I think my follow-up thread tonight might help explain? I think there’s a strong market for crossover books at adult SFF publishers, so considering whether a book might fit there instead can be a sound strategic choice
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Replying to @hannahnpbowman
That makes sense to me, but the wording in the first tweet suggests something very different. Also struck me as odd given the knowledge that many YA readers are adults themselves, so the crossover market is already there, just going in the opposite direction.
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Replying to @fozmeadows
Right, and I’m focused on selling to publishers not readers. I advise clients to push crossover titles towards adult pubs because I’ve found it’s harder to sell to YA pubs. But my original tweet was obviously unclear and I’m sorry for that.
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Replying to @hannahnpbowman @fozmeadows
My point was to encourage discernment about whether your book fits better in the YA or adult markets. I see “does this need to be YA?” as one way of asking that question, especially because in my experience YA can be harder to sell.
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Replying to @hannahnpbowman
I think what confused me most about the original tweet is that word, “need.” I can see what you’re saying about the pitching context, but viewed in terms of story content, it almost felt like asking, “Does this story need to be what it is? Why isn’t it something else?”
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Replying to @fozmeadows
That is part of what I’m saying, though: I think it’s useful to interrogate why the story is the thing it is, and to consider if it could be something else. You learn things about the story that way. It helps it find its true form, so to speak.
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Replying to @hannahnpbowman
Granted, yes, but from a writer’s perspective, if this is a first response to *all* YA stories, it comes across less as a reaction to that story’s potential specifically and more as a particular agent’s reluctance to work with that genre/demographic.
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Replying to @fozmeadows
I am reluctant to work in the YA category, for various reasons, one of which is that the market is crowded in ways that concern me. Also that the books most successful don’t seem to be the kinda of stories I represent so it’s not the right fit.
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Replying to @hannahnpbowman
See, I think this makes more sense: it’s not your bag, and that’s fine! But that seems different to YA itself having issues.
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Replying to @fozmeadows
I suspect it’s both, but I could definitely be wrong!
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I think a helpful question might be, if YA presently is full of stories you don’t like, are he aspects you dislike held to be inherent to YA books/pitches, and in either case, can you - or would you want to try and - change that with the booka you pitch as YA instead?
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