Insanity?

[Spartakiss]

I'm writing a not-your-average type young adult fiction..<Deep Breath>.

If you can identify with these skewed profilings, {and have published}, I would be evah.so.grateful if you'd pass along some names of agreeable publishers.

A bit new [who am I kidding?] ..a total freshgirl at this whole artistic-novelistic-cryptic-scriptic writing stuff. And [to all concerned/not-concerned] really enjoying it.

I need DETAILS PEOPLE..DETAILS!! When it comes to publishing...

A bit nervous/nonsensical tonight, I appologize for any awkwardity. I promise you: My writing is so delicious it's hard to stand..but as forums go..I've been diagnosed with ellipsis. Fatal, I'm afraid.

Cheers,

~The Deskwriter~

[Trapped in amber]

It's a good idea to check agents and publishers you want to submit to against this site:

www.anotherealm.com/prededitors

You might also get some advice on the Childrens Writing board.

Good luck:)

[Elizabeth]

There's decent information everywhere if you look around. Three to start:

For young adult writers, Holly Black has a site full of great resources:
http://www.blackholly.com/writingresources.htm

The Children's Writers & Illustrator's Market is handy:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1582972737/

The Purple Crayon is an excellent site on children's publishing:
http://www.underdown.org/

The best thing to do, I think, is to just start putting the feelers out: check out writer's websites, boards like this one, writer's magazines, etc. You'll get a feel of things. And spend time in your bookstore! Peruse the shelves to get a feel for who publishes what.

There are no shortcuts on the research, I'm afraid.

Good luck!

[victoriastrauss]

Before you do anything else, you need to educate yourself about the publishing process. This is vital not just to your success as an author (since you'll be able to submit your work much more effectively if you know something about how publishing operates) but to your protection, as it'll keep you out of the hands of scammers and amateurs.

Do some reading--and not on the Internet, where misinformation abounds. Go to your local chain bookstore and spend some time in the section where the books on writing are shelved. Both the Dummies and Idiots lines have good basic introductions to the publishing process, and there are many others. Please don't skip this step--it's tedious at the outset but will save you time (and grief) in the long run.

- Victoria

[NicoleJLeBoeuf]

I'm writing a not-your-average type young adult fiction..<Deep Breath>.

If you can identify with these skewed profilings, {and have published}, I would be evah.so.grateful if you'd pass along some names of agreeable publishers.What exactly makes your fiction "not-your-average type young adult fiction"?

I have not yet published a novel myself, but I kindasorta identify. Two of my "Zero'th Drafts" (NaNoWriMo (http://www.nanowrimo.org/) output, as yet unedited) are young adult fantasy novels in that their main character is a teenager in high school and their concerns are consistent with high school life. However, there's a great deal of adult-themed content.

My target audience is best described as "teenagers who can handle stuff like that," and of course the teenager him/herself knows best whether s/he fits into that category. Many of them do. I did. However, I'm drawing a blank when it comes to thinking of publishers who'd agree with me on that score. (Which is why, of my three novel drafts, it's the straight-up adult fantasy novel--the one with hot mermaid sex, whoo-hoo!--that I'm currently working on getting into submission-worthy shape. But even that one features a guy in college. I am reminded that one of my short stories got a rejection letter indicating that the target audience of the publication I submitted to was somewhat older than college-age, and thus wouldn't be interested in a story about a college student. Up until then, I hadn't realized there was much of a distinction between college-age and "real adult." :( )

The usual rule, of course, is "Find books similar to yours, and submit to the people who published it." I'm not entirely sure where in the fantasy genre books similar to mine are. Sure, I've seen non-genre YA novels address these themes--I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings and The Bluest Eye come to mind, both of 'em assigned reading at my high school--and I've seen fantasy novels that dealt unflinchingly with younger characters and sexual themes, such as Deerskin, but none of these examples are quite what I'm talking about.

I'm talking about fantasy elements in a 50-70K word story set in our here-and-now whose protagonist is in high school, and whose story arc passes through themes of sex and violence.

I don't know if this divergence from typical YA fiction is the same one that the original poster had in mind, but maybe someone can suggest some of the titles that I just can't seem to come up with here?