As we read last week,NA is a (slowly) up-and-coming age category, but how does speculative fiction fit into this age category?
Is there any hope for a non-romance NA genre?
Some of us aren’t big into the romance writing, and besides, it’s not like young people don’t “come into themselves as adults” in other genres. However, the reality is that:
“If NA contemporary romance is a hard sell, NA sci fi is brutal. Part of that is because NA is a niche created by a very specific set of cultural circumstances. In today’s world, your early 20’s are a distinctly different part of life. In historical novels or alternate worlds, that’s not necessarily the case, so it makes sense why NA has been slower to take hold in those sub-genres. However, I would like to see the NA category branch out and become more diverse.” –@MichelleHazen
Still, romance doesn’t hold a monopoly here. There are plenty of adventurous people utilizing self-publication. According to @AuthorLBrown, “NA is typically romance, but you will find some variation.”
On the Future of Speculative NA:
If you want to be one of those brave souls who sticks to the age category, you will be facing some challenges. There is the option of pitching your book as Adult or YA, and letting any future editors advise you which way to swing once publication happens. You may even be able to keep it as-is, or to take exact ages out of the book entirely and allow your audience to simply guess. Just keep word count and other expectations in mind when querying your book under a different age category!
Oh no! Is there NO HOPE?
Here are Michelle’s thoughts on that:
“[It] will change, especially if brave people keep writing what they want to write and readers start asking for it. Remember, once upon a time, YA wasn’t considered a valid category either. There were children’s books and adult books and that was all the publishers thought we needed. But change in the publishing industry comes slow… [and] as someone with a history of querying and subbing books in risky genres, I want to see beginning writers have the best chance they possibly can with their debuts” –@MichelleHazen
