested in.
And well Adult is the same thing.
I think that my opinion is definitely pretty biased since I do fall in to the YA targeted audience. But at the same time I also am pretty close to the NA age range.
So for me I don't think my preference for YA will ever sway...: for the time being at least!
Great post!!!

Cindy C Bennett said...

I'm still a YAer at heart and probably always will be. It's what I write, after all. :o) I'm not sure who decided all NA has to be graphic, which means I'll probably always stick with YA. I'm not against NA by any means, but I prefer a story of substance, not a story of sex.

Jessica L. Tate said...

I've spent years attached to YA, and I haven't let it go. BUT. I have been delving into the NA world a lot more lately. I think part of the reason is because I am in my late 20's and the stories have this personal appeal to me. On the other hand, YA is still close to my heart because I love that feeling of being young and experiencing first loves and first kisses and it has this slight innocence to it in some cases. I mean, I love watching primetime teen dramas on TV because the high school scene is amusing and intriguing. Yet, sometimes I just want to read/watch something that feels like I can relate to it at this point in my life.

Generally speaking, I think NA is definitely flying off the shelves faster than YA is lately. YA still has its place, and can still get a decent amount of attention, given it has the right kind of story to it. There may be a place for something that is in between both, like at the crossroads between high school and college.

I've been reading about half and half when it comes to YA and NA recently. I started to do this because I needed to break things up a little bit. I had been reading too many YA in a row and they just weren't appealing. I think that was because I wasn't picking ones I really wanted to read at the time. So, changing it up with some NA has helped me read more.

Katie Kay said...

I've been reading both equally, I think. Since I am now in my mid-twenties, the New Adult novels peak my interest, but sometimes they can be way too explicit for my enjoyment. I do not like novels similar to 50 Shades. The graphic scenes are way too much for me. I feel embarrassed when I read them and tend to skip over those parts. I like that I can always count on the Young Adult novels to be tamer, but sometimes I feel a disconnect since I'm no longer a teen.

Really, I think it might just come down to the plot, how well I can relate to the protagonist, and the writing style of the author. As long as the author can deliver a well-written enthralling story, I don't care if it's Young Adult or New Adult.

TayteH said...

I read YA. I haven't touched NA yet. :D

DJ D. said...

I still read a ton of YA. I actually have yet to jump on the new adult bandwagon. Honestly, your Fall of Angels series (which I view as NA) is the only NA books I've truly loved. I did enjoy Cora Cormack's Losing It, but all the other NA's all sound the same and the ones I've tried reading just haven't hooked me.

Mostly, despite being a college-aged person, I just can't relate to the stories presented in the current wave of NA. And the male leads are all the same--bad boys who somehow redeem themselves through steamy sessions in the bedroom with the heroine, who is also redeemed through steamy sessions in the bedroom.

When it comes to adult fiction, I don't mind it and enjoy the maturity of the characters and situations.

Though, regardless of the targeted audience, I love a great story, whether it be YA, NA, or adult. :-)

Sarah said...

The only young adult novels I find myself reading are the dystopian ones that have been popping up. Otherwise, I mostly read New Adult or Adult novels. I feel there has been a shift in that there are a lot more New Adult and Adult novels available out there. I myself have been writing an Adult Dystopian novel and it seems like there are more and more books out there with heavy adult themes. I actually like seeing the change. I like that there are so more books available and that it seems like people are becoming more open about sexual themes. The U.S. is pretty stuffy when it comes to this theme. As much as we claim to be the free open-minded society, we tend to like to keep things locked away. So, I like that more and more people are reading and writing books with adult themes.

Unknown said...

I think there is a def shift to contemporary and paranormal NA. I've been reading more NA than YA. The reason I started reading YA to begin with is b/c I liked the edgier fast paced stories with a bit of romance. Who am I kidding, I love the romance, it's one of my fav things! So when NA came out, it's edgier, faster paced with the romance amped up big time!! I really hoping to see more NA Dystopians! So ahhmmm....Ms. Taylor that's a BIG, hint, hint...LOL!

Jen Minkman said...

I used to love YA romance, especially the paranormal variety (which I why I started writing myself in the first place!) but lately the market has been flooded with YA books that all kind of feel and look the same. NA is a new and refreshing trend, however, I feel that most books with the NA tag are more focused on sex and less on romance, which is a shame. I personally don't like 50 Shades-type of books and I'd love to read more paranormal romance revolving around new adult characters as long as the age of the main characters isn't just an excuse to cram in a lot of steamy sex.

Heather said...

Probably about a 65/35 split with YA in the lead. A lot of it depends on the mood I'm in.

Ursula said...

While I still read mainly YA my NA collection has undoubtedly grown and now I find myself reading NA in between YA books to keep it interesting :)

Anna G. said...

I read both YA and NA, when I will read something "light" I choose YA. I don't think I ever will give up Young Adult books, I love it too much.

Anonymous said...

I haven't read much New Adult. There's not a lot of books out there that are appealing to me. They all look the similar cover-wise and that doesn't make me interested in the story at all. So Young Adult all the way for me. Then Adult.

Marny said...

I still love YA. I haven't read any NA books, but the book descriptions sound like the genre is an excuse to have lots of sex. Maybe I haven't found the right books, but I'm just not interested. I also read regular science fiction and fantasy adult books.

Unknown said...

I read more YA but I'm starting to get into NA. I still prefer reading YA books though. I've been reading them for a long time. NA books are okay, but sometimes it's written weird...