The following comment popped up after yesterday's post.
(it's been deleted because it's misleading)
Really, all novels are cross-overs. They belong to a genre, then they are cross defined as a category. There is no way a book can be just YA, because that is the category of reader within whatever genre.
Calling something a cross-over is redundant.
Crossover is used in publishing to describe a book that is sold and marketed to adults as well as YA readers.
It applies only to category (YA is a category).
Crossover means it moves between segements of one thing: audience.
It does not mean it moves between two separate things (category and genre).
A book is NOT a crossover just because it's YA and fantasy.
Nor is it a crossover if it's a YA and romance.
It is
only a crossover if it's marketed to adults and YA readers both.
If this is confusing, you're not alone.
There are several terms that mean something specific when used in the publishing world: review is another.
Questions?
Great! That's clear then.
ReplyDeleteAnd neither my first book is a crossover, nor will be my second.
Yes, questions: we now want the clarification on the confusing meaning of "review". 😯
At least all native German speaking Reefers want to know, and there are tons of us here, I'm sure, and we all write our second novel in English first AGAIN, so we do need to be educated, thank you so much. 😊
Thank you for the clarification. I think that it can be confusing because tons of adults actually read YA. And vice versa. Tons of kids read in adult genres. The hard thing is to understand what is YA. I always struggle for a proper definition. A tale told by a young person does not always mean it is YA.
ReplyDeleteI would have thought that virtually every YA book would be a crossover. Lots of adults read YA, so why not market it that way.
ReplyDeleteOTOH, relatively few adult books would be marketed as crossover because, while there are exceptions, most adult books are read by adults. Even kids who read at a superior level aren't that interested in hearing stories from an adult POV. Kinda like in real life, right? What kid wants to hear ANYTHING from an adult POV?
Or am I just projecting my life and my kids here? Probably so. I am speaking from Carkoon, so what do you expect.
I just want my novel to "crossover" the finish line.
ReplyDelete... I'm already on Carkoon, please don't-- aaaargh the teeth THE TEETH!!
Thank you for the clarification. It was one of those things that I was clueless about.
ReplyDeleteI have read a few YAs that could have been a crossover, but had never seen the term used for them; kind of like what I think were NA books without that classification.
Crossover doesn't apply to me, but it's still fascinating to learn. Thanks for the explanation, Janet.
ReplyDelete