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How Do I Choose Content Ratings for Books? And What Do They Mean? How Do They Compare to Movies?

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8 Reasons to Embrace Content Ratings for Books

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You can think of our content ratings like movie ratings. However, the GENRES you choose also have a lot to do with the rating. Remember to choose ALL the ratings you are interested in, not just one. The ratings say “may contain,” which means quite often there is only one or two things that might push the book to that rating. So, not all Moderate+ books will contain swearing or even kissing, but it might be the alcohol use or violence that makes them that rating. Below are some examples of ratings, but we also have a detailed post with screenshots of actual books and how our content ratings work in specific cases.

Example 1: If you’re looking for Romance and you don’t want intimacy, you’ll need to choose ALL or some of the following ratings: All Ages, Mild, Mild+. If you prefer heat in your romances with closed-door or fade-out scenes, you’ll choose Moderate or Moderate+. Adult will contain up to graphic three sex scenes. For instance, if a couple heads off to the bedroom and there’s heat, but it closes before any details, that will still be a Moderate. Once a few names of intimate body parts are added, it’s a Moderate+ and if there is onscreen sex, the books are rated Adult. Within the Adult rating, there is non-graphic and graphic sex (email labels will identify which). Also profanity, alcohol use, descriptions of nudity, crude humor, and violence will be a factor in the rating.

Example 2: If you love Adventure or Science Fiction and Fantasy, these typically don’t have as much heat, but they generally contain more violence. So maybe a Moderate+ or  Adult will be of interest to you because you expect that level of violence.

Example 3: If nonfiction is one category you love, many of the warnings that are typical for fiction won’t apply.

Generally, to compared to a movie rating, both Mild+ and Moderate will be somewhere around a PG or a PG-13 rating, with the moderate having slightly more intense language, heat, and violence. All Ages is good for children and adults, with Mild being similar to a very “mild” PG,  If you are not receiving enough books that match your criteria, please adjust your preferences to include more ratings and see if that helps (and read on, because we have more ways to help you find good books).

We List All Content, Not Just the Rating

With each content rating, we will tell you specifically what book attribute(s) pushed the book rating up from a lower one, and also what else it contains from the lower ratings. This way even if you choose a higher content rating but dislike one attribute, you can still decide not to read the books containing that single attribute. (Books with the All Ages rating will have no warnings, and books with the Mild rating have very few.) Here are some examples of the content ratings:

Genre: Children’s and Middle Grade Fiction. Rating: All Ages. (No warnings here, but keep in mind that this rating will mostly be children’s titles, some very sweet romances, or nonfiction).

Genre: Paranormal Romance. Rating: Mild for mild kissing. (Means this book would have been All Ages, but it has a bit of mild kissing.)

Genre: Mysteries and Thrillers. Rating: Mild+ for mild language; also contains mild kissing. (This was rated Mild+ instead of mild because in contains a few mild swear words.)

Genre: General Nonfiction. Rating: Mild for mild sensuality. (This would have been All Ages, but there is some mild mention of sex, sexual tension, or sexual innuendo.)

Genre: Science Fiction and Fantasy.  Rating: Mild+ for mild substance use; also contains mild kissing. (This book would have been mild, but it had either some negative use of alcohol by minors or mild use by adults.)

Genre: Christian Romance. Rating: Moderate+ for substance use; also contains mild violence and mild kissing. (This Christian romance deals with substance abuse or it would have a mild rating.)

Genre: Historical Fiction. Rating: Moderate+ for moderate profanity; also contains moderate violence and brief nudity. (This book would have been moderate because of violence and a bit of nudity, but the swearing kicked it up a rating.)

Genre: Advice and How-To. Rating Moderate+ for substantial violence.

Genre: Contemporary Romance: Rating: Moderate+ for moderate profanity; also contains mild (non-sexual) violence. (This book is moderate because of the language. The only other warning is that it had moderate violence.)

Genre: Contemporary Romance: Rating: Adult for graphic sex; also contains significant violence and moderate profanity. (So some sex scenes with details made this adult, but it also has violence and language from lower ratings.)

Genre: Mysteries and Thrillers. Rating: Adult for extensive profanity; also contains nudity, passionate kissing, and non-detailed sensuality. (A lot of swearing make this adult, but the other warnings are from mild+ and moderate.)

Genre: Science Fiction and Fantasy. Rating: Adult for extensive violence; also contains brief nudity, passionate kissing, and mild sensuality. (The violence is what kicked in this to the adult rating. Otherwise it would have been Mild+)

You get the idea! Choose ALL the book ratings you would like sent to you, and we’ll start emailing you discounted rated ebook deals!

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