Monday, June 4, 2012

Mangled Manuscript Monday


What genre do agents want most?

According to QueryTracker the answer is YA with Fantasy coming in second.

Many agents rep only YA. The queries flood the market with the force of Niagara.



Speaking of The Force, YA contests and writer’s blogs are like a swarm of Death Star fighters, crowding and jostling to get to the head of the line.



What is a writer of adult to do when another genre grabs all the attention?

Should they follow the market as some agents suggest and change their adult manuscript to YA? Or stay true and soldier on with their overlooked novel?

It is a quandary.

10 comments:

  1. Write what you enjoy, Huntress. I didn't follow any trends.

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  2. What Alex said. Actually, right now, most agents are looking for YA sci-fi. I was shopping a YA Contemporary Fantasy and I had a tough time getting bites. But hey, I landed an agent anyway. So write what you want to write, not write to what's trending. :)

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  3. Make your hero/heroine 17 years old, write exactly as you would otherwise, and call it YA. (Some famous science fictiony guy said that, only about 'juveniles' which was what they had before YA.)

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  4. sneak peek for you from my conference,
    NA up and coming genre (new adult, for college agers)
    and editors say, write from your heart because you will produce the best story and thats what they want!

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  5. Don't follow trends. Start them.

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  6. New adult? Seriously? Are they just making up words now? HA! But I agree. If you write from deep within...write from your heart. The rest will follow. YA came from Harry. Before that what? Oprah Winfry Book club? People are fickle.

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  7. I like Liz's comment.

    But for real, write what you love. If your characters speak to you as thirty-somethings trying to navigate some new alien planet they've been shipped to, I'd beg you to write it in the voices given. Write what you love.

    I'm doing so myself, and I'm kinda aware what I love, some editors don't love so much. But it's the story that wants to be told. So I'm telling it.

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  8. Agree with the rest, basically; if your heart's not in it, I think it will lack conviction. I like your spirit, persistence and sense of humour and while I can't offer you publication, would like to proffer a Versatile Blogger Award. Please do collect the badge from my post 'The Invisible Importance of Hats,' and don't trouble yourself overly with obedience to rules :-)

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    Replies
    1. Whoa! I was not expecting this. Thank you, thank you.

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