Competition in writing YA

Talking through my hat a bit here, but I wonder if part of the problem is that publishers have more or less become addicted to the lovely piles of money that blockbuster YAs have brought in, and they're spending a lot of time and effort on looking for the next infusion of cash rather than developing voices? I dunno, but yes it has changed (my first book came out in 2008.)

I was recently at a conference where several agents said YA is not selling as much these days because publishers bought a lot of it in the last few years and have their lists full.

JKRowley said:

YA is not selling as much these days because publishers bought a lot of it in the last few years and have their lists full.

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Well, that's just depressing.

My book sold in 2014. It was tough then, and I imagine it's even tougher now. I'm in a less popular niche (scary thrillers), so not as many people are writing that as, say, fantasy, but there are also fewer shelf slots available, I would guess. When is the last time you heard about a blockbuster YA thriller?

Still, it's not all about blockbusters. I get the sense that a lot of libraries are interested in books in the less prominent genres, because they do have their audiences.

I heard a few years ago, in a report from some conference, that adults who had been reading YA were making the transition back to adult genres, narrowing the market. But I haven't heard about adult fantasies, thrillers, etc., suddenly becoming easier to sell.

I'm definitely seeing more YA books by celebrities (actors, YouTubers, etc.) on the shelves, but they can't be that big a factor. Maybe there are more people writing than ever before, and lots of those writers gravitate toward YA? That's one guess. I know I started out writing adult fiction.

You sell skill; story follows. If you prove your have the skill, your story will likely sell.

RaggyCat said:

Cheers for responses, all. To clarify, I'm not necessarily disheartened by the increased competition, personally... I'm just trying to understand it better (I feel like the stakes upped while was snoozing happily in my own little bubble). Certainly in a UK context I think Marissa is right and publishers are no longer so interested in developing voices - more in the money they can make. Which, of course, does make a kind of commercial sense - though I'd argue authors need development and promotion to help them become a lucrative resource, as it's only a handful who'll make a packet on their debut. I do also think those of you who mention publishers over-buying YA are right, too. They probably lost some money and feel like they hve their fingers burned somewhat.

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You think there is a place for poetry too?

Yeah it's been this way for a few years. Publishers were throwing out 7-figure deals hoping that the press would sell the book and if the return wasn't what they thought it would be, the burden would be on the author and future authors (in that it might get harder for them to sell).

It's still possible, but not as easy. And there are definitely lots of midlist authors - at least authors that sell books that are only marginally successful, authors who only get maybe at most 1K-2K twitter followers from their writing. These authors have to keep writing and putting work out there. But I think it's possible if you just keep writing and putting the work out, taking criticism, re-working and putting work out. Eventually I believe someone will bite even if you're not some big name afterwards.

I haven't seen any more recent statistics, but a couple of years back it was reported that the majority of purchases of YA books were made by adults--and more than half of those purchases were for the adult purchasers, not for a teen in their lives. But there have been multiple click-bait-y pieces published (they seem to pop up every six months or so) in which adult readers of YA are taken to task for their enjoyment of the books. So YA is getting space in the press--but it's weirdly adversarial.

NPR and the NYT review YA books, though they don’t give them much space. EW and Bustle and the like have a lot of coverage. But overall, I agree, and there are some book reviewers who just dismiss YA out of hand, clearly with little sense of what a deep, diverse category it is. I review for a newspaper, and I basically treat YA novels the same way as adult ones: if they’re substantial (which for me does not mean super-literary, but there have to be strong prose and interesting themes), then I review them.

It’s revealing to see which YA novels the publishers send to press. Since we’re an adult-oriented alt weekly, we get books thought to have crossover appeal. Contemps, almost invariably.

Marissa D said:

Talking through my hat a bit here, but I wonder if part of the problem is that publishers have more or less become addicted to the lovely piles of money that blockbuster YAs have brought in, and they're spending a lot of time and effort on looking for the next infusion of cash rather than developing voices? I dunno, but yes it has changed (my first book came out in 2008.)

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I've read this elsewhere, not just about YA and further back than 2008: how it's not so much about nurturing long-term gains with an author showing good potential anymore as it is about quick returns - an attitude that pervades a lot of entertainment industries these days, it seems. (Remember how TV shows used to get a pass on a wobbly first season? Notice how fast the axe falls these days on even well-polished and popular shows because several million viewers aren't enough of an ad base for them to bother with anymore? And, as I understand it, you can hardly get a movie greenlit in Hollywood anymore unless you can guarantee a return, explaining the prevalence of remakes and copycats: only what's been done before has any kind of a track record, and it takes independent financing or major star power to get anything resembling originality through the main studios.)