Young Adult vs New Adult: What's the difference?

However close these two genres may be, you don't want to make the mistake of submitting your new adult novel to a publisher that is looking for a young adult submission or the opposite… unless you're looking for an instant rejection. 

All genres have rules that a writer must follow. Yes writers have the creative freedom to have a story be about anything that that want, however you can't really call your romance novel a romance if it doesn't have a romance in it can you?

Some common generalized genre rules:

Romance: Should end in a happily ever after.

Fantasy: Some type of magical system or fantastical elements such as dragons.

Western: Must be set in the Old West and mostly historically accurate. 

Mystery: Must have some mystery your reader is solving with your protagonist. 

Thriller: Has an imposing threat and high stakes to keep your reader on the edge of their seat. 

Horror: Creates a feeling of fear within the reader. 

What's the Big Difference Between New Adult and Young Adult?

Age of characters and depiction of certain theme elements. 

Young Adult: Focused on readers between the ages of 12–18. These stories most commonly deal with the theme of coming-of age, and deal with real life experiences teens have to face within their lives such as friendship, loss, self identity, and relationships. 

Young adult novels can be any genre style such as fantasy, romance or thriller however young adult books do not use a graphic depiction of gore, abuse, suicidal thoughts or actions, and sex. 

New Adult: Focused on reader between the ages of 18–30, taking place post- high school and college. These stories deal with some of the same themes as young adult but go more in depth into issues such as, depression, suicide, drug abuse, and an overall loss of innocence.  

Since this genre is focused more on new adults and is popular amongst older adults, depictions of sex, violence, and other "older" themes are shown. 

---

The easiest way to remember the main difference is whether your characters are in high school, preserving their innocence or having lost it, or have recently entered adulthood and are coping with their loss of innocence and dealing with more mature themes.  

Whenever you are going to submit to a publisher make sure to read over their requirements with a magnifying glass as some can be specific about what they want from authors. Some publishers can be accepting submissions for fantasy novels but have a rule saying no dragons allowed in submissions. Every publisher is unique in what they are looking for from each genre. 

Try to keep the genre guidelines in the back of your mind when writing, but don't stress about them. There is always time after to edit the story you've written to better fit the genre of your choose, but you can't edit and submit a story that hasn't been written yet.

Get to writing and then keep writing.

With love, 

B.K. xo

If you've liked what you read you can show your support by subscribing, pledging your support, or leaving me a tip that directly supports and aids me as a writer.

By joining Vocal+ you can earn more per read on every story you publish on Vocal.

Click my link to start your 7-day free trial today and start earning more for your stories.

_____________________________________________

This story was originally posted on Medium.

If you would like to experience Medium yourself, consider supporting me and thousands of other writers by signing up for a membership. It only costs $5 per month, it supports us writers, greatly, and you have the chance to make money with your own writing as well. By signing up with this link, you'll support me directly with a portion of your fee, it won't cost you more. If you do so, thank you a million times!

If you love what you've read you can also show your support by buying me a cup of coffee to fuel my writing. 

https://www.buymeacoffee.com/barbaraking