25 Trends in Publishing: Longer MG and YA

About the column: A handful of agents and interns who work with Cyle have learned the latest and (sometimes so, sometimes not so) greatest trends in publishing right now. Tune in each week to find out what’s trending, ranging from ABA to CBA, children’s to adult. The authors of these columns have included social media tags at the end to keep up with trends they are finding. They can also be found here. 

Trend #24 of 25: Longer MG and YA

Contributor: Hope Bolinger

With shortening attention spans amongst teens, this may come as a surprise. But teens, younger and older, read longer and longer.

Some publishers of middle grade (MG) and young adult (YA) have caught onto this trend. Notable exceptions which stray much longer than the stringent word counts have made appearances in the last decade. We’ll touch on these in a moment

But first, let’s talk about word counts.

Middle Grade (MG): 20K – 55K (maybe 60 if you write a fantasy)

Young Adult (YA): 60K – 99K (maybe 100 if you write fantasy)

And usually publishers encourage debut authors to stick to the lower end of those numbers. After all, if they take a risk on you, they want it to cost less.

For reference:

• Charlie and the Chocolate Factory clocks in at 30K (the sweet spot for MG)
• The Great Gatsby at 47K (usually pushing it for MG)
• The Adventures of Tom Sawyer at 70K (even though a book for children, this one hits the sweet spot for YA)
• To Kill a Mockingbird at 100K (again, featuring children protagonists, but this one would push it for a YA debut author)

Now, for the exceptions.

Longer MG and YA books have permeated the market more and more, ignoring the above word counts. Nevermoor by Jessica Townsend, a MG book, logs a 146K word count! Percy Jackson, by Rick Riordan, (a MG that crosses over into YA several books later), clocks in at 87K. Divergent by Veronica Roth, a YA dystopian (not even fantasy) debut, boasts 105K. Debut author Tomi Adeyemi’s Children of Blood and Bone (YA) climbs past 165K!

Where do we stand?

Although exceptions do exist, several exhibit a mastery of the craft never seen before in publishing. Often at the agency we encourage authors to accept the rule but congratulate the exception. However, if you do author a YA or MG that goes longer than the suggested word count, take heart. You may join that list of exceptions soon.

Hope Bolinger works as a literary agent at C.Y.L.E. IlluminateYA contracted her YA novel Den while she still attended college (to be released June 3, 2019). More than 250 of her works have been featured in various publications. She has received various writing awards from being a finalist in the Jerry B. Jenkins short story contest to her one-act earning second place in the Searchlight Playwriting Contest. She has served in various publishing capacities from working at newspapers, magazines, and publishing houses.

You can find her at hopebolinger.com.