Reading age conundrum - does it matter?

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

I was checking my books on Amazon and discovered that the reading age of my novels is listed as 13-18 yrs. I checked the editing box for 18+ years, but that is not what is showing. 
I noticed that Tim's books also show 14-18.
Some novels do not show any reading age.
I have now tried leaving the reading age blank in the check box. Will see what happens.

[TimothyEllis]

I was checking my books on Amazon and discovered that the reading age of my novels is listed as 13-18 yrs. I checked the editing box for 18+ years, but that is not what is showing. 
I noticed that Tim's books also show 14-18.
Some novels do not show any reading age.
I have now tried leaving the reading age blank in the check box. Will see what happens.

As far as I know, it's an indication that kids can read the books as well as adults.

I don't see it as kids only reading  in that range, which might be some people's interpretation.

I use it to show that a 14 year old should be able to read my books without encountering anything inappropriate.

However, I've never seen an explanation of what that is for, so it's my assumption that is what it's for.

I'm pretty sure most of my fans are not only adult, but older adults, so it might be a pointless thing to do.

That said, my main characters tend to be between 18 and 30.

[Jan Hurst-Nicholson]

I was checking my books on Amazon and discovered that the reading age of my novels is listed as 13-18 yrs. I checked the editing box for 18+ years, but that is not what is showing. 
I noticed that Tim's books also show 14-18.
Some novels do not show any reading age.
I have now tried leaving the reading age blank in the check box. Will see what happens.

As far as I know, it's an indication that kids can read the books as well as adults.

I don't see it as kids only reading  in that range, which might be some people's interpretation.

I use it to show that a 14 year old should be able to read my books without encountering anything inappropriate.

However, I've never seen an explanation of what that is for, so it's my assumption that is what it's for.

I'm pretty sure most of my fans are not only adult, but older adults, so it might be a pointless thing to do.

That said, my main characters tend to be between 18 and 30.

I select a reading age for my children's and teen books. They also show a grade level, which is important for some readers when choosing children's books.

My concern is that readers might think a book that shows a reading age of 13-18 is for teens only, especially when the title is "With the Headmaster's Approval".  I did an edit and didn't enter any age. It is showing on Amazon UK with no age selected, but still showing on .com with 13-18. But that often happens as .com is slow to change. 

I think the blurb should indicate it's for adults, but you never know how algorithms work 

[writeway]

I just leave it blank. I write erotica and romance and I still don't mark the ages. I found it caused more issues than not.