Words for Writers

Craft: What's the Difference between YA & NA?

Generally speaking, age-range markets in publishing look like this (examples of this kind of book in parenthesis):

Board Books (The Very Hungry Caterpillar)
Picture Books (The Paper Bag Princess)
Chap / Chapter Books (The Babysitter's Club)
Middle Grade (Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone)
Young Adult (Twilight)
New Adult (A Court of Thorns and Roses)
Adult (The Handmaid's Tale)
Erotica (Fifty Shades of Grey)

These are the age-range/maturity range book categories that I'm aware of, starting from least to most mature. These aren't genres, like science fiction, or romance, or crime thriller, but the assumed reading level of the audience. Of course, people from all walks of life can read whatever age range they want, but publishers break books up into these categories so they know who the primary marketing demographic is. Meaning: marketing strategies change depending on who you're trying to convince to buy the book (or ask someone to buy for them).

Most books are categorized by both a genre and an age market, which are two distinct classifications.

Genres are the type of story you're writing, which comes with it's own tropes, stereotypes, common plot arcs and narrative structures, and marketing styles. These are things like Cozy Mysteries, Epic Fantasy, Literary Realism, Space Opera, Women's/Chick Lit, Courtroom Drama, High School Romance, etc.  

Combined with an age range, genre is both a way to categorize your book for the sake of marketing, and so readers can reasonably know what to expect when they buy it. So you can have a Middle Grade Western and an Erotica Science Fiction, or a Board Book Psychological Drama if you really wanted to. While some people rail against the idea of labeling or categorizing their books by age range and genre, it's a useful sales tool because humans are, absolutely, creatures of habit. We tend to like buying the same kind of book over and over again (I, personally, cannot get enough of Adult-market Revisionist Fairy Tale books like Wicked or Spinning Silver.)

HOWEVER.

Young Adult and New Adult are the two categories where the age market and the genre are often conflated. Both terms come freighted with connotations of genre, and thus assumed themes and plot styles. It's not saying they have to explore those themes and plots, but that they usually do.

Usually YA is a Romance mixed with a large dollop of Fantasy, Urban Fantasy, SciFi, Dystopian, or Magical Realism. Usually NA is all of the above, but could also include Thriller, Mystery, Psychological Drama, or Womens/Chick Lit.

Usually, but not always. For example, we'd all agree that The Hunger Games is YA, and it is so by age categorization and assumed genre. But did you know, so are Beverly Cleary's Ramona books, or Jean Craighead George's My Side of the Mountain - not because of their genres or themes, but simply because the protagonists are teenagers and the books are intended for teenagers to read. 

And because the age range is so similar for YA and NA (teenagers & early 'adults') I've seen this question floating around Tumblr a lot recently: What is the difference between YA and NA?

While there's no real hard-and-fast rule, there is a difference between Young Adult market books, and New Adult market books, from conversations I've with authors, publishers, and agents, I think at it's most basic and simple it can be broken down as:

Young Adult

-YA protags are one or two years older than the intended audience (so 15 to 18)
-Author Lesley Livingston has said (rightly) that YA is all about the protags' firsts (first kiss, first time being responsible for themselves, first time they realized what's really happening around them, first time they killed someone in ritual combat, etc.)
-YA is about the protag figuring out who they are and what their morals are (internal growth)
-There can be romance, kissing, and even sex, though the latter is usually not too explicit and often "fades to black".

New Adult

-The protag is the same age as the intended audience (19 to 30 or so)
-NA is about seconds, or what happens after, and the emotional impact of that. It answers the question "So now what?"
-NA is about the protag figuring out their place in the world and their relevance to their school/employer/loved ones/dystopian regimes/fantasy rulers (external struggle).
-There can be romance, kissing, and sex, which is generally more explicit, but is generally not a central plot point like it is in erotica.

Basically, YA is Bilbo Baggins in The Hobbit coming into his own as an adventurer and hero in. NA is the continuation #EverybodyLives AU fanfictions where he stays in Erebor and becomes the Prince Consort and has to figure out how to help and not harm the ruling of The Lonely Mountain, and carve out a place for himself in the world of the Dwarrow. 

That's not to say that all NA has to be domestic and about setting up house – you can still have mystery, action, tension, etc.  - that just happens to be a common theme when writing about people stepping into the world and establishing themselves for the first time.

I hope this helps you figure out not only how to categorize your stories, but also to market them.

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Have a question about the business or craft of writing? Ask it in the comments and I'll answer it in another chapter.