Markets for Fantasy Parody?

Hi everybody! I've been looking for a market that seems suited for my manuscript (The Magician's Rock, a parody of the fantasy genre for young adult readers), but to no avail :shrug . Mundania Press seemed like a fairly good prospect, but they rejected me.

I'm pretty sure the writing is good, as it's received wonderful feedback from both friends and complete strangers. Below is a summary so you'll better be able to hopefully recommend a market:

While idly instant messaging his favorite robots, MELVIN, a 30 year old Internet geek who lives in his mother's attic, is lured into Aldaplast, a land that resembles nothing so much as a bad sword-and-sorcery epic fantasy.

Unable to return to Earth, he is forced to embark on a quest by the Holy Prophecy of the sadistic gods.Therefore, he must journey through the Wilderness and its unnecessarily capitalized regions to the Demon's Tower to kill the mysterious REALLY SCARY DEMON if he does not want his new world to be ruled by the tyrannical, obese, fanny pack-wearing she-devil. His only companions on this completely nonsensical voyage are SHUL, a talking teakettle, and JOE, a moody flying squirrel. Can he accomplish his goal? Or
will he be foiled by the Demon or the secretive DARK LORD OF THE MYTH?

I hope this won't be so long that I won't get a response, but I'll post a typical query letter too in case the query is my problem. NOTE: This query was to an editor who did not provide his/her name.

Dear Sir or Madam:

I have written a 34,000 word manuscript titled The Magician's Rock. It is a young adult parody of the fantasy genre. My main readers will probably be fantasy readers aged 11-19.

Here is a brief summary:

*I use the same summary as is posted above*

Here is my contact information:

Anders Bruce
Street Address
Address Line 2
Phone Number
Email Address

Thank you very much for taking the time to read this query letter.

Sincerely,
Anders Bruce

Thank you VERY much for reading through this! Any market ideas?

I have some suggestions, but they're not about markets (although you could maybe target whoever publishes Piers Anthony's Xanth books; they're not spoofs exactly, but they're pretty light-hearted).

Anyway, my suggestions. Punch up your query letter. My gut feeling is that agents or editors will read your salutation and your opening sentence and yawn and toss it aside. First of all, find a name, even if you have to call the agency or publisher to get one. You don't have to identify yourself when you call. Address the letter to a specific person by name.

Second, start with a bang. Intrigue them with a compelling story question or your central premise in a sentence or two or your title and a brief blurb like you'd find on a novel jacket.

Then, once you've got them hooked, give the details: word count, genre, audience, etc. Then specifically ask them to request either a synopsis and sample chapters or the complete manuscript. You have to tell them what you want from them. And don't thank them for reading the letter. Say something like "thank you and I look forward to hearing from you" (like you would in a job letter). Oh, and mention that you've enclosed a SASE for their response.

If your query letter doesn't catch their interest, they're not going to hold out any great hopes for your book (not that you'll ever know, since they won't request it).

Your contact info should already be in your letterhead. No need to repeat in your letter body. You may repeat just the email or phone number. Always include a SASE.

SASE

This was an e-query to an editor (the guidelines said to quiery via email, of course). I always include a SASE. Thanks for the suggestions.

Here's some thoughts on your project....

This one seems pretty obvious to me, BUT....if you are aiming your story at the teen market, perhaps you should consider making your main character younger. I could certainly read stories about older characters when I was that age, and often did, but the books that were actually aimed smack at my demographic were also about kids my age and only a little bit older. The concerns of a 30 year old and an 18 year old are not going to be the same, to say nothing of what a kid just hitting puberty is going to think of somebody twice his age. When I was eleven, the idea of being twenty scared the hell out of me, and my aunt and uncles were OLD at the age of thirty. (Of course, being within a few years of thirty now, I feel vastly different about the matter.)

You should also check out such books as Piers Anthony's Xanth, Robert Aspirin's Myth books, Patricia Wrede's Dealing With Dragons, and Dianna Wynne Jones' Dark Lord of Derkholm, just to name a few--because even if you are parodying fantasy, even parodies have been done before, and you don't want a simple retread of what other established writers have already done. It pays to know who has gone before you.

Re: Here's some thoughts on your project....

I've read Dealing With Dragons. It was great . I made him 30 for several reasons, not the least of which is that he still lives in his mother's attic.

Re: Here's some thoughts on your project....

Age might appeal to a market, but it doesn't always reconcile with making a story work.

This isn't a complaint, but merely to illustrate. A reviewer mentioned about one of my books that the main character should have been teenaged to really make the story connect. That might have been nice from a marketing standpoint, but it wouldn't have been realistic for the main character's personality and background. For one thing, as an adult, he had a job in the mines. This worked well with his fear of heights that manifests itself later. Also, it meant that he'd been a member of his community long enough that his neighbors held him high in their opinions as a man of good standing. As well, he was old enough that he had developed some caution in what he did. He was also willing to calmly accept failure when it first appeared that he wouldn't be selected. Most teens wouldn't have those in their favor yet. Many would be enthusiastic and impetuous. Those traits were in too much conflict with the type of selection process that was ongoing where devout beliefs were necessary.

I do have to admit, though, that most of the process on my part was subconsciously directed. I recognized many of the whys only after I made the choices while writing. Then when I spotted what was developing, I saw no choice but to continue with the more rational choices.

So, while I agree with PixelFish about the concerns of different ages often being different, there's also the fact that some individuals are more capable at one age than another and some situations are simply unrealistic if the wrong age is used. Think 15-year old in a jet fighter. He might be real good on a video game, but it's different in the air. I think this applies across the board in all genres.