#miscategorizing books

*gets on the soapbox*

What is it about a young protagonist that automatically makes a reader assume that a book is a young adult (YA) title? Or that it takes place in a school setting? This appears more prevalent in contemporary Adult Fantasy and usually works written by female-identifying authors. 

Fortunately, I’ve located some articles that have gone into the reasoning behind this as well as provide examples. 

As Nunnally from Book Riot points out, there is fault both on the publisher and the book community for mislabeling/miscategorizing an Adult Fantasy as YA Fantasy. It’s interesting to see that some of the publishers are starting to “walk back” or perhaps “right the wrong” of previous issues. 

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas was her first series and originally marketed to a YA audience despite some dubious elements and themes present through the series. Bloomsbury has now rebranded and reprinted it under their Adult imprint to go along with A Court of Thorns and Roses, which had also been miscategorized, and Crescent City. I’m sure this was entirely a “correction” on their part and had nothing at all to do with another factor. *cough* 🤑

It also doesn’t help when even book awards start to blur the lines such as when the World Science Fantasy Society Lodestar (awarded alongside the Hugos) Award winner for 2 years was Naomi Novik's A Deadly Education and The Last Graduate. Both books are not Young Adult titles, yet they received the award “for a book published for young adult readers in the field of science fiction and fantasy.” Again, just because a title takes place in a school setting doesn’t mean it’s for a younger audience. 

I find it distressing to see the book community miscategorize a title for whatever reason: a young protagonist, compelling/"easy?" writing (i.e. “reads young”), low-stakes plot “shallow story,” etc. I see this too often in book vloggers’ videos even now, and it feels like they’re doing a disservice if not disrespecting the author’s work despite any enjoyment the readers express as well. 

What can be done to resolve this issue? It’s tough to say since there may not be one solution to the problem. Perhaps a reader could say that “there is YA appeal” or “a younger audience might find this a good book” rather than outright miscategorizing a title. I also like what Briana on Pages Unbound says, “I do think it’s worth examining our personal attitudes, what we think ‘must be’ YA as opposed to adult literature.”

To clarify my reblog with an update here, I’m not questioning the merits of either title noted, only the fact that they were nominated for an age group they were not intended for. Young Adult is an age group (not a genre as many still claim, and you’ll find all genres present in the YA category) that markets stories towards readers aged 12-17. While there’s still an issue of targeting higher ages due to the number of adult readers of YA literature, it still bears repeating that an Adult-marketed book should not be nominated for an award that clearly states “It is for a book published for young adult readers in the field of science fiction and fantasy.” (Source: https://www.wsfs.org/awards/)

Not only does this do a disservice to the authors especially by not nominating them for the Novel category in the Hugo Awards, but it also takes away places for two authors of Young Adult science fiction and fantasy who could have received nominations. Either rephrase and update your description of the award, World Science Fiction Society, or stick to what it states.