Postcard For Reader

"New adult" vs. "young adult"

I read a post back in October about the term 'new adult' and the failures of it.

It got me thinking, in general, about the term that many claim will be the "next big thing."

"New adult" is a term that's supposed to encompass the term that young adult supposedly ignores: the 18-24 range, or something like that. Right after high school until the end of college.

Do I want to see more books that take place in college? Hell yeah!

But my issue with this term isn't about what it wants to do, or the fact that I think the ya genre should just extend to include such an important time for the development of a young adult.

No, it's actually with the term itself.

Back when I took my young adult literature class, we spent the entire first class defining what young adult literature actually was. After breaking up each individual word, we came to an overarching conclusion on what it was.

And one of the things we realized?

Young was synonymous for new when it came to the genre. Because of the bildungsroman that so often prevails in the genre, its about the transition from teenager to adult and understanding that.

What would be the difference, then, in the term 'new adult?' It would be the same thing on a slightly older scale, or if it drops the idea of the bildungsroman transition, it would be a regular adult novel with a slightly younger protagonist.

People are wondering why they don't sell, and it's because they're trying to make a genre that - by definition - already exists.

What do you guys think of the definition?