YA or Adult, best market for SF?

[lin robinson]

I am starting up my new novel after the Fourth (you know, celebration of the day when US got independent from UK... until we came whining back after 9/11?)

It's still young enough to do some major switches in the way I do it. I'm wondering if it would be better as a YA. The main characters start out pretty young. But I'd hate to ditch the sex and violence.

On the other hand if a "Harry Potter In Space" would sell better than an adult novel, I'd consider it.

I've also thought of starting out the first book in a series of four as something school kids could be allowed to read or however it works, then ramp it up towards adulthood as they get older.

Anyway, I have NO idea of the SF market, but I'm betting there are those herein who do. Wottaya think?

Thanks
Lin Robinson

[Triceratops]

Lin,

To reach the premium markets, the houses that pay good advances and royalties, you should concentrate on writing the best book that you can and polish it to bedazzlement. Then, you are ready to go seek out the agents that solicite these great SF and Fantasy houses. You do want to start at the top and work your way down. Some SFWA qualifiers below:

Qualifying Novel Venues
Novels sold to the following publishers are considered qualified (list last updated 04/16/07):
· Ace
· Baen
· Bantam Spectra
· Black Library
· DAW
· Del Rey
· Design Image Group
· Dorchester/Leisure
· Elder Signs Press
· Eos
· Fitzhenry & Whiteside
· Green Knight
· HarperCollins
· Kensington Publishing
· Meisha Merlin
· Night Shade Books
· Orbit
· Phobos
· Pyr Books
· Roc
· Solaris
· St. Martin's Press
· Tor
· Warner Aspect
· White Wolf
· Wizards of the Coast
· Other large independent publishers and US imprints of large conglomerates such as Bertelsmann, Penguin Putnam, von Holtzbrinck, Time Warner, etc. (thus, Harcourt, Vintage, Farrar Strous & Giroux, Random House, Scholastic, Viking, Doubleday/Nan Talese, Houghton Mifflin/Clarion, etc.)

[John Jarrold]

In the UK, adult SF is certainly a strong market - stronger than it has been for twenty years. Over the last half-dozen years, all these authors have made a mark commercially as well as critically: Alastair Reynolds, Richard Morgan, Justina Robson, Jon Courtenay Grimwood, Neal Asher, Charles Stross. And Iain M Banks and Peter Hamilton are the market leaders, both top 10 bestsellers nationally.

In YA, as in adult fiction, Fantasy outsells SF as it has for thirty years, but there is certainly a market. So if you'd prefer to write a strong adult SF novel, I'd go for that...which would you prefer to write? Base it on that.

[John Jarrold]

Apologies. I should also have mentioned that, in the US, SF has not seen the strong recent sales that it has in the UK, so I understand. So it might well be worth looking at the YA market. Check out some local bookstores in the YA section - there'll be lots of fantasy, but have a look for SF...

[Teresa Edgerton]

Lin is somewhere in South America, so he would have to ask someone else to check out the US bookstores.

[lin robinson]

Geez, I guess I didn't make it clear that it's an SF work. I was wondering if there would be better chances if I toned it down to YA, but I get the impression it wouldn't help the sales chances much to do that.

Thanks for all your responses.

Lin

[John Jarrold]

Sorry, Lin - thought my reply dealt with SF!

[Azure]

Lin are you meaning Science Fantasy? I think John is referring to straight Science ficition. Perhaps if you could name an author or two you might compare the story style too it'd help.

[scalem X]

Lol, well Lin, you'd better read post more clearly before you reply, or so it seems. Comparisson (in this case to fantasy) doesn't mean that the post gives not information about science fiction. (so for the markets try previous posts) Personally, judging on your shall I say 'bluntness' on the forum, maybe adult market will be more to your taste. (no offence intended, just an impression)
The problem with scifi for YA in my opinion seems to be that these children are still at school, learning science. That means that the escapistic value of the novels will go down once you become too technical. Scifi for YA adult seems indeed to be a sort of gap in the market, but the question is: is it a gap worth filling?

(oh and Lin, suddenly I realised why the avatar)

[lin robinson]

Scifi for YA adult seems indeed to be a sort of gap in the market

That tells me what I wanted to know. And to be blunt, I have NO intention in trying to enter a small market area. Novels and screenplays are a tough enough sell. :-)

I don't know what authors to compare to in SF field. That's why I'm asking question on this forum.

There is a subtext of confusion running through this whole thread. I won't try to go back an untangle it because contraproductiveness is so... counter productive. I take full blame for it all. Thanks for you replies here.

What, the avatar? That old thing? :-)

Thanks again
Lin

[Steve Jordan]

Originally Posted by John Jarrold

Apologies. I should also have mentioned that, in the US, SF has not seen the strong recent sales that it has in the UK, so I understand.

I get the same impression. I wonder why that is? Is there a difference in current US and UK cultures that could be reflected in the difference in sales? A difference in what each culture is looking for (and perhaps not finding)?

[John Jarrold]

Well, there have always been variations in the market. Not every book that sells well in the UK does well in the US, and vice versa. And some areas of SFF that are major in the US - light fantasy, military SF - don't really work here.

All part of life's rich tapestry...!

[Theleb K]

Hi all and apologies for my coming late to this but I only signed up today...

The whole adult vs YA issue is intersting to me as I have just completed a novel and I am looking at how best to pitch it. It is fantasy (rather than SF) and I hope it will have wide appeal but the main protagonists are adolescent.

It appears to me, just from the media and browsing bookshops, that YA fantasy is very strong in the UK at the moment with lots of interesting authors and titles whereas on the adult shelves it seems to be more a case of the "usual suspects" (not taking aything away from some great writers) and the more "formulaic" high fantasy stuff...

This being the case, I was thinking that I may stand a better chance of publication in YA? I have no idea about the US market...

Very interested to hear any views...

[Meadowhawk]

Theleb K: If your protagonists are young adults, then your novel is YA. I hate to over-simplify, but it basically boils down to something that simple. Now, you're going to find some confusion over exactly what ages YA encompasses--12-18 yrs, 14-20 yrs. That will depend on a given editor or publisher.

[lin robinson]

If your protagonists are young adults, then your novel is YA.

Okay, I'm in this thread because I don't know so much about YA. But I DO know that's incorrect.

Dune, for instance, is not a YA book, is it? Nor is "A Separate Peace", nor "Dead Poet's Society" nor "Pornografia". And so many others. They are mainstream adult books featuring young characters.

It would also fail to follow that teenagers are only interested in reading about people there own age.