I'm a new member and will be sure to post an introduction, but my internet connection is iffy (and not mine) so I would like to get this out of the way first... I recently finished a short story that was intended to be "Adult". Unfortunately, the finished product strikes me as "YA", which wouldn't be a bad thing... if I knew of any YA short story publishers. I've combed Duotrope and the like, but still... nothing that accepts fantasy short stories at a little under 7000 words. I know of several major magazines I can try, but this is my first attempt at actually sending off something I've written and I'm certainly not getting my hopes up with those. On the other hand, I'm not looking for non-paying sources either... at least not yet. Does anyone know of any good young adult (fantasy) magazines and/or anthologies? Any advice would be much appreciated.
if you don't find them on duotrope, it's not likely that they exist... that said, i just did a duotrope search and came up with 169 hits for magazines paying 'token and up' based on 'any' length... specifying 7k, it goes down to only 74... and at 5k, there are 121... so, if your word count is too high [max for most mags is 5k], then pare it down to an acceptable size, if you really want to see it in print... finally, there may not be many magazines aimed at the YA market that feature short stories, since kids these days aren't reading magazines, preferring the internet and other 'quick-fix' electronic pursuits...
What makes you think it's YA? From everything I've read, sometimes the only distinction seems to be the age of the character. Charles de Lint wrote lots of stories with teenage characters before he specifically wrote a book knowing it would be marketed that way. There are plenty of stories in the adult market with young characters. I've also seen lots of novels that are shelved both ways.
It's just a feeling I get from reading it. The story feels like it's in a young voice to me. That's not to say I won't try other publishers and such, I just wanted to see if anyone knew of any YA publications that accepted fantasy. The Duotrope search I conducted with those specifics (and sometimes without the "fantasy" specific) got me significantly less than 169 results.
A young character or narrator does not necessarily mean it's YA. I believe, in the end, that the publisher chooses whether to classify a piece as adult, YA, etc.
definitely not!... you have to know whether you're writing for the YA or the adult market, just to be able to write with the requisite vocabulary, etc.... and if you don't have a clue who it's for, you can't target the appropriate agents/publishers...
But what if there really isn't a clear distinction? I'm sure there are a few adult books that can be classified as YA and vice versa. Does the author still get to choose then?
Penny Dreadful, The ezine where I edit (mainly read slush) publishes works that are ment for teens through adult. It may be a good fit. Read some of the stories at MindFlights and check over the guidelines and see, as you know the story better than anyone else. Sometimes, if possible, read a few of the pieces a magazine/ezine publishes to get an idea (beyond the guidelines) whenever possible if you're unsure if your work might be a good fit. Good luck. Terry
There are actually lots of books that I have seen cross-shelved, especially fantasy. The imprint Firebird Fantasy is MEANT to be shelved in all sections. Teenagers read adult books as well as books that are marketed to them, so there should be no reason to dumb yourself down with the use of language. Does ones ability to read change that much once we turn nineteen? Not a chance. So why should the books?
