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A quiet word on the futility of chasing trends.
3 yrs ago, baby-writer-me paid for a manuscript assessment, and got the following recommendation:
Convert your adult sci-fantasy into a YA fantasy, bc the market for ya was huge while the market for adult was beyond tiny.
/1
3 yrs ago, baby-writer-me paid for a manuscript assessment, and got the following recommendation:
Convert your adult sci-fantasy into a YA fantasy, bc the market for ya was huge while the market for adult was beyond tiny.
/1
To achieve this, they suggested cutting 4 of the 5 povs, refocusing the story as coming of age, and "removing the social & political commentary, which exceeds the scope of a novel of this kind"
The rest of the report was geared around how to incorporate YA fantasy tropes.
/2
The rest of the report was geared around how to incorporate YA fantasy tropes.
/2
The general comment that I'd bitten off more than I could chew, in terms of craft, was fair enough. And I get where they're coming from in trying to support their clients to be more marketable. There's also space for saying, know your genre, know the industry, etc.
But...
/3
But...
/3
...but I can't write YA. I haven't got the voice or knack for it, and I felt strongly that even if the adult market was smaller, it must still exist. I liked adult sff, and surely couldn't be the only one.
I did put aside that book, but the next one I wrote was adult, too.
/4
I did put aside that book, but the next one I wrote was adult, too.
/4
A year later, querying book 2, and the publishing landscape had changed. The YA fantasy bubble had popped. It still sells, but the balance had shifted significantly (perhaps I should say, it equaled out more.)
/5
/5
When I first started querying there were ~1100 agents taking YA fantasy queries, and ~150 for adult fantasy. I don't think the adult count has gone up much but the YA count has gone down.
Point being, if I'd tried switching to YA, I'd have been one step behind again.
/6
Point being, if I'd tried switching to YA, I'd have been one step behind again.
/6
Anyway, there's no point stressing to death about trends.* Unless you write extremely fast, everything will likely change between first word and final edit. If your book is out of fashion today, it may well swing back into fashion tomorrow.
**she says with hindsight
**she says with hindsight
....final addendum, I'm really not a fan of manuscript assessment services. I used to think I'd just had a bad experience but anecdotally, I'd say around 50% of folks I've met have had unhelpful feedback. YMMV on that, just my personal take.
