To All Future Young Adult Authors...

The life of an aspiring young adult (YA) writer is always full of the unknown. Is my work good enough? If it is, where do I go from there? Could I make it as a YA author? Then the biggest question, Is there a good market in young adult literature? Though the answers can be different for each individual with regard to many of these types of questions, there is one that is the same for everyone. Young adult literature (YAL) has been rapidly growing in recent decades. YAL books, written mainly for preteens and teenagers (but by no means age limited), have become a big part of pop-culture (Reno, 2008).

Within the past decade there has been an increase in creative writing graduates seeking their place in the world as great authors, especially now in YAL (Campbell, 2006, p. 65). Both Creative Writing MFA graduates as well as writers with no post-secondary educational experience in the field are becoming successful YA authors in today's market. Because the YAL market seems so daunting and uncertain, due to the difficulty in finding easily accessible information about the market, many of these aspiring YA writers worry about whether they should follow their dream and try to get their work published.

 This blog will provide helpful market information, references to scholarly articles and writing magazines, interviews with people in various roles of the industry, and real stories from successful YA authors in hopes of resolving some of the insecurities aspiring YA writers have about the possibility of working in the market where their greatest passion lies.


Works Referenced:

• Campbell, P. (2006). Drowning in Success. Horn Book Magazine, 82(1), 61-65.
• Reno, J. (2008, May 13). Generation R (R is for Reader). Newsweek: The Daily Beast. Retrieved from http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2008/05/13/generation-r-r-is-for-reader.htm