The way your professor differentiated between YA and Adult is so interesting and also--it totally complicates the age question! I didn't move out until I was 25 but was also very much an adult. Your post makes me want to write about what it means to come of age during a housing crisis where moving out (or getting married) doesn't mark adulthood anymore--but then what does? Getting a job? Anyway lol Thanks for sharing this!! I'm def going over to read the full story on SubClub <3
I agree 100%. This definition also isn’t inclusive for cultures where people leave their family homes later in life. I’d love to read a post about coming of age in the modern era! Things are weird™ for our generation, and it’s one of the reasons why I’m interested in writing 20s something coming of age stories (even if the industry doesn’t want them 😅).
This is fascinating Kat, thank you for sharing an inside look. I remember reading that Curtis Sittenfeld had the same issue with Prep; it got a lot of publisher rejections for being an adult novel told from the perspective of a 14-year-old. But the voice in the final version of the novel does come across as very retrospective, so I'm guessing she did a lot of work on that aspect, incorporating maturity and hindsight to age the book out of YA.
I didn’t know this about Prep! I wish I had when I was in the thick of revising my novel. It would have been a great resource for the voice revision. Adding it to my TBR now. Thanks for sharing!
This is very interesting! I can relate because my manuscript is about a girl who in the first chapter is 16, but then it skips to her at 18. From there, it follows her to age 27. The male main character starts at about age 20 and ends at about age 32. I tried to label it New Adult, but though I'm told that is a valid label, it hasn't seemed to work yet. How did you get your agent? I'm still working on that!
Thank you for the tips! I'm definitely going to look into the perspective from which it's being told.
I write literary fiction, and New Adult is not really a legitimate age category for this genre. If you go to bookstores, it's extremely uncommon to see a "New Adult" section. I've lived in seven states and three countries, and I've personally never seen one. If you have, I'd love to know which bookstores have this section!
Outside of literary fiction, other genres like fantasy have a more established track record of New Adult being a legitimate age category, but more often than not, I've noticed that New Adult books in genre fiction are often the author's third, fifth, tenth, etc. book—not their debut novel. I think if a writer has an established publishing record and readership in traditional publishing, writing and selling a New Adult novel is much more feasible. Debut writers have so many hurdles to overcome when it comes to getting their work read and seriously considered by agents and editors. I'm not sure that adding an "untested"—for lack of a better word—age category is the most effective choice for breaking into the industry. At least that's been my experience with my own writing journey and trying to position my book.
Since querying my novel in 2019, I've learned that New Adult is an age category that writers might use to categorize their work. But stakeholders like editors and sales and marketing teams in traditional publishing don't necessarily use this category to market and sell books. Since those stakeholders are the industry gatekeepers and they aren't using this category, New Adult has been an unhelpful way for me to position my book as a literary fiction writer. I'm very curious to hear your thoughts on this!
As for querying agents, I've been with my agent for six years, and I wrote about how I met and signed with her here: https://katjolewis.substack.com/p/querying-agents This post includes three things that worked for me in the querying process and three things I wish I'd done differently.
~80% of the agents I queried requested my full manuscript. In this post, I break down how I write query letters with four concrete steps, and I include three drafts of the query letter for the book I eventually sold to Simon & Schuster. Hope these resources are helpful! If you have any other questions on the querying process, please let me know. Thanks for reading!
I write historical fiction...at least this manuscript is HF. I'm working on a contemporary fiction and another HF (you know, in my spare time). ;-) I've changed up my query letters a little bit, trying New Adult a few times (didn't work) and then just going with regular historical fiction. There's a spiritual element to my first manuscript, so it could technically be in Christian fiction, though it's not heavily so. I've tried a few queries to Christian publishers to no avail. I am finding that WWII is going out of fashion a bit, so I think that might have something to do with the lack of interest in my novel, though I think I have a different take than I've seen anywhere else. I will definitely take a look at your query articles - thank you!!
I haven't really found any "New Adult" fiction sections in bookstores, either. I was hoping it would catch on, as there really is a lot of material (in my opinion) that could be labeled that.
This is so interesting! I've only recently discovered this conundrum and the growth of the 'new adult' age group in fiction. The more I learn about it the more I wonder why we didn't have more of this sooner! It makes a lot of sense to have a genre that is more specific to this strange limbo we have between being young adults and adults.
It makes sense to have this age category! Unfortunately, in literary fiction—the genre I write—new adult is not really a legitimate age category for marketing, so it’s very difficult to sell a literary novel with this kind of protagonist as an untested debut writer. I’m excited to see this age category growing more for genres like fantasy. I hope literary fiction one day follows suit.
Thank you for sharing this -- your sub club post was fascinating! I really admire your tenacity. Excited for you to feel alllllll the joy and excitement (and maybe, also, other things, lol) of your well-deserved pub day!!
I read your post on sub club and deeply appreciated your transparency. Looking forward to reading Good People in 2026 ♥️ I really wish genre wasn't such a chokehold on writers, it seems very unfair. I never care about the age of a protagonist when I pick up a good book; I only care if I connect with the story and writing style.
I wish I didn’t have to learn these “rules” the hard way, but I’m glad I can share what I’ve learned so other writers can make informed decisions for their own projects. Thanks as always for reading 💕
Yup. And it's so tough, because like, I get where they're coming from. Its genuinely a tough thing to figure out--where do you put the books for kids who feel too old to go to the kids section anymore, but aren't ready yet for some of the content in the YA books. It's a small group, but an important one, and I'm not sure the right answer in terms of shelf space for not letting them fall through the cracks.
I've had a slightly similar thing where I wrote a book where the main character was 14, and I ended up having to age her down to put it solidly in the middle grade category. I get why these things happen in terms of actual shelving at stores, but also...what about the actual 14 year olds in that liminal space? And those 20 somethings who are leaving and returning home for a while? Lol maybe one day stores will know where to place those books.
Essentially, the main “problem” here is that people in the industry see a 20 or 14 year old protagonist and go “Oh no, which shelf do we put it on in our store?!?” It makes me roll my eyes so much. Hoping for a better future for age representation, but it is what it is.
What age did you end up aging your protagonist down to for middle grade? I don’t know a lot about children’s literature, so I’m curious to know the typical age range for protagonists and if there are any other “in-between” ages like 14 and 20.
She ended up thirteen. It's weird, because exactly fourteen is this weird age where it's too old for the kids section at Barnes and Noble and too young for the YA shelves. There's young MG which would be 7-10 ish, and older MG which is 10-13. Then YA starts about fifteen, so it just leaves these fourteen year olds out in no mans land.
The distinctions are so strange because effective stories are about change, right? And at 14, a kid is going through a big transition as they start high school and learn new social rules and expectations that govern their lives. A lot of transformative change happens at that age, and that change would give way to really great storytelling. I guess art can only imitate life if you keep business out of it 🥲
The way your professor differentiated between YA and Adult is so interesting and also--it totally complicates the age question! I didn't move out until I was 25 but was also very much an adult. Your post makes me want to write about what it means to come of age during a housing crisis where moving out (or getting married) doesn't mark adulthood anymore--but then what does? Getting a job? Anyway lol Thanks for sharing this!! I'm def going over to read the full story on SubClub <3
I agree 100%. This definition also isn’t inclusive for cultures where people leave their family homes later in life. I’d love to read a post about coming of age in the modern era! Things are weird™ for our generation, and it’s one of the reasons why I’m interested in writing 20s something coming of age stories (even if the industry doesn’t want them 😅).
Thanks for reading!
This is fascinating Kat, thank you for sharing an inside look. I remember reading that Curtis Sittenfeld had the same issue with Prep; it got a lot of publisher rejections for being an adult novel told from the perspective of a 14-year-old. But the voice in the final version of the novel does come across as very retrospective, so I'm guessing she did a lot of work on that aspect, incorporating maturity and hindsight to age the book out of YA.
I didn’t know this about Prep! I wish I had when I was in the thick of revising my novel. It would have been a great resource for the voice revision. Adding it to my TBR now. Thanks for sharing!
This is very interesting! I can relate because my manuscript is about a girl who in the first chapter is 16, but then it skips to her at 18. From there, it follows her to age 27. The male main character starts at about age 20 and ends at about age 32. I tried to label it New Adult, but though I'm told that is a valid label, it hasn't seemed to work yet. How did you get your agent? I'm still working on that!
Thank you for the tips! I'm definitely going to look into the perspective from which it's being told.
What genre do you write?
I write literary fiction, and New Adult is not really a legitimate age category for this genre. If you go to bookstores, it's extremely uncommon to see a "New Adult" section. I've lived in seven states and three countries, and I've personally never seen one. If you have, I'd love to know which bookstores have this section!
Outside of literary fiction, other genres like fantasy have a more established track record of New Adult being a legitimate age category, but more often than not, I've noticed that New Adult books in genre fiction are often the author's third, fifth, tenth, etc. book—not their debut novel. I think if a writer has an established publishing record and readership in traditional publishing, writing and selling a New Adult novel is much more feasible. Debut writers have so many hurdles to overcome when it comes to getting their work read and seriously considered by agents and editors. I'm not sure that adding an "untested"—for lack of a better word—age category is the most effective choice for breaking into the industry. At least that's been my experience with my own writing journey and trying to position my book.
Since querying my novel in 2019, I've learned that New Adult is an age category that writers might use to categorize their work. But stakeholders like editors and sales and marketing teams in traditional publishing don't necessarily use this category to market and sell books. Since those stakeholders are the industry gatekeepers and they aren't using this category, New Adult has been an unhelpful way for me to position my book as a literary fiction writer. I'm very curious to hear your thoughts on this!
As for querying agents, I've been with my agent for six years, and I wrote about how I met and signed with her here: https://katjolewis.substack.com/p/querying-agents This post includes three things that worked for me in the querying process and three things I wish I'd done differently.
If a comprehensive post on how to write a query letter would be helpful to you and your writing life, you can check out this post: https://katjolewis.substack.com/p/how-to-write-a-query-letter
~80% of the agents I queried requested my full manuscript. In this post, I break down how I write query letters with four concrete steps, and I include three drafts of the query letter for the book I eventually sold to Simon & Schuster. Hope these resources are helpful! If you have any other questions on the querying process, please let me know. Thanks for reading!
I write historical fiction...at least this manuscript is HF. I'm working on a contemporary fiction and another HF (you know, in my spare time). ;-) I've changed up my query letters a little bit, trying New Adult a few times (didn't work) and then just going with regular historical fiction. There's a spiritual element to my first manuscript, so it could technically be in Christian fiction, though it's not heavily so. I've tried a few queries to Christian publishers to no avail. I am finding that WWII is going out of fashion a bit, so I think that might have something to do with the lack of interest in my novel, though I think I have a different take than I've seen anywhere else. I will definitely take a look at your query articles - thank you!!
I haven't really found any "New Adult" fiction sections in bookstores, either. I was hoping it would catch on, as there really is a lot of material (in my opinion) that could be labeled that.
Really enjoying your posts! Thank you again!
Excited for you and your books!
Thank you, Kat, for sharing. It has been close to 2 years getting my book published as well.
Thanks for reading. Rooting for you and your writing endeavors!
This is so interesting! I've only recently discovered this conundrum and the growth of the 'new adult' age group in fiction. The more I learn about it the more I wonder why we didn't have more of this sooner! It makes a lot of sense to have a genre that is more specific to this strange limbo we have between being young adults and adults.
It makes sense to have this age category! Unfortunately, in literary fiction—the genre I write—new adult is not really a legitimate age category for marketing, so it’s very difficult to sell a literary novel with this kind of protagonist as an untested debut writer. I’m excited to see this age category growing more for genres like fantasy. I hope literary fiction one day follows suit.
Thank you for sharing this -- your sub club post was fascinating! I really admire your tenacity. Excited for you to feel alllllll the joy and excitement (and maybe, also, other things, lol) of your well-deserved pub day!!
Thanks for reading!
I read your post on sub club and deeply appreciated your transparency. Looking forward to reading Good People in 2026 ♥️ I really wish genre wasn't such a chokehold on writers, it seems very unfair. I never care about the age of a protagonist when I pick up a good book; I only care if I connect with the story and writing style.
I wish I didn’t have to learn these “rules” the hard way, but I’m glad I can share what I’ve learned so other writers can make informed decisions for their own projects. Thanks as always for reading 💕
Yup. And it's so tough, because like, I get where they're coming from. Its genuinely a tough thing to figure out--where do you put the books for kids who feel too old to go to the kids section anymore, but aren't ready yet for some of the content in the YA books. It's a small group, but an important one, and I'm not sure the right answer in terms of shelf space for not letting them fall through the cracks.
I've had a slightly similar thing where I wrote a book where the main character was 14, and I ended up having to age her down to put it solidly in the middle grade category. I get why these things happen in terms of actual shelving at stores, but also...what about the actual 14 year olds in that liminal space? And those 20 somethings who are leaving and returning home for a while? Lol maybe one day stores will know where to place those books.
That’s so frustrating to hear!
Essentially, the main “problem” here is that people in the industry see a 20 or 14 year old protagonist and go “Oh no, which shelf do we put it on in our store?!?” It makes me roll my eyes so much. Hoping for a better future for age representation, but it is what it is.
What age did you end up aging your protagonist down to for middle grade? I don’t know a lot about children’s literature, so I’m curious to know the typical age range for protagonists and if there are any other “in-between” ages like 14 and 20.
She ended up thirteen. It's weird, because exactly fourteen is this weird age where it's too old for the kids section at Barnes and Noble and too young for the YA shelves. There's young MG which would be 7-10 ish, and older MG which is 10-13. Then YA starts about fifteen, so it just leaves these fourteen year olds out in no mans land.
The distinctions are so strange because effective stories are about change, right? And at 14, a kid is going through a big transition as they start high school and learn new social rules and expectations that govern their lives. A lot of transformative change happens at that age, and that change would give way to really great storytelling. I guess art can only imitate life if you keep business out of it 🥲