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creamofmushroom
06-11-2009, 07:37 PM
Hello everyone,

Just a quick question. If an agent accepts young adult books but does not want sci-fi/horror/fantasy, would it be okay to submit YA books that do contain one or more of these elements? It's something that's always confused me.

Thank you.

Namatu
06-11-2009, 08:26 PM
What genre is your book? If it is sci fi/fantasy/horror, no, I would not submit. It means that the agent is looking for YA romance or YA mystery or YA anything that is not horror, sci fi, or fantasy.

ORION
06-11-2009, 09:55 PM
Take a look at the books and authors they already represent. Sometimes you can tell by that.

Danthia
06-11-2009, 10:09 PM
I've heard people say yes and no. I think if they specifically say no sci fi/fantasy/horror, don't submit to them. If they don't, and they just don't list it as what they rep, you can probably send it, as YA covers multiple genres. A lot depends on how SFH your book is. If it's pretty heavy, you might skip them. If it's a light element to it, you might be fine.

Best bet is probably to see what else in on their client list and see if you fit those books in some way. For example, if your voice, style and tone match their clients, then you might be a good fit anyway.

There are specific imprints for adult SFH, so an agent might not have any contacts there if they don't rep it. But YA is more broad, so if they rep it, they'll have contacts with YA editors and they'll know who likes what.

creamofmushroom
06-12-2009, 06:41 AM
It's a light fantasy book set in the modern world. I won't classify it as fantasy completely but there are little bits here and there...
So I'll take everyone's advice and stick to looking at the client list. Should've thought of that before though.

Thanks for the replies.

Danthia
06-13-2009, 12:23 AM
If that's the case, I'd say you're probably fine submitting to any agent who says YA, as long as they don't say "no fantasy."
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