Testing the Hypothesis, Part 1

Hypothesis:

The current young adult reading selection lacks diversity due to impressionable mentality of the publishing industry that follows the same overused archetypes of previous successes, thus leaving the reading audience in need of some new variety in the genre that isn't derived the same overused tropes.

Testing Hypothesis Boundaries

Who

The biggest people in need of this are the readers: the vast population of consumers whose age or preference in genre have them fall in the category of the target audience. Other people with invested interest are aspiring authors who cannot get a foothold in the industry do to the domination of the same overused ideas, as well as literary agents and publishing houses who could prosper with introducing some new material into the market.

What

This does not apply to all books in general, just those pertaining to the young adult genre, perhaps more specifically the young adult fiction genre. There seems to be such a systematized approach on what makes a bestseller: books that can drag on into a series and spinoffs that can be turned into movies--typical franchise material to cash in on.

Why 

The reasoning listed in the hypothesis might be speculated or denied by those who abide by the philosophy that 'if something worked once, keep using the same method each time instead of finding a new one' which basically translates to the principle of 'if it isn't broken, don't fix it'. The problem here is that it is broken, at least to exhausted readers leaving and turning to new alternatives for entertainment. Perhaps the industry itself does not agree and might blame competition from other typical pastimes.

Five Interviews Summarized

#1 (a typical consumer within the target audience)

After this lengthy and eye-opening conversation, the first checkpoint of addressing whether or not my claim is valid has been assessed: there are other consumers within the target audience who agree that a demand for diversity is prominent and that no notion has been made to resolve the issue. Or at least, if some effort was being made, it was fruiting no results or was squandered in the early stages without being given proper recognition support by the mainstream media to develop any publicity and catch wind. With that being settled, I could thus move on in my exploration of the unmet need.

#2 (someone who used to be a reader but 'grew tired of it and took a break')

The conclusions of this interview can be applied to the 'why?' aspect of my hypothesis-testing. The fact that someone got so bored with re-reading the same stories until the novelty wore off (no pun intended) should be evidence enough that this is a real issue. Instead he spends his free time playing on his Xbox or PS4, to which he can't exactly be blamed for. It isn't a 'dumber' alternative. Perhaps not as mind-engaging like some would argue, but we are talking about in comparison to leisure reading, not academic. So if there's nothing to read in the market and an endless variety of video game genres competing for people's attention and the ability to deliver, it really isn't that mind-boggling as to why kids are picking up tablets and making art or music instead of reading books.

#3 (an aspiring author)

This applies to a third of the 'who?' division in my investigating. If there was an opening in what literary agents were looking for, fresh new talent could be untapped and exploited, introduced into the world with new things to offer the market. New talent is out there--that's not the issue. Rather than availability, it's the willingness for those dominating the industry to accept these new ideas and take a risk that hinders progress in this commercialized genre.

#4 (someone who once worked in the publishing industry)

She's actually an ironic case, because she quit the industry and moved to a human resources position. One must get tired of having the same redundant plots thrown in their faces and having to sit and decide which one of these unoriginal works s most original to get put into print. That should be explanation enough, but allow me to summarize the gist of this regardless. Through her I was given insight into the other half of the spectrum discussed here and gained some interesting and eye-opening perspective. Yes, they do decide what gets published, and there are others in marketing who decide which titles become famous and get the most financial backing through funding and advertising, but there is basically a whole setup here with everyone on the same page that 'what worked once will keep working until it doesn't'. But what then? A drastic change? A collapse and rebuild of the entire industry? Or a continuation of this, a prolonged pause in endless stalemate with the receiving end not being allowed to do anything to influence change and the other side doing nothing to alter it's current position.

#5 (a young preteen who has just started dabbling in the young adult genre)

This was the one I was looking most forward to in terms of wondering if they were content of the current setup of the young adult fiction literary genre, and if so, for how long? Did they see some obvious patterning from the get-go, or would it only be later, once it all was seemingly tried, tested, and read that they would see in hindsight with nothing further to look onto? Well it seems the first book series obviously seems like an original creation, but my interviewee said that after moving on along the current list of fan-favorite reads, the similarities were evident: in plot structure, character appearance/behavior/mentality/ability, and the usual side-character setups with regular personality tropes and commonly used storyline archetypes. "Just switch up the names and the era of setting and there we have it: the newest bestseller."