Quote:
Originally Posted by DiapDealer
Right. Which is basically my entire objection in a nutshell. It's pointless as a descriptor.
Yes, I know all subgenre's are fuzzy and unclear, but it least they give a general idea as to what kind of content can be expected (scifi, fantasy, horror, thriller, etc...). The only thing the YA label brings to the table is: "expect young protags." That's it.
"What's the book about?"
"Youth."
"Good to know. Thanks." 
It's not even a (sub)genre. Which is another aspect of my beef: it's being used like a genre/style when it's nothing but a marketing term that is largely useless to the reading world at large. People (youth included) look for books about something.
Agreed. Hence my complete unwillingness to acknowledge its usefulness to readers |
It's not meant to be useful to readers.
That's why the tag has no defining story traits.
In many ways, the YA tag is the opposite of genre tags:
Genre tells the consumer (something of) what to expect in the story.
YA tells retailers who to expect in the customer base and where to shelve them.
It is meant to be a marketing highlight but it also has a ghettoi-izing component, hence the complaints by authors, since a lot of readers see YA as a warning not to expect a serious, deep story.