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Abstract:
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The book publishing industry experienced a period of drastic change
during the final decades of the twentieth century . Small publishing companies
consolidated and were purchased by large , profit -minded media conglomerates .
The widespread adoption of digital media technologies prompted many questions
about the very future of the book itself . Yet at the pinnacle of these changes , the
American young adult publishing market gradually began to experience not a
decline , but a renaissance . In this report , I explore ways that changes in book
publishing have manifested themselves in contemporary young adult literature
through two case studies . Are today’s young adult books works of literature or
commercial products ? Is their increased popularity due to widening readership
or more savvy marketing ? Are the companies producing them more concerned
with the public good or their own profit margins ? |