YA books-- the new romance aisle?

heatercat said:

I don't see how it's 'dissing' anything. Romance does rely upon the same formula over and over again. The paranormal YA romances are increasingly abiding by applying a formula of their own over and over again, which leads me to think at some point this needs to be its own genre.

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Well, paranormal romance IS its own subgenre. And being called paranormal romance, readers are going to expect...romance.

So they all follow a "formula" if romance is a formula, but I would argue that many of the books you've listed are quite different from each other, with a few exceptions. I COMPLETELY disagree that Evernight is a copy of Twilight. Other than the vampires, there is nothing in common between those two books. So yes, there are some books that end up with a predictableness about them, but within the paranormal romance genre, there's still plenty of room for creative and interesting twists, and I've read some really great ones. (Including a couple from your list.)

Regardless, you can usually tell by the blurb on a book's cover if it's going to have a central romance theme, and if that's not something you're interested in, you don't have to read it.

That's true, it is, there's no doubt about it. But there's a definite silver lining: where there is a definite format that must be followed in the romance aisle, there isn't in YA. There can be tragic endings where lovers are lost in alternate universes, if you want, or the love interest can simply turn out to be a jerk. Though there generally *is* a love interest, that's generally where the similarities between the romance aisle and YA ends. The whole soul mate/ happy ending thing is just a trend, and from what I've read recently, tragedy is becoming more and more common.

I think it's fine to target an audience. It also helps narrow the browing field for people who are looking for something specific.

I also wonder if this will help the YA boy market a little. It will enure that teen boys aren't caught near a copy of Twilight! It sounds funny but true! They will now have an entire section they can avoid the embarrasment of being near and therefore browse other sections.

CheG said:

I also wonder if this will help the YA boy market a little. It will enure that teen boys aren't caught near a copy of Twilight! It sounds funny but true! They will now have an entire section they can avoid the embarrasment of being near and therefore browse other sections.

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I hadn't considered this. Interesting point!

I think romance has always existed in YA and has always been a huge part of it. I've read and liked YA novels with romantic plots or subplots from a very young age. The difference now, I guess, is that the paranormal element tend to make them all look the same. And even though Twilight spurred the whole thing (and I liked the books), it wasn't, in any way, an original 'out of the box' idea. I mean, anyone who read The Vampire Diaries series will see the similarities. And that was published 19 years ago!
There is no way around this: romance, love and what not has always been something of interest, something people's lives revolve around. Art reflects that, and it sells. In my opinion, the formulaic novels will eventually get tiring. I'm a chocolate lover, for example, and even I can't eat chocolate every single day without wanting something different for a change.

I don't think it's all formulaic. The only romance books I enjoy are the YA (MG?) fairy tale ones, like Ella Enchanted or Book of a Thousand Days (which is a great Mongolian-based fantasy). Hmm. And Tanith Lee's Wolf Star books -- I'm probably skipping others. No love triangles in the first two -- kind of one in the last? -- and a lot of other plot going on. I don't know how well these kinds of romances fit alongside Twilight & co. There's less emphasis on the relationship, but I think they're still "Romance."

CheG said:

I also wonder if this will help the YA boy market a little. It will enure that teen boys aren't caught near a copy of Twilight! It sounds funny but true! They will now have an entire section they can avoid the embarrasment of being near and therefore browse other sections.

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You have no idea how awesome this would be.

Danthia said:

Adult has it's romance aisle, why wouldn't YA have it's romance aisle? Romance is the highest-selling genre out there, but it doesn't mean ALL of adult fiction is about romance. It probably looks like YA is all romance since the actual shelf space is less, so the percentage looks more pronounced, but I'd be willing to bet the same ratio of adult to romance books exists in YA to romance books.

ETA: Doh, I see JamieB said the same thing.

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Yes.

I think the point is, there is room in YA for everything. Romance will always sell well, and there will always be room for romance in YA. But you don't have to read it or like it, and there will always be a market for people not looking for romance.

Hmm, I kind of see good and bad things about splitting up the YA section. On one hand it does make finding specific types of books easier, but something I always liked about YA was its willingness to accept all ideas without having to force books into specific categories. For example, if I wrote a YA book that was half-romance, half-mystery, here's the dilemma of whether it should be in the YA romance section or just in the general YA section.

Cholisose said:

Hmm, I kind of see good and bad things about splitting up the YA section. On one hand it does make finding specific types of books easier, but something I always liked about YA was its willingness to accept all ideas without having to force books into specific categories. For example, if I wrote a YA book that was half-romance, half-mystery, here's the dilemma of whether it should be in the YA romance section or just in the general YA section.

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Yeah, but unlike other genres, having your novel in a YA Romance section isn't going to hurt your sales in anyway. I'm pretty certain it will help people discover your book. It's those who aren't writing a YA romance, like me.

I know every major genre has a romance bit to it, but no one can deny that YA romance is YA's leading sub-genre, and there are more YA romance novels out there than just YA novels. I wouldn't have believed it myself if I hadn't gone to my local waterstones yesterday. Lord. In fact, I actually thought: "Why don't they just call it YA romance instead of YA."

Breaking it into sections would be great, me thinks. YA isn't a small genre anymore. It's huge. Plus, by breaking it into sections some other non-romance books will get exposure, and people with little knowledge of YA won't automatically assume YA is all about romance (like all my friends, but then I don't blame them since they go to the same waterstones as I do. If anyone saw the YA section in there they'd come to same assumption).