The New York Times has a fabulous article by Margo Rabb, author of Cures for Heartbreak, that talks about what makes a book YA. Answer: the marketing department.
One of the most fascinating parts of the article is her list of other authors who thought they were writing for adults and had their books marketed for teens.
I soon learned that I wasn’t the only writer who’d written a book with adults in mind only to have an agent or a publisher decide to market it as Y.A. Peter Cameron, A. M. Homes, Francesca Lia Block, Meg Rosoff, Stephenie Meyer, Linda Sue Park and many others have found themselves in the same situation.
Rabb goes on to write about the stigma of being published as a YA author, especially in the U.S. Fascinating stuff.
Waking Brain Cells 
I have taught both children’s literature courses and writing for children, and find that deciding whether a book is for young adults or adults can be very difficult. Some ask why it matters? However, I think it’s very important for young adults to have books that speak to directly to their experience, and adult books just can’t do that. So perhaps that’s the key to determining the readership of a book — who has something in common with the characters and their situations?
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