Blast from the past Interview with Agent Maya Rock

This interview originally happened in August 2006 on YACWW

MAYA said...

I'm a new agent at WRITER'S HOUSE LLC looking for good transportive fiction, especially literary and historical. I enjoy Young Adult fiction, romance, memoir, self-help, inspirational, non-fiction, and stories of people at the edges of society.

Bring on the questions!


Lyric said... Hi Maya. Can you please list the word count difference between middle level and young adult. If an agent says they accept YA, does it mean they accept ML too?

Maya said...Middle grade is from about 10,000-50,000 words. Young adult is about 40-60,000. If an agent says they accept YA, I imagine they prefer it to middle-grade—the term YA definitely doesn’t encompass YA and middle-grade. But if they say they do children’s, that does run the gamut from picture books to middle-grade to YA.


Amanda Brice said...I also have a question for Maya. At RWA this weekend, several agents mentioned that they're seeing booksellers starting to cut back on thenumber of "edgy" YA titles they order and that the market might be wanting sweeter YA's (not quite innocent, but not super edgy either)...at least from the parents. Are you seeing this as well? Also, how hot is the YA market right now?
What types of themes and are you personally looking for?
Finally, (I know, I'm curious) at a workshop at RWA with Nadia Cornier and Simone Elkeles, they broke YA down into 4 age groups:Middle grade (10-13)Tweens (12-15)YA (14-16)Older YA (15-17)Do you agree with these breakdowns and what would you say is the word count for each of them? Should we just call it "YA" in a cover letter and a suggested age target?

Maya said...Personally, I think edgy YA is too broad a category to ever die. The problem becomes when too many writers are writing things that are just too similar to other books out there. The market can’t handle too many generic copies of previous books. There will always be room for edgy books that do something new. I think, anyway. King, and Carl Hiaasen have all been hugely successful in this genre.

This breakdown seems accurate to me, though perhaps a bit too scrupulous. The big distinction I make is between Middle Grade and Young Adult, which I discussed above. I don’t really think these separate breakdowns merit different word counts. The answer to your last question seems to me to be “Yes.”

Dancewriter said...I write both YA and Women's Romance and I put out a lot of material. But I need to switch agents -- mine just isn't doing anything for me. It's lame. But it's so hard to GET an agent...I'm hesitant to let go, even if the lifeline is sinking! What do you suggest?

Maya said...It depends on what you mean by your agent isn’t doing anything for you.
A lot of people feel if their agent sends their manuscript out to editors and it doesn’t get sold, it’s time to get a new agent. But your new agent might not want to take on a book that has already been rejected by other publishers. Does your agent take your calls? Respond to your questions? Share with you her plans for selling your books? Does she love your work? Is she working hard on your behalf? That’s a good agent, even if she (or he) hasn’t been able to sell the book.

However if she doesn’t do these things or you are just not comfortable with her, then maybe you should let go. If you’re looking for a new agent for a book that’s already been rejected by ten or more publishers (this is not an official number, just one off the top of my head), you might encounter some resistance from agents. It might be easier to submit a new work if you can and mention that you have another one that’s been seen by X number of editors. And it’s good to mention you had an agent, and a nice touch to say “you parted amicably.” Do not say, “My old agent didn’t work hard enough for me” as that sends up a big warning flag.


Sasha said...What are you waiting for in young adult literature that you haven't seen yet and wished you could?

Maya said...This is a great question. I think it’s easier to say what I’d like to see more of—I’d like to see more people that were really in touch with today’s teen. It’s a really hard way to be, but I love when people can handle the slang and the computer stuff, the music and the magazines—the authors who really know what today’s teenagers are doing. I find that fascinating. Also I would love to see more things that were genuinely funny. Too much of the humor in YA seems to be too forced.

Harried Mom said...Hi, Exactly what is transportive fiction? I've been listening to a variety of Lois Lowry's works on CD while driving. Does that count?

Maya said...Transportive fiction is a term I came up with to describe the kind of fiction I liked. Of course it’s also possible I just read it somewhere and forgot where. I did hesitate before using it since Word put a red squiggly line underneath indicating it was it was misspelled.

I just like fiction that takes place in strange places, times, or otherwise fully realized settings that I may not be familiar with. I’m just curious about other cultures—whether it’s somewhere across or the world, or just down the street.

I cannot be the final judge of what counts. Your transportive fiction may be different than mine.

Sasha said...What is your pet peeve?

Maya said...I don’t like clearly unresearched work—this particularly stands out with historical and scifi.

Colleen Kosinski said... Do you have any good suggestions of a YA novel that switched voice from third to first. My novel starts with an intro in third and then back to the protag in first.

Maya said...Nothing comes to mind and that could be because switching perspectives can be problematic. It is critical that you avoid disorienting the reader. Perhaps the third person intro could turn out to be something your protagonist wrote?

Sasha said...What advice would you give a teenager looking to break into the world of publishing?

Maya said...As a writer? Write a lot and read a lot and spend tons of time on your work. If you write something great, it will get published. It’s a problem if you spend significantly more time trying to get published than working on your writing.

As someone trying to work in publishing? Summer internships. They don’t pay much but they look good on your resume.

Danica/dream said...I have a question for Maya Rock. I'm writing fiction and nonfiction (self help/ inspirational). Would I need a seperate agent for each, or does that depend on the agent?

Maya said...It depends on the agent, although most agents I know take on fiction and nonfiction.

Sasha said...Maya, what makes you decide about taking on a new client?

Maya said...I don’t usually take on clients based on what I think the market really wants—it comes into play, but it’s hard to change my own personal taste just because I know something is popular. Right now I wish I could get more good historicals in both adult and young adult. My own historical taste is very particular, and sometimes it seems difficult to find the ones that have fantastic, relatable characters but also seem genuinely to take place in another era.



Amanda Brice said... Also, how hot is the YA market right now? What types of themes and genres are you personaly looking for? (I've got a YA mystery series)

Maya said...YA is very hot. Personally I like historical, scifi and deeply psychological books. But I’m ok to anything, really. So much has to do with the quality of the writing, not the genre. Anyone can query me at mrock@writershouse.com (no attachments please, but first page can be copy-pasted)

Rhonda Stapleton said...Maya - what YA paranormals are hot right now, and what's been overdone to death?:D

Maya said...Good question. I had to get help for it!

I asked my colleague, Diana Fox, to field this one since she is much more into paranormal than I am. She says, "The entire YA paranormal genre is very hot right now! I think the most successful books are the ones which use tried-and-true YA formulas but with the addition of a supernatural element, as in BLUE BLOODS by Melissa de la Cruz which is essentially Gossip Girl with vampires, or AVALON HIGH by Meg Cabot which is a teen romance with the main characters cast as reincarnated figures from Arthurian myth, or high school cliques at a new school through the eyes of a girl who can see auras in GOLDEN by Jennifer Lynn Barnes (just to give a few examples). You could call this theBuffy model because TV shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, and Roswell really helped sell the supernatural as metaphor idea as a staple of teen popculture, and it's an incredibly versatile one for writers because they can do everything from comedy to serious issues... and that's why I don't think anything has been overdone to death, because it's all in the execution. It's easy to say oh yeah, vampires are so overdone, but you know what? Vampires remain enduringly popular for a reason, and for every tired unoriginal treatment of a cliché you can also hope to get a new vampire novel like Stephenie Meyer's TWILIGHT, which readers respond to because it's a timeless story. I personally keep hoping someone will send me the Great American Werewolf Novel--maybe set in high school with cheerleaders--but seriously, all it takes is one great new twist on an old idea!"

Sasha said...Maya, is there any particular type of YA lit or adult lit that editors are clamouring for right now that you wished you could get your hands on?

Maya said...I still hear the clamour for edgy and paranormal. For me personally, I would really like to see strong characterization. Too often I feel like I am just reading about generic teen, and not a real personality. I like to fall in love with characters and get beneath their skins. To me a novel could be any genre and I would fall for it if it made me feel the characters were real.

Last but not least....here is what Maya had to say for her last question.

Lis said...Hi, my question is where do you see the YA market headed and what do you think has been overdone to death?

Maya said...In my humble opinion, fantasy has been overdone to death. That doesn’t mean that there isn’t demand, just that I, a former fantasy lover, feel like the quality has gone down in this genre since so many have started tackling it.I see YA increasing in popularity and hopefully drawing more closet (or uncloseted) adult readers to it. I’m not a big trend forecaster as I just go with my gut in terms of what I take on, but I feel there’s room for more SF and more serious books—but that’s just what I find hard to locate when I go to the bookstore, not necessarily where it’s headed.

Sasha said ...You rock, Maya!
Thanks for coming out and chillin' with us.

Hey, don't forget to mention you met her on YACWW!

For more details visit http://www.writershouse.com/