On YA SF/fantasy sales

There’s been a bit of talk online lately about the fact that YA SF/fantasy is selling better than the adult stuff.

There’s an undercurrent here–not by all commenters (and the comments are interesting to read), but by some–that there’s something disconcerting about this, that having the good stuff or the best-selling stuff winding up in the YA section somehow diminishes the adult section, because it means fewer of the best books wind up there.

And I’ve been trying to articulate just what bothers me about this, and I think it comes down to: You’re begrudging teens the good stuff. More, you’re begrudging teens the good stuff because you want it for yourself.

Cynical-me thinks what’s going on here, at least a little, is that adults (especially those who don’t particularly enjoy YA as a genre) just can’t deal with things actually being in some small way better for teens than for adults.

Teens have to put up with enough nonsense. Why shouldn’t the best books being written–or yes, even the books selling the best–be written for them? I have no problem with this, and I wouldn’t even if I weren’t a YA reader myself–even if these were books I couldn’t, personally, enjoy.

Adults control enough of the cool stuff. I see no reason to begrudge teens SF/fantasy market share.

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