All The Right Sources...

The literary agents, book editors, and reviewers of today's market will be the ones that ultimately determine your fate as a writer and potential author. Becoming a good writer or learning how to write a young adult (YA) novel, with its list of do's, don'ts, and tricks of the trade would unfortunately require a whole other kind of blog to even be worth the lesson. This blog begins with the idea that you have found your way through the creative obstacles that has every writer struggling at one point or another, believing you have completed a YA novel, and now just need to know where to go from there. The answer lies in finding the right sources.
 
A great place to look first is at the YA authors you admire already. Acknowledgements at the front or back of your favorite novel are usually loaded with honorable mention of those that have helped them get published. For example, at the back of Stephanie Meyer's Twilight, her acknowledgment gives thanks to her literary agent Jodi Reamer and her editor Megan Tingley, of Megan Tingley Books by Little, Brown and Company (Meyer, 2005, p. 501). Though this search option may take more time to build a list of contacts it is credible by the success the book it is printed on, and it is free. You can also look for this same kind of list is the author's website, and/or social media sites; see who they are following.
 
Another way to find agents and editors to send your work to, if your willing to spend the money, is through the resources of sites like Writer's Digest. Under the site's Resources sub-header there is access to Agent Listings and Publisher Market Listings that, with subscription to the Writers Market, can be very beneficial in quickly finding the right contacts. These sites, as well as the many others on the web like it, are filled with articles and blogs that can assist you in finding the right sources for you.


Works Referenced:

• Meyer, S. (2005). Twilight. New York: Little, Brown and Company