I write books about adults 18-25. I feel like it isn't young adult. Most young adult books are 14-21 but it really rare to see a books that focus about people in college -yes there are books but not common- or 18-21 who isn't in college, which I rarely find. I am 19.5 and I am not really into reading about high school especially since I did not attend it. I want something on the level of my age. I think a lot of people my age are going through what I am. Living off a $95 per week after the holiday, applying for unemployment, sleeping on a couch, having things touched and lost. Trying to move from being treated like a kid to an adult. I think I would like to call it New Adult. What do you think?
Its rarely any books focused on them ages. Either they are 27+ or 19-. I would like to read about a twenty year old.
I think that you can call it anything you want, but that your publisher would most likely have the final say on what it's labeled, so you could ask them. However, for now, you can call it new age if you desire.
New Age...I though that was something else? Well, I want to start my own publishing company. Just trying to figure out everything. It won't be for years since I want to get a MFA in Creative Writing.
Sorry, I meant to say New Adult, my mistake. However, if you have your own publishing company, than you can call it anything you want.
This is going to sound terribly trite, so apologies in advance, but how much difference is there going to be in or out of these age ranges you mention to create a genre from them?
Have to agree with Cogito. I wouldn't be worried about what it's called. Instead I would just write it and if its worthy of being published they will put it in a genre. In the meantime, if you do want to publish it, just submit it to publishers which handle genres similar to what you feel it is. Caleb
Agree completely. Your best bet is to write the book you think addresses YOUR target market and see if you can find an agent who caters to that market. It's a gamble, but then all writing for possible publication is a gamble.
I think it's both timely and of interest. There's a bona fide, complicated dynamic that may not have yet been explored that deals with young adults (I don't mean that in the genre sense) who've been relegated to a life no one's prepared any of us for--not parents, younger (or older) siblings, and certainly not the transitioning adult him(her)self. I know many, many parents who've grappled with the issue of having their adult children continue to live at home or in some degree of destitution elsewhere because of circumstances having to do with perhaps our culture and certainly our economy (and this has been going on for several years--at least a decade, maybe longer). I agree with others that you needn't call it anything, really (although I like "New Adult")--that's not your job as writer. But certainly get on with writing it!
wrey/cog... what's being asked about here is not 'genres' but only 'age markets'... books targeted for a specific age range can be any genre [= subject matter, not age]...
There's quite a bit of popular and literary fiction about these age ranges....maybe you just need to look harder? There's no need to create a new genre--either its young adult, which I think it could still be, or its in with all the other fiction genres (the two most likely being the two I mentioned above). Really though, the distinction isn't so much the content as the writing. If you're writing for Young Adults, you are writing a Young Adult novel; if you're writing for adults, then label it under an 'adult' fiction category.
