My kid’s eyes lit up when I told them I entered a Secret Agent Contest. They were a bit disappointed to find it was a secret literary agent contest, and that the agent probably wasn’t wearing a mask, dressed in all-black and carrying spy gear. I suppose the agent may be wearing all-black, but probably not the mask.
Usually these contests fill up fast, with the limited 50 entries reached within minutes. The previous Secret Agent contest genres included women’s fiction, romance, mysteries and fantasy and filled up in 6 minutes. Considering the variance in clocks in my house alone, 6 minutes is virtually instantaneous. This time around, the genres were MG/YA (middle grade/young adult) and it took a full hour to get to the 50 entry cut off. The vast majority of these are YA (75% YA, 25% MG).
This makes me wonder if there are simply less authors out there writing MG. I know that YA is booming right now (in sales) and more authors are drawn to it for that reason, but I wonder about MG.
MG writers, are you out there?
p.s. Just because the title for this post contains the lyrics from The Backyardigans, please do not think that I sit around watching musical children’s television. Not at all. Certainly not since they stopped making new episodes.
I waver between MG and YA. I prefer the plotting universe available to MG and the increased English sophistication allowed by YA (though I still trend toward plots regardless).
I've wondered about this before – whether you can write a "too smart" book, that would face obstacles getting published as MG. But then much of the YA books that are published are written at a reading level that is the same, or lower, than the MG books! So, I'm thinking that you can use sophisticated language for MG, but keep the topics at a MG level of understanding (and wholesome, of course), and most kids will be fine. Whether anyone will publish this, is another question.
re: YA written level — LOL — my wife thinks 'dumbing it down' is one of the keys to getting published. I think there's some truth to this, sadly. Of course, then we're told not to 'talk down' to the audience, which, IMO, dumbing it down does.
I guess it depends on who your audience is. Are you targeting the more 'cerebral' crowd who wants more insight/sophistication (e.g., sci-fi buffs, literistas) or the junk food crowd?
If only the answers were a tenth as easy as the questions.
Is there something wrong with sitting around watching musical children's television? LOL!
I think the YA market is flooded with writers right now. MG authors (like us) are still out there and in good number, but the YA authors have gone forth and multiplied faster. 🙂
I write MG and I entered one in the same contest as you 🙂
Yay for MG writers! Shannon and Sherrie – I saw you crittering and I was wondering which pieces were yours? Will you share? Mine was BYRNE RISK.
Good luck with the contest! Just getting the feedback I've seen so far has made it very worthwhile for me.
Shannon – I think you are right about the YA authors – they are multiplying, plus I think they pull in (former) adult writers as well.