The difference between MG and YA

The MiG Writers blog has posted on the difference between MG and YA novels, explaining how length, subject matter, intended audience, and other factors work together to determine where a book belongs:

For those unfamiliar with the acronyms, MG = “middle grade” and YA = “young adult.” But what’s the difference? I’ve come across different opinions, including some authors who don’t like to slot their books into a particular categorization because they’re worried about excluding readers.

Part of the reason for differentiation is marketing, but labels are inescapable. What if an editor or agent asks you if your novel is more MG or YA? Bookstores will want to know where to shelve your book and that means that publishers will be categorizing it as well.

There will always be exceptions to the general guidelines, of course, but as Chuck Sambuchino pointed out in his Word Count for Novels and Children’s Books: The Definitive Post article, you cannot count on being the exception; you must count on being the rule.

Anyway, I decided to investigate this issue online.

Read the rest.