Today's lesson is...
Yakko: It’s that time again!
Wakko: To make bizarre faces?
Dot: To encourage kids to send us candy?
Yakko: No, it’s time to learn today’s lesson! And to find out what it is, we turn to the Wheel of Morality! Wheel of Morality, turn, turn, turn, tell us the lesson that we should learn.
-Animaniacs, Best 90s Cartoon Ever
Actually, it’s time to answer a question about New Adult that hasbeen cropping up with astonishing regularity. I answered a few here, but the most pressing concern seems to be from writers seeking to query manuscripts that may fall under the “new adult” umbrella.
If I have a New Adult manuscript, how do I query it?
First, I would like to clarify something: New Adult is not a genre. Why is it not a genre? Because nothing has been published under this banner yet. Cap’n Sweet Valley and I are in the midst of finding, culling, and cultivating books to fill a category that may or may not be successful. There are many marketing directions we can take with this (including an imprint), but as of yet, nothing is finalized. We are letting the books we choose to publish dictate the direction of where this may evolve in the future: it may become its own genre the way YA is now it’s own genre, but nothing is definite.
Second, let your manuscript tell you how to query it. Whom do you see as your target audience? And please don’t say “all ages” because all books have a target audience, even if the actual readership is greater. (For instance, I am not YA’s target audience, even though I am part of its readership.) If you feel your story targets teenagers, then you should query your manuscript YA. If you’ve written your story for adults, then you should query it adult. The target readership of New Adult are adults (Cap’n Sweet Valley thinks 20-28). This doesn’t mean we don’t want younger or older readers; it means that we will be marketing to a specific demographic.
As for whom to direct your inquiries for representation, that all depends. Agent-author relationships are individual and depend on agent to agent, writer to writer. My advice is to submit to those who have represented books whose oeuvre is similar to yours, whose reading tastes are similar, and who represent both YA and adult genres.
I hope that helps. If you have any questions about agents, I suggest thee hie thyself to Nathan Bransford, Kristin Nelson, and Rachelle Gardener‘s blogs for industry insight on how to find representation.
If you have any other questions you’d like me to answer, please leave them here!
Um, just wanted to say: L-O-V-E The Animaniacs!!!!! I was soooooo sad when they took it off the air. *pouts*
Best of luck to you and Cap’n with “new adult!” There’s definitely a niche out there for it. *nods head emphatically*
Right on!
I’m so excited for this to take off as I know it will.
Thanks for the post. Most helpful.
Finally! My friends and I discuss a lack of books and media, well anything, for our age bracket ALL the time. We aren’t teenagers, we don’t have families, and we aren’t in our forties dealing with those issues, which leaves us with what? NOt much on those books shelves let me tell you! As a writer, I write this age and it’s hard to query. SO YEAH!!!!!!