Discussion: The YA reading slump
I don’t think I’m the only one recently who has been going through a YA reading slump. For whatever reason, myself and a some friends seem to be gravitating away from our love YA. And honestly, I’m not sure why.
Am I ageing out?
Being in my 30s, and with a toddler on my hands, I am most def. not the target audience. Yet, that has never stopped me before. I love coming of age stories, with new loves, heartbreaks and hope for the future. I love everything from paranormal to contemporary. Currently though, I’m having a hard time with some of the YA books I’ve been reading. Sometimes I think the main character is too clueless or sometimes, the writing isn’t intriguing enough to keep me interested. I only read 30 to 50 pages before giving up nowadays and given my limited reading time, I have less patience for mediocrity.
Oversaturation?
The market is full of YA, YA, YA. Books, tv shows, films. Now more than ever it seems that everywhere you turn, a book is being turned into a movie. There’s ones that are obviously done really well and ones that are really lacking.
Nowadays, when I wander into a bookstore, it seems that shelves and shelves are dedicated to YA. A part of my heart is like “YIPPEE!!”. But when I start really looking at them, a lot don’t grab my interest. There are so many new releases every week, how do I know which one is The One I should look closely at? The one I should pick up and take home? I feel overwhelmed sometimes when glancing at the new releases, and most times I don’t pick any up.
The wave of Amazon
Amazon is wonderful and evil all rolled into one. I try very hard to visit my independent book stores frequently that have bookseller reviews and recommendations. But I also check Amazon, reading synopses and browsing the lists of related books I might enjoy per Amazon. It therefore comes as no surprise that a lot of the books recommended to me by Amazon are achingly familiar, whether by a favorite author, resemble a favorite story or is just something that other customers have also browsed. And therein lies the problem. I’m always seeing the SAME THINGS on Amazon given my buying history. Oh look, there’s another Chosen One. Oh look, another retelling. And there’s that series again that I didn’t like but did buy the first two books hoping to enjoy it.
I don’t get to organically find a new favorite book if I’m online, one that may be outside of my regular buying habits. I have to save that for physical bookstores.
But by having everything at my fingertips, doesn’t it take the magic out of book searching? Maybe because I read so much YA, Amazon has me pegged into a category
Quality
There was such a boom of YA in the last few years, and we were so excited to get more more more. But in getting more more more, did we sacrifice quality? Because the publishing business and specifically the YA writing business is such a money making machine, are we perhaps getting more volume? There’s a few books by favorite authors I’ve read which I would have loved, if more time had been taken to correct the glaring plot holes riddled through the book. Another book I was anxious to read seemed like it still needed a good editor. Are books getting rushed to the finished line before they’re ready?
It’s Me, Not You.
And finally, there is the just It’s Me, Not You. I’m changing and reading differently. I still have favorites but I’m less inclined to try something that might be mediocre. I’m becoming more adventurous in my reading habits. I’m reading more non-fcition than ever before. I’m trying to incorporate classics.
I still love a good YA. These days, I feel the need to search a little harder to find it.
What about you? Are you finding it difficult to read a certain genre you loved reading before?
Kimberly majored in Songwriting and currently works full time in the music industry. When she's not listening to music, knitting or writing, you can find her outside reading her favorite genres: Young Adult, Adult Fiction, Mystery, and Romance.
I agree that a lot of people I know are experiencing YA burnout. It’s happened to me to but for other genres depending on what I’ve been reading a lot of at the time. I like to mix it up but I definitely feel like things start to all feel like the same thing if you’re reading a lot of it. You start to really pick out the patterns in certain types of books. That’s why I think it’s good to have a mix of books that you like to read so that when you burn out you can read something else for a bit and them come back to YA with fresh eyes.
I think part of it also may just be volume. I know your collection and you tend to buy before really thinking about things (at least you used to) so maybe you own a lot of books and series that maybe you wouldn’t have gotten right away if there wasn’t so much hype. I think slowing down in your purchasing will probably help with this so that each book you buy is a conscious decision about something you really want to read (ie don’t buy the first 3 books in a series if you’ve never even read book 1).
I don’t think demographic has a ton to do with is as adults have been a huge part of the YA craze. While they may technically be marketed for young adults I think most publishers and authors are well aware that the adult market is huge for them.
I do think the Amazon thing might be a factor. Personally I don’t look at the recs on Amazon for books very often. It’s nice when the recommend books by authors I already like because I might not be aware of a new book, but I rarely go by their other recs. I think it’s similar to the video store thing. I used to find so many cool movies browsing the video store but we don’t have those anymore. I take recs from friends though and hey, maybe we should just visit more bookstores?
Thanks for the interesting topic!
I def. used to buy books based on reviews, even if it wasn’t totally interesting to me. I have stopped doing that mostly. A good cover still grabs me. I will still buy a book to read if it has gotten good reviews, but mostly now only if I think the synopsis is good. I try to read a mixture too and I agree that helps. In general though I’ve been gearing more towards adult books, which doesn’t help my To Read pile because then the YA books are kinda just sitting there… longer and longer.
If I request a book for review, I really think about whether or not I’m going to try to read it in a timely fashion. The NetGalley Reviewathon is a real draw! I did buy some books this month, but I’m excited about reading all of them. I don’t know! It’s so hard.
I really miss browsing book stores. I try to do that but it’s hard if I have The Blueberry. I did the same when we had Blockbusters and Hollywood Video. I like to browse and find new films.
Sigh.