Anybody know of any good publishing houses that specialise in Young Adult genres?

Question

I am searching for a few publishers to send my work to. However, I have absolutely no idea where to start and thought that you guys may have a much better idea than me.

I am a teenager myself and the work I have completed is aimed at young adults.

If anyone has any information as to which publishers would be most appropriate for this or even any general advice from authors amongst you, I would be extremely grateful.

Thanks so much!

Answer 1

Hi Jenny, I know a bit about this -- I've been in publishing for longer than you've been alive :-)

This is the hardest area to get into, no question, however that's no reason not to try.

Is the story over 50K in length? If not it won't be considered, also over 120K is not popular with publishers unless it's brilliant.

The first thing you have to do is make sure that your story is the very best that you can get it. That means that you need to go through it several times, making sure all the spelling and grammar is spot-on. Changing things, cutting out unnecessary bits, expanding other bits as needed.

Assuming that you've gone through several drafts you will be in a position to go to someone else to read it. Not a publisher or an agent, not yet, but find online (or offline) writing groups and critique groups. These people are not your friends and family, and should give you an *honest* appraisal of the quality of your work.

If it's SF or Fantasy then join http://www.critters.org/ this is an excellent site. You have to critique other people's work but, believe me, that is a very valuable way of learning your trade. Otherwise you can find other online "writing circles" to match your genre.

When you get critiques of your own work you need to evaluate the responses. For example, if just one person says "this bit didn't seem right" but you're happy then you can ignore them. But if two or three people say the same thing then there will be something wrong that needs correcting.

By the time you've gone through this process for a while you may be ready to start submitting to agents. You will need an agent for any genre except SF and Fantasy. But there are more agents than publishers, also you can submit to multiple agents at the same time but not multiple publishers simultaneously. So going for agents is best.

Assuming you're in the UK you need to get the Writers & Artists Yearbook or Writers Handbook which lists all the agents. The W&A also contains lots of interesting and useful articles about how to present yourself which is very valuable. You can find these books in your local library.

If any "agent" wants ANY money up-front, ditch them, they're a scam. This website:

http://www.anotherealm.com/prededitors/

Gives up to date information about good/bad publishers and agents.

Locate the agents that deal with the genre you're writing in, it will say what they want (an outline, a couple of chapters whatever) ONLY SEND WHAT THEY ASK FOR. If you do anything else they will reject you instantly. Don't bother sending to agents who don't deal in your genre, it's a waste of time and money.

These people get hundreds and thousands of manuscripts sent to them every year, the only way they can whittle down the numbers is by using every possible error to reject. Even misspelling the company name on the envelope could result in rejection without it even being opened.

An agent will take you on IF (and only if) they think they can sell your story to a publisher. The agents know the market and if they don't think they can sell it they will not take you on.

In this business you will have your ego battered, and receive rejection after rejection after rejection -- potentially hundreds of them. A friend of mine, who is now a successful author, spent 15 years trying to get published and wrote 20 books that weren't accepted. He kept 300 of his more interesting rejections. He's now had four novels published and has three more in the pipeline.

So if you're willing to put in the hours and the effort and really want to be published then go for it.

Good luck.

Answer 2

Here are some names; to get their addresses and/or websites, you'll have to plug these into Google.

Candlewick
Scholastic/Scholastic Press
Doubleday
HarperTrophy and HarperCollins
Delacorte Books for Young Readers
Knopf Books for Young Readers (they published Chris Paolini's Eragon and Eldest)
Yearling
Puffin

A good way to figure out who's publishing young adult fiction is to hop onto Amazon and scroll down to the details of each book you've enjoyed -- then you can see who the publisher was and go from there.

A tip, just because my best friend is a children's author: get some supplies ready before you start your quest, and be prepared for a lot of rejection, and do not take it personally. Get return address labels (nice ones) and create a bunch of self-addressed stamped 9x12 envelopes -- if you want your submissions returned to you with comments, you have to make it as easy as possible, and paying return postage is one way to minimize the editors' efforts. Also, make sure you have someone *carefully* read your manuscript for typos, grammatical errors, continuity, flow, etc. Editors can be and are very picky, and even though you have a nice "hook" as a teen author, you still have to play by their rules.

You should also give strong consideration to joining the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (link below) for contacts and connections. Good luck!!

Answer 3

You might want to try Push Publishing. They've published a lot of teen books. They even have a novel contest every year where they publish the best teen-written books that are sent in. This years contest is over, but I'm entering next year's.

Answer 4

hi there firstly let me say well done on writing a book it is hard i have tried all sorts but you can self publish try lulu.com they are pretty good what is your book based on mine is about growing up in the 60s-70s in care prison borstal the whack it is called youlittlebastard link http://www.lulu.com/content/454006 i would like to know more of your writings if you e-mail me i will send you a copy of mine [e-mail]

Answer 5

Scholastic.