Guest Post by Ryan Hunter - YA isn't just for Children!

Ryan Hunter is a YA author who is amazing and you should all check her out. Oh, you're not a teenager, you say? Well, YA isn't just for kids. In fact, that's all I read and I am faaar from being a child, so there!

The YA Market isn’t Just for Children Anymore
Did you know that 55% of all YA books are bought by people over the age of 18? In a market designed for youth ages 12-17, that’s a serious market to consider when promoting your novel.
But why are so many age groups reading YA?
The Atlantic Wire said, “To escape our frantic adult lives, to remind us of who we were and who we want to be … and, put simply, they’re good.”
An intriguing aspect of YA is the ability to merge multiple genres, incorporating elements of the paranormal with history or fantasy with romance, and any number of other combinations.
Jacquelyn Mitchard, journalist, said that YA is becoming more popular because, “young adult is where the action is …” and that it’s a way “to remember when life was so tender …” She also said that adults who read YA better understand where their kids are coming from.
Author Maureen McGowan slated many of the same reasons and added, “There’s plenty of drama, conflict and tension. The teen years are full of heightened emotions. It’s when we experience our first loves, first heartbreaks, first huge setbacks and triumphs.”
Understanding who your readers are and what they’re craving in fiction will help you create a stronger story, to help you write something that appeals to your readers whether they’re children or adults.
While it’s important to understand why others read YA, you should also understand why you do and just as importantly, why you love to write it.
I love to read YA because it usually carries an element of hope. Adult novels often lack the optimism that youth captures and I long for that in a book. I also love to see growth in the characters I'm reading about and I feel, too often, that adults characters have no room left for growth - they're stubborn or cynical, or they get caught up in issues I'd rather forget about ... in short, I thrive on seeing a character's growth throughout a story.
I think that’s also why I also love writing YA.

Ryan Hunter is the author of inDIVISIBLE, a dystopian that’s being hailed as a modern-day 1984; and Premeditated, a YA suspense. She’s a wife and mother of five. She’s an avid runner, blogger and baker.
Website: propertyofoneunited.com
Facebook: facebook.com/authorryanhunter
Twitter: @ryanhunter45
Blog: authorryanhunter.blogspot.com