{"id":186,"date":"2008-05-02T11:31:20","date_gmt":"2008-05-02T11:31:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/doycetesterman.com\/wp\/?p=186"},"modified":"2008-05-02T11:31:20","modified_gmt":"2008-05-02T11:31:20","slug":"why-ya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/doycetesterman.com\/index.php\/2008\/05\/why-ya\/","title":{"rendered":"Why YA"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Scalzi<\/a> on why many adult science-fiction and fantasy authors are missing out on the best sci-fi and fantasy being written today.<\/p>\n

Last week, the top 50 YA SF\/F bestsellers outsold the top 100 adult SF\/F bestsellers (adult SF and F are separate lists) by two to one. So 50 YA titles are selling twice as much as 100 adult SF\/F titles. The bestselling YA fantasy book last week (not a Harry Potter book) outsold the bestselling adult fantasy book by nearly four to one; the bestselling YA science fiction title sold three copies for every two copies of the chart-topping adult SF title. And as a final kick in the teeth, YA SF\/F is amply represented at top of the general bestselling charts of YA book sales, whereas adult SF\/F struggles to get onto the general bestselling adult fiction charts at all.
\nThat serious adult science fiction\/fantasy readers don\u2019t seem to know any of this is a) a feature of the opaque nature of book sales, in which no one publicly talks about actual units sold and b) a feature of the apparent short-sightedness of adult sf\/f readers, who are missing a genuine literary revolution in their genre because the YA section is a blank spot on the map to them, if not to everyone else. \u201cHere there be dragons\u201d has been replaced by \u201cHere there be pre-teens\u201d or something of the sort. This attitude is especially puzzling when you consider how many SF\/F readers got their start with books like the Heinlein juvies, the fantasies of Susan Cooper and John Christopher and Madeleine L\u2019Engle and so on.
\nI\u2019ve said it before and I\u2019m sure I\u2019ll say it again: The most significant SF writer right now is Scott Westerfeld, whom it seems most adult science fiction fans still have not read and indeed barely know exists. In a sane world, Westerfeld would be a hero to adult science fiction readers, because he\u2019s pretty much single-handedly flown the flag for science fiction to teenagers, thus saving the genre\u2019s bacon for another 20 years. But: He\u2019s YA. So he doesn\u2019t count.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In my local group of reading-friends, one of the most voracious of readers has few if any qualms about picked up, devouring, and sharing out many YA titles. Most, however, have probably never even looked twice at (or heard of) Pretties\/Uglies<\/em> — I have heard of them only because Kate specializes in YA and middle-grade fiction, and adores the series… I’m ashamed to admit I haven’t read them myself.
\nYet.
\nPretty sad, considering the kinds of stories I write.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

John Scalzi on why many adult science-fiction and fantasy authors are missing out on the best sci-fi and fantasy being written today. Last week, the top 50 YA SF\/F bestsellers outsold the top 100 adult SF\/F bestsellers (adult SF and F are separate lists) by two to one. So 50 YA titles are selling twice … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Why YA”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_import_markdown_pro_load_document_selector":0,"_import_markdown_pro_submit_text_textarea":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-186","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/doycetesterman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/doycetesterman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/doycetesterman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doycetesterman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doycetesterman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=186"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/doycetesterman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/186\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/doycetesterman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doycetesterman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/doycetesterman.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}