Here in the US, Young Adult books are at noticeably cheaper than adult books (roughly $6 to $8), possibly more for hardbacks, not sure since I rarely purchase hardbacks.
Does anyone know why? And if you're outside the US, is it same in other countries?
I googled it and the top answer pointed to a 10 year old post from this subreddit which offered three theories:
- YA books are shorter
- YA books are for kids and they don't have money
- One person argued writing and editing YA requires less work
I think the three points could be said for middle grade books (HP, Percy Jackson, Artemis Fowl, etc). I don't think those arguments apply to YA. For one, most YA books are just as long as adult books. Kids don't have money, but many teens do, and it's a well known fact that a large portion of YA readers are adults. Besides, movies and video games from major studios geared to children and teens aren't cheaper than the adult version, so why books?
YA books, in terms of both physical and writing quality, are on par with most adult books. I mean, I don't think any YA books are going to win the Pulitzer or Booker Mann, but I think they can hold their own with most adult commercial fiction. I think an equal amount of money and cost goes into producing YA and adult, no? Are the publishers playing the long game and hoping to hook teens into reading so that they will continue to buy books? Do YA authors get paid less?
by Anxious-Fun8829
3 Comments
They probably get way higher print runs and especially if they are shorter books they are cheaper to produce as well.
I dont say this to disparage anyone who is older and buys YA books, but as a…middle aged(?) adult I don’t buy YA books unless they already have some nostalgia attached to them for me. The writing is too simplistic in most of them for my taste and the tropes, foreshadowing, and symbolism are often too heavy handed.
Only #2 is close, but for kids/parents. The difference in pages is negligible at best in terms of cost.
It’s 100% what the market will support. If they could make the same profits selling the books at a higher price, they absolutely would. If they sold adult books cheaper, they’d lose money.
It has zero to do with subjective factors like quality.
Here’s the flip-side of that dynamic: where I live, movie tickets are $18 for adults and $12 for kids. Kids don’t take up less of a seat. The movie doesn’t cost less to make because it’s for kids. It’s just that nobody would bring their kids if it was $18 a kid.
(Also to that example, for adults tickets are $18 whether or not the movie cost $250 million to make, or $30 million to make.)
This is all economics, zero to do with literature.