YA Highway has a relevant guest post post up today about New Adult that I really enjoyed reading.
I love this definition of Young Adult. Though, as always, I have questions about how it overlooks other genres. Urban Fantasy, the previous champion of college-age protagonists and accessible text, seems to be criminally overlooked in discussions of what NA does that other genres don't...
Oh my GOD, I drop off the face of AW only to come back years later to check out what NA threads there were and see my guest post quoted. SO COOL. Thanks for the shout out
(and to answer your question (maybe?) I think NA mainly exists to make it easier to find fast-paced snappy fiction about people in there twenties instead of having to wade through adult fiction to find those books, yah know? It's totally a marketing strategy to help consumers find what they're looking for.)
I have to point out that NA will only branch out if people start buying NA that doesn't fit into the standard mold. So if you want more of a variety, please, PLEASE start buying the non-contemporary-romance NA that's already out there, talk about it, and recommend it. Agents and publishers watch the market. They see what sells. We all have to work together to make this happen.