Content Rating System Breakdown

RATING SYSTEM

Please note that for this system. I have gotten assistance from the following:

MBR system see here and here. Others on the Compass Book Rating and the Novel Book Ratings sites.

I took what they use for their rating systems and created the deciding factors for the age ranges. Let us define some words.

Reading Levels Breakdown

Reading level is the age range for the intended audience. Ages cross over because of length of novels and age range intended. This is based on the typical standard for labeling books as children, middle grade, young adult, or adult. I have just added Beginning Readers, Picture Books, and New Adult, to widen the range.

Think WHAT AGE is the target audience. This can often be determined by the age of the main character, but that is not always an indication, as books like A Song of Ice and Fire have young characters.

BR (Beginning Readers) – New born through 8

PB (Picture Books) – Age 4 through 12

C (Children’s Novels)- Through age 12

MG (Middle Grade) – Age 8 through age 14

YA (Young Adult)- Age 12 through age 20

NA (New Adult)- Age 18 – 24

A (Adult) – 25+

Beginning Readers are books with pictures and simple words, that are to teach children to read. Picture books are simple books, with pictures, or an easy story. The sort of books we read to children that are fast reads. While, objectively, both are picture books, I have decided to separate them by this description. I would say that the difference between the two would be the number of words per page. This is more of a subjective thing, but ultimately the largest difference comes down to: teaching to read vs completed stories.

Children’s Novels will be children’s chapter books. Children’s chapter books are typically read to them, while Middle Grade are typically read on their own. This is not always the case, but there is an age and reading level difference. I would argue that some Children’s Novels could be read by the child themselves, but there will be little to no pictures in these novels.

NA currently does not exist for current marketing. As such, I am making the distinction with this listing. Keep in mind that while this does not exist, there is more overlap here than you may think. But always think of the content. Is this something you want a young teen to read? Because while YA can serve 20yr olds, 12yr olds will also read them. Do you want a 12yr old reading your novel? No. It’s probably NA then.

Rating Level Breakdown

Now that we know what age fits for our intended audience, we need to think of the emotional maturity required to read a specific book. There is a certain level of maturity needed for some books, to understand the concepts as well as not to be affected by the content in a potentially negative way (i.e. traumatizing).

E – Everyone

PW – Parental Warning (Picture Books, Children’s Novels, Middle Grade, Young Adult) or Personal Warning (New Adult and Adult)

M – Mature Audiences

A – Adult Themes, or for NA and A, this is more graphic content

X – Explicit

In order to help with defining the distinction between the rating levels, there are factors to consider: violence, prejudice, crude language/humor, horror, nudity/body function, kissing/sex/intimacy, and drug/alcohol use.

Each of the factors are then rated mild to excessive/graphic. Mild to Moderate is depending on the age range, and maturity range. In Young adult kissing is probably mild, and a little bit of crude humor might be expected or allowed. But in a children’s book, a little crude humor may be for mature audiences. It is dependent on the audience. (And in some ways the author, and publisher’s decision)

Below are the combinations and what qualifies for each level.

Beginning Readers (BR)

INTENDED READER AGE RANGE : 0 – 8

Deciding Factors: kissing, violence, prejudice (nudity in picture books should be inherently unsexual, and probably used only for anatomy or explanations.)

E – None to features one in a mild manor

PW – Features at least one in a mild to moderate manor (like small kiss, maybe someone pushes another, perhaps someone bullies another)

M – Features at least one in a moderate way, this will specifically be for violence and prejudice. For older audiences.

Picture Books (PB)

INTENDED READER AGE RANGE : 6 – 12

Deciding Factors: kissing, violence, prejudice (nudity in picture books should be inherently unsexual, and probably used only for anatomy or explanations.)

E – None to features one in a mild manor

PW – Features at least one in a mild to moderate manor (like small kiss, maybe someone pushes another, perhaps someone bullies another)

M – Features at least one in a moderate way, this will specifically be for violence and prejudice. For older audiences.

Children’s Novels (C)

INTENDED READER AGE RANGE : 0 – 12

Deciding Factors: kissing, violence, prejudice, crude humor/language, horror

E – None to contains any of the following in a mild

PW – Features at least one in a mild to moderate manor (implied violence, relatively light crude humor)

M – Features at least one in a moderate way, a way that will be advised for older and more mature audiences.

Middle Grade

INTENDED READER AGE RANGE : 8 – 14

Deciding Factors: kissing, violence, prejudice, crude humor/language, horror, nudity/body function

E – None to contains any of the following in a mild

PW – Features at least one in a mild to moderate manor

M – Features at least one in a moderate way, a way that will be advised for older and more mature audiences.

Young Adult

INTENDED READER AGE RANGE : 12 – 20

Deciding Factors: violence, prejudice, crude humor/language, horror, nudity/body function, sex/intimacy, drug/alcohol use. (kissing is to be expected, if it will occur in books, not that it has to happen but that if it does, then it makes sense)

E – Contains any of the following in a mild

PW – Features at least one in a moderate manor

M – Features at least one in a mature way, a way that will be advised for older and more mature audiences.

D – Features at least two in a more moderate to mature way

X – includes sex (implied), excessive violence, or graphic imagery

New Adult

INTENDED READER AGE RANGE : 18 – 24

Deciding Factors: violence, prejudice, crude humor/language, horror, nudity/body function, sex/intimacy, drug/alcohol use.

E – Contains any of the following in a moderate way

PW – Features at least one in a mature way

M – Features at least in a graphic way

D – Features at least two in a graphic manner, or multiple in a moderate or mature way

X – Is highly explicit or extremely graphic in at least one category

Adult

INTENDED READER AGE RANGE : 25+