In one of your blogs [this one], you stated that your company isn’t marketing YA fiction for boys. A company I submitted to told me the same thing. Does this mean I should just forget the LDS market for my “next Harry Potter novel”? (the Harry Potter comment is a joke, but the question is serious) Thanks!
It’s not that no one is writing/publishing YA for LDS boys, it’s that smaller publishers need to invest in books that they know will give them a return on their money. The chances are better with adult fiction than for YA. So you need to match your manuscript with a publisher that is big enough to take the risk (there are a few), or a smaller company with an owner who is personally committed to expanding that market and willing to swing by their toenails. (I personally don’t know of any, but if a reader does, speak up.)
Also, we don’t usually market directly to the young man because he doesn’t usually go to the LDS bookstore to buy his fiction, his mother or grandmother does. But that is starting to change just a tad–with Leven Thumps, Fablehaven, and others…
So short answer, write your book for the audience you think it fits best. By the time you’re ready to shop it to publishers, the market might be ready for it.
