We know that Carl Hiaasen, John Grisham, and Harlan Coben have all ventured into the YA writing market. Well, soon we can add some other very familiar adult authors to this list. Elizabeth George, Jodi Picoult, and Jane Smiley all will have YA novels published very soon.
Why this cross-over stampede? It seems that YA sales have increased, especially because of the success of “The Hunger Games” trilogy and, of course, the “Twilight” series. Adult fiction sales don’t seem to be generating as much revenue. So it seems from a monetary point of view, it makes good sense to have established writers venture into other genres.
Elizabeth George has written her Inspector Lynley series for more than 25 years. I appreciate her complicated plots, which often involve social commentary on conditions in England. She does admit that she had to change her writing style in order to present a more straightforward telling of the story. Jodi Picoult has co-authored “Between the Lines” with her teenage daughter. She admits that one reason she wrote her YA novel was because she wanted to write something that would appeal to her own children.It has also been pointed out that teen readers’ enthusiasm rates much higher than that of adults.
Combine all of these reasons and we will probably see more authors joining the growing ranks of those authors writing for many different age groups. I only hope that they don’t forget their adult readers. Elizabeth George ended her last book with one of her major characters promising to help a friend find his kidnapped daughter. I hope I won’t have to wait two more years to find out what happens.