I had a neat idea for a CYOA book that I want to try out. What are the chances of one of those getting picked up by a publisher?
IDK, haven't really seen any since the late 90's-early 2000's. Suppose it is a 50/50 shot. This place seems to be the best resource I can find that may be helpful in setting you in the right direction. https://www.cyoa.com/ It seems that CYOA are geared more to pre-teens/teens, but I think it will be a bit harder for YA/NA or Adult. Suppose you might want to look into publishers of CYOA. Good luck.
I just watched the latest Game Theory for Five Nights at Freddie's. Not a fan of those games, but I love what the developer has done with the story. The fact that he's still leading people by the nose by giving them tiny hints at a larger story happening in the background, years after the first game came out, is amazing to me. I really want to do something like that myself, but since I have absolutely no talents other than writing, a CYOA book seems like the best option. I just have to figure out if there's a publisher out there that would be interested in it.
There are specialist publishers still picking them up, but these are probably in the gaming industry rather than traditional publishing. I think Wizards of the Coast sold off the license to the Fighting Fantasy series (like CYOA but with stronger role playing elements, including combat). I don't recall who publishes them now, but it's a very niche market.
I haven't followed the FANF games for a few years now, but I do know the story keeps getting regular addons to it. One thing that might be helpful to you, is if you get Twine so you can convert the .doc/.docx into a proper CYOA format. https://twinery.org/
I actually have Twine. My original plan was to use that, but the market for Twine games is even smaller than CYOA books :/
I was told that CYOAs are good for iPads and things of that nature. They are also good for video games and visual novels. I dunno about straight up stories.
