US editors only want US settings for urban fantasy

[Hex]

Also, I wonder if YA fantasy is a different beast from UF, in the same way romance is. Maybe still influenced by the shadow of Cassandra Clare and perhaps even Harry Potter in a way that UF won't be.

 

[Heir]

Also, I wonder if YA fantasy is a different beast from UF, in the same way romance is. Maybe still influenced by the shadow of Cassandra Clare and perhaps even Harry Potter in a way that UF won't be.

Isn't most YA Fantasy UF anyway? Or are you distinguishing between YA UF and adult UF?

 

[Hex]

Yes, it was a poorly worded attempt to distinguish between YA fantasy (of all kinds) and (adult) UF.

There seems to be a reasonable amount of non-UF YA fantasy. Like Leigh Bardugo's Grisha books, or Sara Raasch's Snow Like Ashes. There are all the Chima books and Melina Marchettas too. Which isn't to say that YA fantasy isn't mostly UF, just that I haven't read that much of it recently.

 

[Ursa major]

Just to inject some ill-thought out (well, not thought out at all) nonsense, but would certain types of fantasy be, in theory, an easier sell (to readers and thus to editors and agents) if they're set in a world that, apart from the specifically fantasy elements, seems identical to the world, the part of the world, in which the reader lives, so there's a sense that it might be happening just around the corner from the reader, giving reading it an extra frisson?

 

[Tirellan]

.
Having said that, as @Hex pointed out earlier, Ireland and Scotland tend to be popular. In our case, it's not the hairy-kneed haggis-eating hunks, but the lephrechauns. That's a fact, shure t'is. )

My UF had neither kilt-swinging hunks nor lephrechauns being set in Southampton and the New Forest (tagline: faery serial killers in the New Forest)- somewhere most US readers probably have not heard of.
It comes out next summer with Telos

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Isn't most YA Fantasy UF anyway?

I don't think so. There is a ton of YA Fantasy that is post apocalyptic/dystopian and would not be considered UF ... plus a fair amount of everything else.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

My current YA semi- Urban Fantasy is set in Worchestershire, mostly. Americans might find that the least of the difficulties

There is a ton of YA Fantasy that is post apocalyptic/dystopian and would not be considered UF

Yes, Also stuff that's contemporary setting YA and not apocalyptic/dystopian or UF

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Yes, and all that, too.

In fact, I think there has been more variety over the past several years in the settings and sub-genres of YA science fiction and fantasy than in SFF written for adults. (Young readers are not as set in their ways; they are trying a bit of everything to find out what they like. Then they become adults and find their choices more limited.) Each time I visit the teen area of my local library and look at the new books (and it's a library that is very actively purchasing books all of the time) I see a wide variety of fantasy. I'd say that on any given trip to the library 20-30% of those books are usually fantasy, and about half of those the kind of contemporary fantasy I think you are referring to, Ray.

I don't see as many vampires and werewolves as I did a while back, and most of those are in long-running series.

 

[Susan Boulton]

Joshua Bilmes, speaking at Loncon last year, said that US editors won't buy non-US settings as they don't believe their readers want then, so he will not consider repping them.

If I believed this I wouldn't have submitted Hand of Glory to any US publisher. It has had fulls requested from US publishers and been held awaiting a decision for a couple of months.

 

[The Bluestocking]

Also, I wonder if YA fantasy is a different beast from UF, in the same way romance is. Maybe still influenced by the shadow of Cassandra Clare and perhaps even Harry Potter in a way that UF won't be.

Isn't Cassandra Clare's SHADOWHUNTERS world pretty much UF anyway? THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS series is anchored in New York City (or the first 3 books are anyway) and the CLOCKWORK ANGEL trilogy is based in London.

 

[The Bluestocking]

Isn't most YA Fantasy UF anyway? Or are you distinguishing between YA UF and adult UF?

Nope. YA is the most indefinable marketing category - created ostensibly to target 13 - 18 year olds but everyone from advanced middle grade readers to adults read the books in that category give that it runs through the full range of genres, setting, themes etc from TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD to HARRY POTTER to THE FAULT IN OUR STARS.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

Cassandra Clare's THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS series

Certainly UF. That's why I bought the 1st one City of Bones *. OTH Christina Henry "wings" series seems more adult UF (no teens, protagonist 30ish)

YA is just an attempt to market as widely as possible because Adults or older Teens might not buy books labelled Children or Teen. It might mean the protagonists are teens and there might be less overt sex.
I agree,

YA is the most indefinable marketing category

Deliberately.
Also reading age vs actual age for kids is very diverse. Some 8 year olds can read as well as 18 year olds, though they might not understand some of it.

[* I'm not impressed by or into UF generally, but wanted to broaden my horizons]

 

[The Bluestocking]

Also reading age vs actual age for kids is very diverse. Some 8 year olds can read as well as 18 year olds, though they might not understand some of it.

I'm very well aware of that. I was one of those 8 year olds. When I re-read certain books years later, lightbulbs are going off everywhere in my head re connections I didn't quite get as an 8-year-old/10-year-old/12-year-old reader.

 

[Heir]

I don't think so. There is a ton of YA Fantasy that is post apocalyptic/dystopian and would not be considered UF ... plus a fair amount of everything else.

I only meant to classify YA Fantasy, not YA as a whole. I didn't mean to say that most of it is UF in terms of the technical meaning of UF. I meant it more as in isn't most YA Fantasy set in our world rather than in a secondary-world? Sure, Paranormal Romance is YA Fantasy and it's not UF, and it made up a sizeable amount of the market, but it's dying down now and being replaced by UF and Dystopia. Then again, I wouldn't consider most Dystopia/post-apocalypse stories as 'fantasy', I'd see them more as sci-fi. I mean for starters where is their magic (systematic/mystical)?

YA Fantasy doesn't really consist of secondary-world. There are certainly books out there like that, a number of which have been successful (Graceling, Snow Like Ashes, Throne of Glass, An Ember in the Ashes etc.), and I think this might be a part of the market to look at if you're writing YA, but comparatively there's not much. Seeing how much of YA Fantasy is set in our world, leaves me wondering why there's not a lot of secondary-world fantasy stories in the category.

 

[Brian G Turner]

Actually, thinking about the entire issue, it makes sense - national markets serve national interests. National audiences will tend to want to read something that is familiar enough to relate to. While knowledge of US culture has spread through other western countries, I suspect it doesn't travel back very well. Even something like Harry Potter put greater focus on the magical world of Hogwarts, rather than any attempt to realistically portray the UK.

So, yes - be aware of your market and audience, and cater for them. And if you want to focus on a specific culture or geography that is not normative for your target readers, then be aware that this might limit their interest.

 

[Teresa Edgerton]

Then again, I wouldn't consider most Dystopia/post-apocalypse stories as 'fantasy', I'd see them more as sci-fi. I mean for starters where is their magic (systematic/mystical)?

Most of them are science fiction, but a fair number of them fantasy. For instance, Gates of Thread and Stone, or the Cherry St. Croix books.

 

[Michael M]

The key issue raised by Tirellan at the beginning of this thread was whether our chances of selling in the massive American market, in some genres, would be damaged if our setting was outside the US. The number of foreign language films ‘translated’ into English by Hollywood indicates that the US cinema audience prefers ‘domestic’ material – even if the setting remains overseas. I doubt that American literary agents would draw a significant distinction between trends in the American cinema market and the American young adult fiction market. It is, as everyone here knows, all about sales.

However, I agree with Teresa Edgerton that you should write YOUR story, and only allow minor adaptations to suit the very harsh realities of the market. The major exception would be fiction set in the major cities of the world, most notably London. This is particularly true since the Olympics and I am sure a London setting would not be a major impediment. Ireland and Scotland remain popular, though I suspect with a slightly older market, but everywhere else, unless you are standing beneath the Eiffel Tower or inside the Colosseum, will be a challenge.