Where do you draw the line between YA and NA?

I generally draw it after summer vacation after Senior year. But maybe I'm biased having written a not quite YA or NA.

Age, and what their doing at that age doesn't exactly determine if it's children's/MG/YA/NA/Adult, but what the story consists of.

NA--to my definition--is when someone is entering the real world for first time, shedding their youth for adulthood and trying to figure out their new life. This can mostly come from College students and such. If the story consists of this, then I'd call it that.

Though, NA is a rather odd field that I wouldn't necessarily sell into as there seems to be quite a lot of confusion of what it really is, and where the market is going.

But can that sort of thing happen when they are sixteen instead of eighteen? I'm primarily thinking of emancipated youth.

JustSarah said:

But can that sort of thing happen when they are sixteen instead of eighteen? I'm primarily thinking of emancipated youth.

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Depends on the story. A friend of mine entered the working class at 14, had his own apartment and all. His story would fit my definition. My uncle had a very similar story--being kicked out by my grandmother--at the age of 30, and his story fits my definition. But I wouldn't market their stories as NA as the don't give off that same College/Entering the world vibe that a very late teens to early 20's story gives off. There's a thin line with my definition.

The age would matter more with relation to the story, and the reader. Just like the YA is geared towards YAs, NA is also geared towards NAs. Age matters for connection, the constructions of society, and basic story premise--though these can be overwritten.

However, again, NA wouldn't be a field I would market into. Almost all of the NA books I've come across are heavy romance involving 20-somethings. If your story is this, then all for it. But, YA and adult have broader markets, and with some tweaks a story can become either/or.

Research some well-respected NA stories, that are regarded as "pure" NA by readers, and read them to figure out if your story is like them.

[FONT=&quot]As far as I can tell New Adult is a marketing category that is more important to a few writers than to most readers and publishing professionals.[/FONT]

I'm taking a YA lit class, and the way my professor explained it to me, YA tends to go on to summer after senior year, and NA picks up in college. However, she also added that there are no rules in writing that can't be bent. As far as topic is concerned, I've never read a book marketed as NA, but I did catch sight of that section in the bookstore once and I couldn't help but notice that the majority of covers depicted white heterosexual couples embracing. That was what indicated to me that romance was a big thing in that 'genre.'

What I would recommend, if you really can't decide, is querying YA agents and NA agents and seeing who bites.

When I started writing my WIP I wasn't concerned about this issue at all. I just figured it to be some form of adult, probably UF, with a younger MC, 19, who is a year out of school. Now, hitting the halfway point, I have discovered that my MC has a serious father/son issue, which I wasn't planning on being a big deal when I started, now is a huge part of the story. That mixed with him becoming a man so to speak, has me scratching my head. Not worried about it right now, I'm just going to finish telling it the way it wants to be told. But when I'm finished I will have a serious question about what exactly to call it. Which is weird since I'm the writer

What is the key age for YA? My character is 15-16.

Aerogurl said:

I am finishing up the last bit of editing for my book and am trying to figure out if it would be considered YA or NA for marketing purposes. The MC is 18 and has just went to university. It has a few very explicit sex scenes in it, which is why I think it may be a New Adult novel. But I've received other advice that it would be Young Adult because she isn't in her 20s. So now I'm kind of confused on who I should be marketing it to.

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Content is key. If there's a fair amount of explicit content, you are going to want it marketed to folks who are at least 18plus, which says NA to me, not YA. YA you definitely see some sex, and even some explicit stuff, but it's tricky to wrangle where to draw the line.

I would personally draw the line between YA and NA after high school. It makes sense considering the explicit content.

NA is definitely after high school. However, the lines are haziest in the following circumstances:

• The summer after high school. In this case, it depends almost entirely on how "adult" it is. If it's still primarily "innocent" I'd categorize it as YA, but if it is graphic or adult-centric in nature it's NA.
• Spec. In this case YA/NA is divided on age, because that is what the reader is going to look for. However, if the audience is intended to be general then age is inconsequential.
• A teenager under 18 who is "ahead of the curve." A fifteen year old in college is still YA because the audience is still probably going to be YA, not NA, and there would be a huge squick factor that would prevent many authors and publishers from allowing a more "edgy" topic. It happens, but let us be honest - the audience is still high school students.