Mary Kole - Writing irresistible kidlit : the ultimate guide to crafting fiction for young adult and middle grade readers

As if I could live on words and dreams and a million screams, oh, how I need a hand in mine to feel. ACROSS THE SEA, WEEZER

I often tell my clients that It takes a village to raise a book, but this has new resonance for me now. I am blessed and grateful for the wisdom, grace, and guidance of my family at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency: Andrea Brown, Laura Rennert, Caryn Wiseman, Jen Rof, Kelly Sonnack, Jamie Weiss Chilton, Jennifer Laughran, Jennifer Mattson, Lara Perkins, and Taryn Fagerness. For inspiring me to think of the future and all the possibilities, a big thank you to my colleagues at Movable Type Management: Jason Allen Ashlock, Adam Chromy, Jamie Brenner, and Michele Matriciani. Thank you also to my rock star clients, who put up with me as I wrote this book (and, if were being honest, long before that, too).

Thank you to all of the writers conferences that have invited me to speak over the years (especially the national and regional chapters of the SCBWI and the countless dedicated volunteers and advisers there), and to the team at Writers Digest and F+W Media, most notably Phil Sexton, Chuck Sambuchino, Winter Thielen, Julie Oblander, Cory Smith, Abby Davis, Claudean Wheeler, and Krista Rea. A special thank you to my editor, Roseann Biederman.

This book would be missing great texture and richness if it wasnt for the authors and editors who contributed their wisdom: Barry Lyga, Holly Black, Diane Landolf, Andrew Harwell, Alessandra Balzer, and Daniel Nayeri. Much appreciation to Ellen Hopkins for the foreword, and to Emily Hainsworth for letting me dissect her query. I also owe a great deal to the amazing writers working in childrens books today, especially to the thirty-four whose work I excerpted for the purposes of this guide.

My literary mentors have been beacons of inspiration for me over the years: Lewis Buzbee and my advisers, professors, and peers at the USF MFA program, Jennifer Chen at Rangefinder Magazine, Brian Thorstenson, Jill Gould, and Barb Fraser at SCU, and Mark Davis at SHP. I wouldnt have a career in words without them.

Finally, very deep personal gratitude to my beloved friends inside and outside publishing: Cassie Perret, Lauren Burris, Martha Flynn, Melissa Manlove, Rosie Wells, John Cusick, Joanna Volpe, Jamie Harrington, Lindsay Ward, Bethanie Murguia, Kyle Murphy, Sandra Andersch, Todd Macdonald, Sarah Bridgins, T.S. Ferguson, Yasmin Vahdatpour, Joe OMalley, Manfred Hayes, Gordon Warnock, Viva Chu, Colleen Grapes, Heather Alexander, Carol Lynch Williams, Jo Whittemore, Dustin Hansen, and Josh Rector. Thank you also to my father, Mikhail Kolesnikov, and my step-father, Jamie Davis. Yall know meand you love me anyway! This book is truly a dream come true.

Mary Kole came to literature from a writers perspective and started interning at literary agencies to see what it was like on the other side of the desk. She quickly found her passion at the Andrea Brown Literary Agency in 2008 and became an Associate Agent in 2009, representing everything from picture books to young adult novels. She moved on to become Senior Literary Manager and the head the Childrens Department at Movable Type Management (MovableTM.com) in 2012. In her quest to learn all sides of publishing, she has also worked for Chronicle Books, earned her MFA in Creative Writing at the University of San Francisco, and written for publications like the Los Angeles Times. On the digital front, her first career was five years at a Silicon Valley start-up that eventually sold to Google. Now that her two worlds are dovetailing, shes thrilled to combine both these areas of expertise.

Mary frequently speaks and teaches at writers conferences across the world, from South Dakota to Japan, and is passionate about travel (request her frequent flier miles balance at any momentshell know it), fine wine, and adventurous food (she once worked in a two-Michelin-star restaurant kitchen). She teaches webinars on all aspects of the childrens book craft for F+W Media and blogs at Kidlit.com, frequently named one of the 101 Best Websites for Writers by Writers Digest Magazine. Mary was born in Moscow, raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, and now lives in Brooklyn.

Writing does not exist in a vacuum. The savviest aspiring writers must have a serious understanding of their intended market, not just their craft.

I love my job as a literary agent because I get to be involved in both the creative aspects of writing and the fascinating business of childrens books. I see an influx of amateur writing, read a raft of published books, and interact with the kidlit gatekeepers and tastemakers of childrens publishing every day, and its my pleasure to bring you the insights Ive gleaned.

This chapter is a shortcut to gaining important context. As you strive to publish, youre no longer the solitary scribe shut up in some attic; you are part of a vibrant and rapidly changing industry.

While you cannot simply copycat whats hot on shelves and follow trends, you do need to understand whats selling. You also need to understand that publishers, booksellers, and librarians are very mindful of categories, and nowhere is that more true than in childrens books. For our purposes here, I will clearly delineate between todays definitions of middle grade (MG) and young adult (YA) and take you inside the heads of your readers for each audience. These concepts will be reinforced throughout as we delve more deeply into issues of craft and theme.

As long as were talking about the market, take this to heart: The best possible way to shine is to turn out a fresh hook, a fresh voice, a fresh story. A book clich (yet another angsty vampire love triangle, for example) is just as deadly as a writing clich. The better your market knowledge, the more novel and promising your ideas will be, so lets dig in.

Lets define your most important group of eyes: your readership. For the sake of contrast, consider that 50 percent of adults read five or fewer books per year, with 15 percent reading zero, according to a 2011 Harris Interactive poll (which also tracked digital book reading habits, and is worth checking out for those interested in digital publishing). Most adults read:

• Only if they have the habit left over from childhood, or if they have to read for a specific reason (work or school assignment, etc.).
• Ten pages at a time, between kids and errands and work.
• To put themselves to sleep after a long day.

Now heres how kids read:

• Voraciously. Kids will inhale a book in one night, flashlight-under-the-covers-style.
• Communally. Kids will pass a book around to all their friends (a powerful marketing force, as the Andrea Brown team discovered when Jay Ashers Thirteen Reasons Why hit the New York Times best-seller list a whole year after its release by building up a dedicated word-of-mouth readership).
• Socially. Its important for kids to have the same imaginative landscape as their peers, so they will read together and discuss characters and stories.
• For keeps. Kids read for companionship and relationships. They want to make lasting bonds with the characters and stories (series keep these relationships going strong).

If this wasnt exciting enough, I also like to extol the sheer potential of childrens books:

• They turn people into lifelong readers, planting the seed early.
• They stay with kids (we tend to fondly remember books from our childhoods).