Whenever someone tells me they write young adult (often shortened to YA), my first response is always, "That's nice. So what genre do you write?" More often than not, I get a blank stare in response. The look in their eyes says it all.

"I just told you. I write YA."

At this point, I normally chuckle. "So you write fantasy." Most of those I meet who have made this young-adult-classification mistake write fantasy of some flavour, commonly urban fantasy.

However, sometimes I'll get that affronted look. "No. I write YA." To this, I bow my head in shame.

The confusion between genre and category is something that plagues every new writer. We're told that we have to categorise this piece of work that we have spent months, if not years, working on, but we don't want to fit into a box; we want to be in a circle. So… the question is, what does young adult really mean?

Young Adult is a Category

When talking about young adult, new adult, adult or even middle-grade, one is referring to the overall themes that span those categories. These categories align with the age of the target audience. Hence, the subject matter and language usage will match accordingly. Each category could be thought of as follows:

Middle-Grade

• Readers are typically aged from 8 - 12.
• Subjects delve into stories about finding the crowd that we belong to, finding like-minded friends and not feeling so isolated.
• Many stories have external factors that drive the story.
• Sexual content is restricted to hand holding and possibly that first kiss (puppy love).
• Examples: Percy Jackson, Skulduggery Pleasant, Dark Lord, Lemony Snicket, Alex Rider, etc.

Young Adult

• Target audience is 12 - 18 years old.
• Subjects tend to be about finding our sense of self. Who are we without the crowd? How can we shine on our own?
• Stories are commonly on controversial subjects, and involve romantic story subplots.
• Examples: Vampire Diaries, Vampire Academy, Twilight, Divergent, Hunger Games, Eragon, etc.

New Adult

• This category causes the most confusion. The term has only been around since 2009.
• Target audience is 18 - 25 years old.
• Stories are about finding our place in the world as a whole. We know who we are, but how can we contribute to society?
• Common settings include college, newlyweds, pregnancy, etc.
• While a large number of new adult books fall into the romance genre, it is not restricted to that genre. (However, you ask some agents/publishers and they will say that it is. Go figure.)
• Examples: Dune, Stranger in a Strange Land, Beautiful Disaster, etc.

Adult

• Adult encompasses all of the above and much more.
• No subject matter is out of bounds for adult stories.

Age of Protagonists

There are some writers who will insist that protagonists need to be the age of the intended target audience, but this is a general trend and not a rule. What age should the protagonist be for adult stories? I have seen protagonists as young as five, granted it's not that common, but why should I restrict my reading to characters that are 40+ years old? Just because your character is of a certain age doesn't mean that your story is automatically for a particular age-group audience.

The same can be said about any of the other categories. If a protagonist needs to be of a certain age for the character's backstory to be believable, then so be it. As long as the themes fit within the category, you will find that the story will still have its home.

That said, if your target audience is children, it is recommended to keep the main protagonist's age to within a few years of the target audience. In other words, if your target audience is 10 years old, then having protagonists that are in the order of 13 would be fine, possibly 15. And a sidekick character who is an adult is certainly okay. However, stories with protagonists in their late teens and older would be better served to keep the recommended reading age to say 15 years old or older. This is because characters in their late teens and early twenties have views on life that a 10-year-old is too young to process.

Why Age Category is Important

The age category will define what section of the bookstore your book will be found in. However, it should be noted that even these categories don't always dictate where a book is placed.

Within my local bookstore, new adult doesn't have its own section. We have young reader, teen reader, and adult. Within young reader, you'll find beginner readers or chapter books. Teen-reader books consist of anything from Vampire Academy and Eragon through to Alex Rider and Dark Lord, lumping middle-grade and young adult together in the same section.

To complicate matters, you encounter books such as Harry Potter, which starts as a middle-grade but is definitely a young adult by the end of the series. However, in my local bookstore, it's not a problem as the entire series would be classified teen reader.

In the end, you, as the writer, should think about the ages you would feel comfortable reading your stories.

Anything containing graphic violence or explicit sex should be categorised as new adult at least. However, given the shelving system in my local bookstore, I'd be inclined to use adult. Regardless, it definitely would not be middle-grade or young adult.

If you are heading down traditional publication roads, don't be afraid to get the classification wrong. A publisher will have their own take on where your book should be shelved. They just use the author's classification for some guidance.

If you are self-publishing, what will matter the most is the genre classifications. Middle-grade is often given its own genre classification in the online stores, but YA is often lumped in with the adult books. Keep that in mind within your marketing efforts.