Happy Friday All,
Sorry about not posting on Thursday. I was exhausted Wednesday evening, so I decided to just go to bed--then I was busy today, so I took the day off.
I thought I'd cover age genre types and what they mean. Some people have asked me about genres. One question I got was, "What's YA?"
So, I'll start with the youngest age group and work my way up (as a Romance author I'm going to talk a lot about that when I get to the adult section):
Children's Books: These are anything from infant to 7 years old. (Some bookstores will have a section that says: "3-5 Year Olds") Typically you'll find board books and easy-to-reads. There's a lot of Disney books available in this section. Titles like Brown Bear What Do You See? Caps For Sale, Splat The Cat, Berenstin Bears, Thomas The Tank Engine, I've found a lot of Dr. Seuss books in this section as well.
Mid-Grade: Most of these books are geared toward kids between children and young adult (generally 7-12 year olds). You'll find the Percy Jackson, Heroes Of Olympus, Kane Chronicles (by Rick Riordan) in this section. Several Gail Carson Levine books can be found there, as well (of Ella Enchanted fame). This is where I found the re-prints of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle books as well. Beverly Cleary books (Ramona ). There's several other books, of course those are just a few examples. (I've found Noel Streatfield reprints there, too. She wrote all the "shoe" books: Ballet Shoes, Dancing Shoes, Theater Shoes, Ice Skating Shoes). Also this would be the section you'd find the Maud Hart Lovelace Betsy-Tacy books I've mentioned on here. 
Young Adult (YA): These are generally geared towards 13 through high schoolers (although I'd say a lot of these books are more high school aged books than younger than that--but that's my personal opinion). This is where you'll find the Twilight books (Stephenie Meyer), Tera Lynn Childs (I did a review of one of her books called Forgive My Fins--look in the right hand margin of this book, arrow down until you get to the part that says "Book Reviews By Bethany"). (Note: MaryJanice Davidson, who writes several adult novels has a series out with her husband, Anthony Alongi that's a YA series entitled: Jennifer Scales--there's several out and I think on the bottom of the cover will say: A Jennifer Scales Novel).
Adult: Almost all Romance out there is adult (MaryJanice Davidson's Undead, Mermaid, Royal series are all adult Romance....Kerrelyn Sparks, Christie Craig, and a slew of other authors). There's Thriller/Horror (I think of Stephen King whenever I think of those genres--although someone who's read more of his work will know more which genre it fits in), there's a lot of genres in adult fiction.
When it comes to the Romance genre there's not many authors who write for anyone younger than adults.
There might be some books in the General Fiction sections in bookstores that maybe okay for younger than adults but it's important that readers realize that there are age groups that an author has in mind when they write their novels. Unless it's found in the mid-grade/YA section chances are it's for adults. There are exceptions of course, but this is a general rule of thumb.
In each age group genre type you can also find a variety of genres everything from fantasy, contemparary, there's paranormal (even mid-grade sometimes has some paranormal), thriller, horror, contemporary, women's fiction, literary, westerns, general fiction (I think that's usually where literary is put), historicals, sports, science, art, reference. Some YA has romance, as well, but there is a difference between YA romance and adult romance. (Generally adult romance is more sensual than YA).
When in doubt, you can always ask a bookstore worker. They know quite a bit about what's out and what genre and what age group. They know what's hot and what's available. Use their knowledge. You can even search by age group and genre online.
I'm sure some of my other readers who are in the business of writing and publishing can add their input. If you have any questions you can certainly put them in the comment section.
Have A Fabulous Friday And Happy Reading!
