I just feel like all my ideas are completely unmarketable

A.P.M.

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Mar 20, 2010
Messages
924
Reaction score
182
Complaining about one side of things--My almost non-existent YA writing. A few years back, I was sending out queries for a few different YA projects in batches of 5 and 10, and I would typically get one request per batch. These didn't result in offers, but I was at least getting bites. I was trained to learn that getting some requests was reasonable for every new project I tried.

The past two projects I've tried over the past two years have gotten me nothing. I've workshopped the queries in QLH and in other places, I've had agents at conferences say the query or first pages are well-written and that "someone will like it." I know--well, okay, I THINK-- my queries are good, but I get nothing.

It's crushing to think you have something that a mysterious "someone" will like, and send out queries and get no response after rejection after no response. I'm up to 60ish agents per project and I'm really thinking that the market is just not there for what I'm trying to sell. It's just bumming me out and I have nowhere else to vent. I'm wondering if I should quit the YA market entirely and focus on the erotic romance side of my writing, which is working for me and getting me small press contracts. But I also know I can't give up, especially considering that I believe in these works and in future ideas I have for the YA market.

*Dusts self off* I guess the only choice is to keep trying agents until my next project is done?
 

Fuchsia Groan

Becoming a laptop-human hybrid
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Sep 27, 2008
Messages
2,870
Reaction score
1,399
Location
The windswept northern wastes
My anecdotal impression is that the YA market has become glutted and hence tougher to crack. So you’re likely not alone in what you’re experiencing; it’s harder to sell YA to a publisher now, and it’s harder for the publishers to sell it to readers, because so many good writers decided they wanted in on that sweet Hunger Games/John Green money.

But ... it’s also possible your ideas have a marketability issue. It’s impossible to know without specifics, and even then, many of us writers are still just guessing at what sells (I don’t claim to know even a tiny fraction of what an editor or bookseller does).

That said, I’m always kind of suspicious of people who say, “This is good, someone will like it.” I used to get that from people who weren’t really interested in engaging with my writing; they would just say, “Oh, you write well; I’m sure you’ll have success one day.” The critics who helped me were the brutal ones who said things like “You write well, but I can’t get engaged in this story because it feels too distanced” or “Your heroine annoys me!” Or the agent who told me a book was “meandering.” Sure, some stuff is very subjective and needs to be taken with a grain of salt, but I’ve always learned more from the critics who were willing to speak from their guts. Or it could be someone who’s honest enough to say, “This might have sold five years ago, but not now.”

Anyway, I’ve been where you are and know how tough that is. (First book that sold was the fourth I queried and fifth I wrote IIRC.) Hang in there.
 
Last edited:

Barbara R.

Old Hand in the Biz
Super Member
Registered
Joined
Apr 4, 2009
Messages
1,963
Reaction score
242
Location
New York
Website
www.barbararogan.com
It's a tough road. I used to be a literary agent myself, and so I know about the agent search from both perspectives. What makes it particularly difficult is the lack of feedback. Why are so many publishers and agents passing on the work? The writer has no clue, because agents and publishers don't explain why; they just offer anodyne responses (if they respond at all.) I can tell you that from the agent's perspective, there's nothing more delightful than discovering an exciting new writer whose work seems salable. They're searching as much as you are. If the books are first-rate and don't need too much editing, it's just a matter of finding the right fit.

Still, after 60+ submissions and no cigar, you should also be considering the possibility that the books need more work before they're ready for their close-up. I came up with this offer for writers in exactly your position: a serious, thorough critique designed to tell the writer what agents and editors would say if they had time to respond in great detail to submissions they're declining. You're welcome to give it a shot.
 
Last edited:

RaggyCat

Super Member
Registered
Joined
Feb 6, 2018
Messages
1,347
Reaction score
426
Location
UK
I feel for you, I know how tough this is. At risk of sounding like a parrot, the YA market is particularly tough right now - it's been heading this way for a while but has got especially competitive in the last few years after publishers over-bought titles and then lost money. This might very well have a big something to do with why you were getting requests and now aren't - agents (and publishers) are struggling to sell YA. So many YA authors I know are turning to MG or Adult.

There are also certain areas of YA that are done to death, which makes them pretty much a no go area for the forseeable. There are also numerous things that were trends even as late as last year but which agents are no longer wanting as the tide of trends moves on very quickly. It may just be that your book/s are unlucky enough to hit some of these dead trends, or even dead genres.

I do feel too that "someone will like it" is a somewhat meaningless platitude - generally speaking if you notch up enough rejections, something isn't working, and you're best off stopping and trying to figure out what that is than searching for the elusive "someone". I know you've done QLH but have you considered looking at beta readers, for example?