# How many 'grown-up' Terry Pratchet books are there? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 8, 2002, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-grown-up-terry-pratchet-books-are-there/122874 "2002-08-08T00:04:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 3\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-grown-up-terry-pratchet-books-are-there/122874/21 "2002-08-08T18:23:39Z")
Rober\_t\_. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Tan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/charlie_tan/32/12582_2.png) [@Charlie\_Tan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Tan)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 10:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-grown-up-terry-pratchet-books-are-there/122874/22 "2002-08-08T22:26:05Z")
> [@](#): > > (I’ve heard tell that in some years, 1% of the total books bought in the UK have his name on them) actually: [quote] How important is Terry Pratchett? Even more than you might think. Mr Pratchett, by himself, accounted for 6.5% of all hardback fiction sales through the general retail market (GRM) in 1998. Mr Pratchett’s hardbacks, according to Whitaker Book Track figures from Bookseller Publications’ Book Sales Book Sales Yearbook, generated more than £2.7m worth of turnnover last year. In paperback, he was the third bestselling author, behind Catherine Cookson and Danielle Steel, with sales worth more than £3m. One of the keys to Mr Pratchett’s success is the strength of his backlist. Twenty-one of his paperback titles each sold more than 16,000 copies last year. [quote] _From the Bookseller 14/5/99_ (snipped from [www.lspace.org](http://www.lspace.org)) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-grown-up-terry-pratchet-books-are-there/122874/23 "2002-08-08T22:48:28Z")
> [@](#): > > I’d have to nominate Prachett as a YA author, myself. > > … > > Equaled by only one other. Rober Anson Heinlein. > > It’s not that they’re too purile to be read by anyone older, heavens above and below, no. > But they challenge and make people _think_ in creative and different ways, while still being accessable to the high-school and younger crowd. > > The perfect time to blow one’s mind is when you’re very young. > > Shel Silverstein, also, would be in that subversive group. I disagree with your definition of what makes an author a YA author. Just because a book can be read and enjoyed by a teenager doesn’t mean that it is written for teenagers. Pratchett avoids explicit language and adult situations because he wants to maintain a light tone, not (IMO) because he’s trying to pander to younger readers. Heinlein did write a lot of deliberate YA stuff, but he also wrote a lot of very adult stuff. _Stranger in a Strange Land_, anyone? I wouldn’t classify him as a YA author, but instead as an author who wrote a lot of YA material. And Shel Silverstein, also, I would not consider a Young Adult writer, as he was specifically writing to _young children_. In fact, I’d say that if there is any group of readers Silverstein wouldn’t appeal to, it would be teenagers, who don’t want to be seen reading “kids” books and aren’t yet old enough to get in a really good nostalgia groove from reading stuff they loved when they were little. **Ellen Cherry** : Who in this thread has been “coming down” real hard on **lobsang**? Aside from me, of course, and I already apologized. What can I say, my two favorite forums are Cafe Society and the Pit, and sometimes I experience a little bleed-through. The other day, I tried to slam someone in the Pit by claiming he had an Atticus Finch complex. Seriously, though, nothing said so far in this thread has gone past “spirited debate.” IMHO. YMMV. BYOB. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-grown-up-terry-pratchet-books-are-there/122874.md?page=1)