tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post3787377911507986121..comments2023-11-02T06:57:11.400-04:00Comments on BookEnds Literary Agency: Querying if You're Not Sure of GenreBookEnds, A Literary Agencyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06287278822065839469noreply@blogger.comBlogger12125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-81484095649662507372008-07-02T08:48:00.000-04:002008-07-02T08:48:00.000-04:00Anyone who is saying 100k is too long for a YA fan...Anyone who is saying 100k is too long for a YA fantasy novel obviously hasn't been looking at the shelves recently. Cassandra Clare's NYT bestselling debut was 150k. Twilight was over 500 pages long. A Great and Terrible Beauty (and the whole series), Uglies (and that whole series)... the list of long fantasy YAs go on and on. My own YA fantasy (out next year from Harper Collins) clocks in at 108k. It sold at auction and no publisher even blinked at the length.<BR/><BR/>Go to a bookstore before you determine what YA "is."Diana Peterfreundhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03681841474717604660noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-44360196913588744852008-07-01T14:27:00.001-04:002008-07-01T14:27:00.001-04:00This comment has been removed by the author.ChristaCarol Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02908423468344511136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-77078415228805808502008-07-01T14:27:00.000-04:002008-07-01T14:27:00.000-04:00Anon 8:54: Yes, my MC is a teen which is why some ...Anon 8:54: Yes, my MC is a teen which is why some of my beta reader's suggested it was a YA. But she is the only teen in the book. Hence why I'm not so sure. Even with my underlined theme's, I just can't seem to figure out the right label for it. But I plan on doing what was suggested and just pitching it as Fantasy for now.<BR/><BR/>Either way, the answer and everyone else here who's responded has helped greatly. Thanks guys. :)ChristaCarol Joneshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02908423468344511136noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-37579850606094790322008-07-01T11:34:00.000-04:002008-07-01T11:34:00.000-04:00Before I got my agent I'd sometimes pitch my urban...Before I got my agent I'd sometimes pitch my urban fantasy as horror in a query letter to agents who accepted horror but not fantasy. Didn't work, though.Karen Duvallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01839711547501582977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-17035937100289201322008-06-30T21:15:00.000-04:002008-06-30T21:15:00.000-04:00You mentioned pitching a book in three genres. Bu...You mentioned pitching a book in three genres. But is it a good idea for a writer to pitch a book to an agent that way? For example, what if the book combines, say, urban fantasy with science fiction? Do you pitch it as one or the other depending on the agent's preferences? That almost seems misleading if the agent doesn't represent both genres. (If they do, it seems like this would be less of an issue.)Kristin Laughtinhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01536556357622503501noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-45924741431803740282008-06-30T19:34:00.000-04:002008-06-30T19:34:00.000-04:00I love this answer. Sigh.I <I>love</I> this answer. Sigh.astrologymemphis.blogspot.comhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08094432734141490681noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-30260872039916161012008-06-30T12:50:00.000-04:002008-06-30T12:50:00.000-04:00Someone I know wrote a long Asian fantasy novel an...Someone I know wrote a long Asian fantasy novel and queried over 100 agents over a period of about 3 months. One of those agents took on the book, determined it was YA, and got her a 3 book deal with Harper Collins in less than a month. Such good fortune doesn't happen for everyone, but it's heaven when it does. 8^)Karen Duvallhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01839711547501582977noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-27633152240112105772008-06-30T12:40:00.000-04:002008-06-30T12:40:00.000-04:00The first novel in my upcoming fantasy series is a...The first novel in my upcoming fantasy series is about 107,000 words, which is long for a first YA fantasy novel. In later books you can get away with a higher word count because you've built up an audience. But usually the first book should be under 100k.<BR/><BR/>That being said, I agree that you’re better off to pitch it as a fantasy novel and let the agent decide how to position it.<BR/><BR/>I've had two reviewers look at the same information and say, I only do kids' books this is too old, and I only do YA, this is too young.J Scott Savagehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03151922526673687869noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-70011227466200669692008-06-30T11:17:00.000-04:002008-06-30T11:17:00.000-04:00To Mark Terry,Librarians, book sellers and parents...To Mark Terry,<BR/>Librarians, book sellers and parents will often steer younger readers away from the YA section, as those books may contain material inappropriate for their age (ie-drugs, sex, etc.). So keep that in mind when you are labeling your book.Melinda Leighhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15873296075529304961noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-68970198886015309232008-06-30T09:53:00.000-04:002008-06-30T09:53:00.000-04:00This can be a major headache. As I'm discovering i...This can be a major headache. As I'm discovering in wrapping up what I thought was a YA novel...<BR/><BR/>I have had a number of readers read it, one of them being a successful author of YA, middle grades, young-YA, and early grades books, and we got all tangled up in exactly what type of book I had written, which apparently had some conflicts among all the different sub-genres of books for kids. I read a fair amount in the category thanks to two kids age 10 and 14, but I didn't realize the industry had dissected itself into so many different fragments.<BR/><BR/>Mysteries have been nicely broken down, more or less, into cozies, hardboiled, softboiled, procedurals, etc. for some time, even though they can get ridiculous when they try to pidgeon-hole books too tightly. <BR/><BR/>I can understand why the publishing industry wants to categorize a book to its most promising market, but I don't understand why they're so willing to eliminate the possibility of cross-selling to other potential readers.Mark Terryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09410424046477699059noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-47793340177732082332008-06-30T08:54:00.000-04:002008-06-30T08:54:00.000-04:00I'd probably pitch it as (adult) fantasy first and...I'd probably pitch it as (adult) fantasy first and see where that gets you. There's more to YA than just word count -- but yeah, 100k for a YA is a bit much, even in fantasy, which runs larger word counts.<BR/><BR/>Typical CONTEMPORARY (non-fantasy) YA books are not 80k. They fall more in the 50-70k range.<BR/><BR/>Is your main character a teen? He/she needs to be if its going to be considered a YA book. I don't write fantasy, but maybe someone else can speak to the neccessity of this for fantasy books?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-23051453.post-22929743211606868982008-06-30T08:32:00.000-04:002008-06-30T08:32:00.000-04:00"In fact, I had a mystery recently that I have pit..."In fact, I had a mystery recently that I have pitched as three different genres—paranormal mystery, fantasy, and romance, depending on the publishing house."<BR/><BR/>Can I ask what genre the author used in the query to you?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com