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I finally know what to categorize my upcoming book as!

You’re probably raising an eyebrow right now, thinking, “how on earth can someone figure out what category their book belongs in – weeks before it comes out?”

Yeah, I know. But its not like I was completely clueless over how to classify my novel, The Dark Proposal. I already knew its genre…because it is about vampires, so yeah it’s a vampire novel.

But what kind of vampire novel?

You have vampire romance, vampire horror, vampire YA. Neither of descriptions fit my book because there’s no romance throughout, its not gory enough, and the main character is a college graduate, not a high school student.

My book is an urban fantasy, yes, but what exactly is it target audience? Like I said, teenagers cannot be the prime target, even if some may be interested in a young woman learning about life after college.

As the deadline drew nearer for me to upload my novel onto Amazon Kindle, I was getting nervous on the exact category to put my work under.

Luckily, I just happened to be on Twitter this evening for the weekly #indiechat, where indie authors gather. The topic was the newest genre for novels: NA – or New Adult.

We are all aware of YA – Young Adult. That is for books which focus on the teenage years of the main characters. It generally is geared to 12 – 17 year olds, though some grown adults do read those books. After YA, though, there’s nothing but books aimed at adults who are 25 and older. What about the 18 – 24 year olds? You know, those who are in college or just graduated, struggling to become adults, learning to be independent and the ways of the world. Seems like that time period is not represented much in the literary world, despite it being a tumultuous and exciting time for anybody.

NA is still relatively new and as far as I know, the genre has only been thought up a couple of years ago. So, it has to grow a lot more in order to be noticed by the average reader and booksellers.

But even so, the very moment I learned what NA stood for, I knew I had at last found my genre for my book. The main character of my story, Claire McCormick is 22 years old and a recent college graduate. Along with her friends/roommates – Samantha DiCarlo and Monica Alejandrez – she struggles with post-college life. The three share an apartment and are trying to find work in a dismal economy (yes, The Dark Proposal takes place in the present day). Claire also is embarking on her first real adult romance with college professor Daniel Bertrand (who by the way she did not have as a student; she meets him as she works part-time at her alma mater’s English department office). Unfortunately, things do not turn out the way Claire hoped for in that relationship – which is what my book is all about.

So there you have it. A new genre not just for me, but for all writers looking for a way to classify their work. I’m excited about this because there is a lot of opportunity with NA books. As I said, anyone in their early 20s can remember those days as when they first began their adult steps. It’s a fun, awesome and scary time, and I truly believe there is an audience waiting to devour those books.

Here are some websites that promote the NA genre:

http://sarahnicolas.com/blog/2012/05/what-do-you-think-about-new-adult/

http://nalitchat.blogspot.com/