Vlog: Young Adult vs. New Adult

Categories can be confusing, so today I'm talking about the difference between two I see confused the most: Young Adult and New Adult.


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 What other differences have you noticed between YA and NA? Any exceptions to the rule?

Twitter-sized bites:
Confused about the difference between YA & NA? Writer @Ava_Jae vlogs about why they're not the same. (Click to tweet)  
What's the difference between YA & NA books? @Ava_Jae breaks it down in today's vlog. #booktube (Click to tweet)

6 comments:

  1. Andie SmithJune 9, 2015 at 7:21 AM

    Is it possible to have a literary NA book, in your opinion, or do the categories cancel each other out? And if the characters are in the right age range for NA, but the focus of the book isn't on dealing with adult things for the first time, does it still count as NA?

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  2. Ava JaeJune 9, 2015 at 7:23 AM

    Depends on the book, IMO. Technically, New Adult is a category, so you can have any genre or style: Black Iris by Leah Raeder, for example, is a Thriller and is beautifully written. NA books that are different than what's selling right now, however, are much tougher to sell (though not impossible).


    As for the focus bit...again, depends on the book. The dealing with adult stuff certainly doesn't have to be the focus, it's just an element usually present in NA. Tone, theme, characters and story play a lot into whether or not something is categorized as NA.

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  3. PatchiJune 9, 2015 at 9:32 AM

    Great comparison! I find it easy to distinguish the two categories when comparing contemporary novels. It's the sci-fi, fantasy, and historical settings that muddle things for me. Maybe you could address that on another vlog?

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  4. Ava JaeJune 11, 2015 at 3:05 AM

    You know, that's a tad trickier if only because there isn't a lot of NA Spec Fic out there to begin with, but definitely something to think about. I think ultimately, the descriptors I gave for New Adult here still apply—it's just not a contemporary setting.

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  5. PatchiJune 11, 2015 at 10:28 AM

    Trickier indeed. Based on voice, is Charlie N. Holmberg's Paper Magician series YA or NA? I'm thinking NA, but I read somewhere that it is YA. On the other hand, Kimberly P. Chase's Apollo Academy is supposed to be NA, but I found the voice YA. I loved both books, but I find this category voice thing very confusing...

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  6. Ava JaeJune 13, 2015 at 6:01 AM

    I haven't read Charlie Holmberg's books, so I can't really comment on that. Themes also play into it, and the context of the story...and kind of everything put together. I've also heard about the Apollo Academy series but...haven't read that one either so hard to say lol.


    If you want two really good examples of New Adult books that aren't contemporary romance, I recommend Sarah Harian's The Wicked We Have Done and Leah Raeder's Black Iris. Both are indisputably New Adult but very, very different from what's typically out there.

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