It's in third person deep POV, so the voice is definitely tending toward an 18-year-old. Apparently Publishers Marketplace has officially recognized New Adult as a sub-genre, so I think that's where mine fits best.
Middle Grade, Young Adult, Adult: How do you categorize your novel?
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It's in third person deep POV, so the voice is definitely tending toward an 18-year-old. Apparently Publishers Marketplace has officially recognized New Adult as a sub-genre, so I think that's where mine fits best.
If she is in college, it probably will be a harder sell as YA. But you can query agents who rep YA and agents who rep NA, and ideally agents who rep both, and see what they say.
~suki
That's my plan. I originally was querying agents who represented both women's fiction and YA because I figured they'd be the best fit. I think it fits best in New Adult, but since it's still gaining traction as a sub-genre, it's hard to find people who rep it.
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I'm having trouble figuring out what category my book falls into too. I mean, the main character is 15, but none of the topics in the book are overly profane since it's a mystery novel. I'm considering decreasing the ages of most of the characters since I don't think it would make much of a difference, but I'm very confused on the word count. My story looks like it will be short and fall in the 55-65k words range. I've heard that's the normal word count for a YA book, but there's also a lot of conflicting information as well.
Lots of 15 year old mystery novels out there. Most fall in YA. YA does not need to be profane. It can be totally clean reads.
There are a lot of books that classify themselves as MG/YA crossovers, which would appeal to kids 10+ I believe H.I.V.E, by Mark Walden would be an example of that kind of book. That's the market I write for too. But most that I can think of have MC's who are 13 or 14.
15 is likely going to be a YA. But again, there are plenty of clean YA books. Alex Rider series jumps to mind as a clean YA.
Your word count is fine, by the way. Lots of YA at 55 - 65K
Before you drop the ages, make sure your voice fits the characters. Voice changes from 13 to 15, so think about that.
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Oh, okay thanks. The thing is that the 'voice' is the main reason that I didn't want to drop the ages of the characters. You see, the mystery involves things that I think would be more suitable for someone around 15. And thanks about the word count info too. I was sure about it myself, until I started reading around the internet. That's when I got confused. But, thanks again for clearing it up.
I wrote the first chapter of my novel as part of my Master's thesis. Over the years, I worked on the rest of the novel as a hobby, keeping pen to paper until I felt the story was told. At the time, I didn't know about recommended word count for the age group I was targeting. Naive of me, I suppose.
World-building takes up space, so I've always wondered if fantasy novels for young adults tended towards a higher word count than other forms.
Thank you kindly for this post--very helpful.
World-building takes up space, so I've always wondered if fantasy novels for young adults tended towards a higher word count than other forms.
Thank you kindly for this post--very helpful.
cgreenie
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I'm having a bit of trouble determining how to present my novel/trilogy to agents/publishers.
My MC is 21, and attends college, but he's a commuter who lives with his 13-year-old sister because of negligent parents. So, in a way, the structure of his life is closer to that of a high school student than a college student. There is one sex scene that isn't extremely graphic, but would be for YA, and a couple graphic descriptions of violence. Word count is 79,000 words.
I would assume this would be NA, but it's also urban fantasy/mystery before romance. Throughout the trilogy, the romance increases, but it plays a more minor role in the first book. Can NA be anything but contemporary romance or should I try to sell this as a YA or adult book?
My MC is 21, and attends college, but he's a commuter who lives with his 13-year-old sister because of negligent parents. So, in a way, the structure of his life is closer to that of a high school student than a college student. There is one sex scene that isn't extremely graphic, but would be for YA, and a couple graphic descriptions of violence. Word count is 79,000 words.
I would assume this would be NA, but it's also urban fantasy/mystery before romance. Throughout the trilogy, the romance increases, but it plays a more minor role in the first book. Can NA be anything but contemporary romance or should I try to sell this as a YA or adult book?
Mine is still a WIP, and I'm pretty sure it's YA based on content. However, it has a couple of violent scenes and several uses of the F-word. I don't think those make it any worse than most YA novels I've read recently. It's contemporary romance I guess, but I don't think the romance is overly pronounced.
I have been told that NA does not have to be a romance. I believe that contemporary is still a major qualifier.
cgreenie
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My fiction tends to fall into the upper YA category, verging on edgy but not quite there I don't think. My first novel, Pirate's Redemption, contains violence, mild language, and hints of sexual issues, though nothing is overtly said or done to push it into the edgy category.
I have two novels that I definitely consider to be YA based on the themes in them and the age of the characters at the time they take place.
For adult for me the characters are usually more experienced and have lived more and they work and aren't in a education type of setting.
For adult for me the characters are usually more experienced and have lived more and they work and aren't in a education type of setting.
I read every post in this thread and couldn't find anything that addresses the 'mix' of age group I wrote into my story.
I have a main POV character and his girlfriend along with two sisters, all four of which are 30/33 years of age. He also has two 15 year old daughters, (they have different mothers) It's written primarily in his 1st person, past, except for a couple of chapters in other POVs.
One of the 15 year old daughters is a main character throughout the majority, and until the last moment, of a high fantasy tale involving her actions. In addition, there are a couple of other YA perspectives/POV characters.
One very early scene scene is sexual involving the 33 year old in 'edgy' language/setting. and there's some use of 'bitch' and one time use of 'bastard'
I like to think of the story as 'Percy Jacksonisque' type of setting. It involves a Griffin, Demons, Shape-shifters etc.
Any ideas about genre?
I have a main POV character and his girlfriend along with two sisters, all four of which are 30/33 years of age. He also has two 15 year old daughters, (they have different mothers) It's written primarily in his 1st person, past, except for a couple of chapters in other POVs.
One of the 15 year old daughters is a main character throughout the majority, and until the last moment, of a high fantasy tale involving her actions. In addition, there are a couple of other YA perspectives/POV characters.
One very early scene scene is sexual involving the 33 year old in 'edgy' language/setting. and there's some use of 'bitch' and one time use of 'bastard'
I like to think of the story as 'Percy Jacksonisque' type of setting. It involves a Griffin, Demons, Shape-shifters etc.
Any ideas about genre?
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I don't now, I guess the whole language thing, I literally have one character that goes, in his first scene,
and then in pretty much his next scene,
I'm not 100% sure what to do. I know there are really people who are like this but yeah.
and then in pretty much his next scene,
I'm not 100% sure what to do. I know there are really people who are like this but yeah.
How would a story about MC's 11-13 be considered? Originally I was considering querying it as MG, but one of the main character could fall comfortably under the YA target audience.
I think for now (unless tween is considering query-able), I'll call it Older MG and be done with it. This is quite a change from writing YA, there is a lot of unknowns as I haven't done it before.
I think for now (unless tween is considering query-able), I'll call it Older MG and be done with it. This is quite a change from writing YA, there is a lot of unknowns as I haven't done it before.
Upper MG is the term you're looking for. A popular category actually. MG is growing and upper MG is the gap between YA and MG. It's still MG though so make sure you're reading MG so you understand the market 
I'm guessing this is adult (having teen POV in adult isn't unheard of. An adult MC in YA is harder) but it depends on the tone and the themes. YA is generally coming of age. Read some adult fantasy and some YA fantasy to see where it would fit best. Maybe have some beta readers who read both to help with an outside perspective. But I think it's likely adult (especially with an adult love scene...)
Thanx for the feedback. I'll see if I can track down some adult fantasy/adventure/demon fighting titles to see what they're categorized as and if they have 15 year old POVs in them.
Check out the fantasy forum here on AW. There's probably a thread you can ask for book recommendations. Maybe you can get a title or two with a teen POV from someone who reads a lot of fantasy.
Okay. I had a brainstorming/epiphany session with someone and got my MC down to 23 years old, phew! his sisters 20/21 y.o. and girlfriend 21y.o.
So, Now I have to find out if that age group, low 20s can swing an NA label and if 61000 words will be enough for that genre.
IKnowNotmyName
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Wow, there's a lot more to age genres than I ever thought possible. Thanks a lot for posting this.
I do have one question, if you would permit it. I am unsure of what age genre my book would be considered. I'd like to say it's Young Adult, but at the same time, I can't be sure. My book isn't graphic, nor are there copious amounts of violence. There is a bit of swearing, two scenes in particular swear a good deal due to my antagonist being a foul mouthed miscreant. There is no sex, but I have two scenes with nudity in it, though I do not go into a detailed description; no mentioning of body parts except breasts, and that's simply because there is no way to avoid those...and I mention them several times throughout the story for comedy purposes.
Would this be considered YA?
I'm pitching to agents about my novel but I don't know where it lies. I think it's YA in tone and it's definitely not gritty, although it does deal with suicide and depression, and it's not very explicit in either sex, violence or language but the characters are in their early twenties. I've read elsewhere that YA novels tend to be closer to YA readers ages in the age of their characters although I suppose early twenties isn't that far away... or is it?