5 Reasons Female Writers Took Over the Young Adult Fiction Market

LAS CRUCES, NM, December 20, 2012 (Press-News.org) Are female writers beginning to dominate the nearly $3 billion children's literature market?

What has the media abuzz is specifically the segment of the publishing world referred to as young adult (generally known as YA). NPR (National Public Radio) released the results of a reader survey of the 100 best-ever teen books. Out of the 235 books considered, 147 (63%) were written by women, and, not surprisingly, J.K. Rowling and Suzanne Collins were on the top of the list.

Interestingly, some surveys of adult fiction show either a gender parity or else a male domination of titles by as much as 25%.

"Women are terrific storytellers, and there's no doubt they're shaping in a big way both the publishing industry and readers' tastes," says L.A. Miller, author of the science-fiction and fantasy YA book series Quests of Shadowind, which includes "Sky Shifter," "The Grounding Stone," and "Veil." "Female authors are impacting the movie industry as well. Just take at look at three of the biggest book-to-movie franchises of the last decade: Harry Potter, Twilight, and The Hunger Games."

Quests of Shadowind is the story of a group of teens who are abducted to an alien world called Shadowind, which is inhabited by ghostly creatures, cyborg animals, and virtual humans--a land where anything is possible, including being downloaded into a cryptic, evil role-playing game. In order to survive, the youths band together as they search for a way back home.

Female writers impacting the young adult market is hardly news. Many adults grew up with favorite books by female writers, such as Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird," Lucy Maud Montgomery's "Anne Of Green Gables," and Betty Smith's "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn". Today most of these books would be considered crossovers between middle grade, young adult, and adult. The difference is in the sheer volume of titles and sales in any one particular year.

"Today's YA fiction is dominated by female authors because there is a high buyer demand for female-oriented story lines," says Mr. Miller. "I'm not saying men and boys don't enjoy reading or writing YA novels, but they're not the main demographic candidates. YA books feature more female protagonists than any other genre."

Mr. Miller recounts some of the more popular reasons bloggers and columnists believe female writers and a female audience are taking over the YA market:

* Women and girls love buying books that headline strong female characters who are faced with hard choices and challenges, and at the end overcome them and become even stronger.

* Nostalgia for their teen years has many female readers and writers gravitating toward plots and characters in that age range.

* Editors and agents in the publishing world are now overwhelmingly female.

* Boys tend to move from middle-grade book buyers to young adult (adolescent) video game players, comic book readers, and adult fiction (sci-fi, fantasy, etc.) readers.

* The YA book-buying market has been skewing toward females, and
executives have more and more tended to cater to that gender.

"At the end of the day, an author's gender doesn't matter," says Mr. Miller. "There are many top male authors who play huge roles in the YA market as well, not to mention the famous J.R.R. Tolkien with his hit "The Lord of the Rings." It simply could be a case of there being a bigger demand for women's novels, and female writers could be a better fit."

L.A. Miller has been writing for more than forty years. His backgrounds in science fiction, astronomy, technology, and classic literature inform his work, which has included novels, short stories, and music. He is the owner of Wood n Nails Music and lives in Las Cruces, New Mexico, with his wife and two dogs. He is the author of the Quests of Shadowind series, which
includes "Sky Shifter," "The Grounding Stone," and "Veil."

For more information contact L.A. Miller at qosauthor@gmail.com or visit www.QuestsofShadowind.com.

"Sky Shifter," "The Grounding Stone," and "Veil" are available on Amazon.com and BarnesandNoble.com.