How important is it to label your work YA or adult respectively?

JDWallawine said:

My work I did not write with an age group in mind. I wrote it for me and my peers, starting in my teens and working till my thirties. I have had many tell me it is definitely a YA novel, and I have no objection to that, but I have been describing it as a "sci-fi fantasy action drama". Would somthing like that be a reason for agents to be put off by a query?

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Yes.

Also, if you have a YA novel but are sending it to agents who rep adult, what good does that do you? It'll just get binned.

You should know what you're sending out before you send it, otherwise a. you'll send it to the wrong people, b. the people you send it to will reject it out of hand, because either it's not what they rep or because it's labelled incorrectly, c. you need to make sure you're within the conventions of whatever you're saying you've got. If you query agents who rep MG with a book you say is for, I dunno, ages 8 and up, but it's got an adult protagonist and is 120,000 words, you're not going to get anyplace there either.

JDWallawine said:

I have been sending to YA representatives, I just have not been adding it to the description. Both as I never considered it in the beginning and after because I didn't want to pigeonhole my work. I will definitely be adding it now.

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It's not pigeonholing it to label it correctly (and it's very important for you to demonstrate that you know what you have). If you are sending to agents who rep YA, but you have "sci-fi fantasy action drama" in your query housekeeping, you're telling them it's adult and potentially earning a rejection based on that alone (if they are looking for YA). If you are certain it's YA, that needs to be on your query letter.

You noted in your first post that you have had many tell you it's YA. I'm not sure who these folks are, but you need to make certain you are familiar with YA and its conventions before you dive into querying again. First and foremost, are you a YA reader? (That's a critical aspect.)

All the best,
Riv

JDWallawine said:

I have been sending to YA representatives, I just have not been adding it to the description. Both as I never considered it in the beginning and after because I didn't want to pigeonhole my work. I will definitely be adding it now.

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If you're sending it to agents who specialize in YA, but tagging it like it's adult, that's the same confusion/assumption you're mixed up on who they are, on their end.

JDWallawine said:

This is a very good question, and I am a little red in the face to admit I have never thought about it before. Thinking through my favorites like The Worthing saga as well as the Ender series by O.S. Card or the Elminster series by Ed Greenwood, their protagonists happen to be older than the typical YA MCs, yet I think they are still marketed for high school kids.

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Worthing and Ender are two to three decades old. Elminster was started over two decades ago and I don't thiiiink it's classified as YA. If you're shopping a YA novel, you need to be familiar with recent and current YA titles. If you're convinced what you have is YA, read read read a bucketload of current novels before reviewing your manuscript.

JDWallawine said:

Likewise my story I have tried to avoid announcing exact dates and ages of characters, hopefully creating a more timeless story that a larger range of reader might identify with (am I being a dreamer?)

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If the main character is above high school age, it's not going to fit in YA. When querying YA, your query needs to open with the age; obfuscation will hurt, not help, you. Lots of YA novels appeal to a wide age range--but the protagonists are primarily 18 or younger. However, just because a protagonist is a teenager doesn't mean a novel is automatically YA.

JDWallawine said:

However they are still heavily influenced by RPGs and would likely appeal to a high school audience. There is slight sexuality, mild profanity, and detailed violence but nothing you would not see in a typical anime. At around 86000 words I think it hits in the upper end of the YA genral desired length. Other than that, and without being able to post a sample yet, I don't know what else might signify if I belong in YA or not.

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YA would (almost exclusively) have a protagonist eighteen or under who is dealing with issues/conflicts/challenges associated with teens. The voice of a YA novel is a teen voice. It can be gritty. That's probably enough to help you assess your manuscript a bit more.

That said, I think you're saying you have older protagonists, but the story would appeal to teens. If that's the case, it sounds like you have an adult novel. (Just because RPGs are involved doesn't make it YA.) There are plenty of teens who read adult and adults who read YA. You really need to get a handle on what you have before you query. There are a lot of YA writers on the board who could give you more feedback.

Hopefully something here helps!

All the best,
Riv

JDWallawine said:

This makes sense, thank you both for the clarification.

This is a very good question, and I am a little red in the face to admit I have never thought about it before. Thinking through my favorites like The Worthing saga as well as the Ender series by O.S. Card or the Elminster series by Ed Greenwood, their protagonists happen to be older than the typical YA MCs, yet I think they are still marketed for high school kids.

As Riv notes, those are all old books, so using them as comparisons is a problem off the bat. Also, the Ender series isn't YA. Ender itself is arguably MG or YA, but the series goes off into clearly adult books. The Harry Potter series starts MG but is solidly YA by the middle to the end. The character ages and his problems change. Because h.s. kids are made to read things (or read them by choice) -- those aren't marketed to anyone atm, as far as I know -- doesn't mean they're YA, at all.

Likewise my story I have tried to avoid announcing exact dates and ages of characters, hopefully creating a more timeless story that a larger range of reader might identify with (am I being a dreamer?) However they are still heavily influenced by RPGs and would likely appeal to a high school audience. There is slight sexuality, mild profanity, and detailed violence but nothing you would not see in a typical anime. At around 86000 words I think it hits in the upper end of the YA genral desired length. Other than that, and without being able to post a sample yet, I don't know what else might signify if I belong in YA or not.

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That's not how it works, sorry. There are a billion adult books with mild or no profanity, sexuality, violence. The book I'm currently reading has no violence at all and nothing to write home about in terms of sex or cursing -- doesn't mean it's for kids.

Being influenced by video games, etc., also doesn't have anything to do with whether something is YA or not.

There are a lot of things that go into it, including voice, the issues, etc., but protag age is the starting point.

If you're writing what might be YA, you need to read a TON of YA and know what the current general conventions are. If you're not writing YA, there may or may not be issues with the voice -- we won't know either until you can put a sample up in SYW, but I'd suggest you stop querying until you know what you're querying, heh, and read a lot of SYW threads and YA novels.

JDWallawine said:

Now I am starting to think I do not belong in YA. I announce my main character as a Young Man but beyond that not to get more specific with age. The issues my character's face could be considered those of adolescence but are not exclusive. Even when training to learn new spells he is never in a familiar School setting like in Harry Potter.

You're examples do help. I never considered Harry Potter as middle grade, I thought it was exclusively young adult. Similarly Ender I always considered a little too dark for children but with the school setting in the beginning and addressing other childhood issues through the series, I figured it was all considered young adult.

The main reason I have begun considering my novel as young adult is because of the writing group I have joined. After reading my first chapter to them, the six members present all agreed it sounded like it belonged in young adult.

Also the agents who directed me to this site did so saying it has a very good young adult section. Leaving me to believe she also feels that's where my work belongs.

I have no problem with marketing my work as young adults if it's going to help getting accepted. I guess all I can do at this point is follow the advice to read some Modern young adult novels, any favorites? And continue working here until I can post a sample for a more clear review.

Thanks for the help peeps.

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I would start by posting a condensed version of this question - "I have a fantasy MS that several people have told me is YA [insert details here]. I don't know that market, where should I start reading?" - in the "'Old' People Writing for Teens" thread (don't worry, "old" just means "adults" )... based on my experience, you'll get a ton of recommendations.

Perhaps, when you reach fifty posts, it might help others, here, to have a look at an excerpt.