GLAZE_by_KyrstinMc:
Regarding my book, GLAZE, I was intending for it to be for both boys and girls from the ages thirteen to young adult (twenties, thirties maybe).
The YA market is aimed at teenagers (i.e. the 13 to 18 age bracket). It seems that you're looking to write a book with crossover appeal (and there's nothing wrong with that - there are quite a few YA books that are also marketed to adults, and adult books marketed to the YA audience), but this will be a decision made by the publisher's marketing department if and when they buy your book. For the time being, you're probably better off writing something either aimed exclusively at the older YA audience (i.e. 14+) or for the adult market, rather than trying to anticipate the needs of both.
GLAZE_by_KyrstinMc:
Are boys more apt to read a book that has more attractive women in it?
It depends on who you ask. The conventional wisdom (for what it's worth), is that boys prefer books with a strong male protagonist and few female characters. If there are female characters, they tend to be written as arse-kickers in their own right rather than helpless love interests (although there are a fair chunk of them around).
Books aimed at the male market also tend to be fast-paced, not too complex on a language level and have a lot of action. They also tend to be lighter on the emotional side of things (talking about your feelings is a particular no-no apparently, as is crying, being a wuss or angsting too much about your actions).
Your best bet is to read around some of the books aimed at the 14+ male market so you can get a sense of the dos and donts. I'd recommend Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series and his on-going fantasy series The Power of Five. Charlie Higson's Young James Bond series is also good, and I've heard positive things about Chris Ryan's and Andy McNabb's respective YA works (which basically feature boy soldiers).
GLAZE_by_KyrstinMc:
I try to make most of my characters fairly attractive (this book will have illustrations).
Don't count on your book being illustrated if it's bought by a publisher. Illustrations can be expensive and unless a publisher thinks your book is going to be a big seller (and I'm not saying that it won't), they'll be unwilling to take a risk by adding to their costs. For this reason, you should make sure that there is sufficient description within your novel for readers to get a sense for what characters, places etc look like.
GLAZE_by_KyrstinMc:
What else do they like?
Again, just to make the point, I don't think it's a great idea to be writing your story exclusively based around what you think the audience is going to want. There's nothing wrong with taking notice of the demands of the likely market, but you need to consider how that is going to fit into the story that you want to tell. For example, if your novel is about a teenage boy battling his feelings of isolation, then he's not necessarily going to form a crime-fighting gang of supercharged teens.
You also need to think about how your characters are going to grow in the story - what are they going to learn (if anything), how are they going to be shaped by their experiences, where are they going to end up and how does that differ from where they start from?
At its heart, I think that you have to be interested in the subject matter of your story and you have to have a story that you want to tell because that's what's going to keep you motivated through the long, lonely, writing process. Also, the market is notoriously fickle - what's in at the moment might not be fashionable in 2 years time (2 years being the average lead-in between a publisher purchasing your novel and its publication). If you're solely focused on what people want now, you can find yourself up the proverbial without a paddle by the time you've finished the manuscript.
MM
