Is YA dystopia dead now?

perfectisafault · Feb 28, 2012

Like, as dead as vampires or anything resembling Twilight?

Because I have such a great idea for a dystopia (I'm currently world building and plotting on it now, so the MS hasn't even been written), but if dystopia is going to be "out" for a while then....

I know that people shouldn't write for trends, because trends change all the time, but I don't know...I'm just afraid of when I finish and polish this MS (and I still don't have an agent), any agent I query will see dystopia and automatically reject it.

Meh, I'm probably being irrational, since it'll probably take me at least a year or two to finish and polish this MS (and like I said, I'm in the world building and plotting stage right now), but I just thought I'd ask.

Smish · Feb 28, 2012

You're catching the trend very, very late, but dystopians are still selling, and if you write an awesome book, yours will too.

You may want to just call it sci-fi, though.

(Just kidding. Mostly.

)

perfectisafault · Feb 28, 2012

Smish said:
You're catching the trend very, very late, but dystopians are still selling, and if you write an awesome book, yours will too.

You may want to just call it sci-fi, though. (Just kidding. Mostly. )

Lol I would do that, if there were sci-fi elements involved (it's set in the future, but there aren't any spaceships or anything like that). Yeah...I'll just do what I try to do with every novel I write and make it the best it can be

missesdash · Feb 28, 2012

I'd say they're out. Not completely if you really really want to write it. But out enough that it would probably be harder to query. My first novel was a paranormal romance type thing, but the market was so glutted I decided to write something else and query that. I definitely think it was the better choice.

perfectisafault · Feb 28, 2012

missesdash said:
I'd say they're out. Not completely if you really really want to write it. But out enough that it would probably be harder to query. My first novel was a paranormal romance type thing, but the market was so glutted I decided to write something else and query that. I definitely think it was the better choice.

Yeah, that's what I was thinking. I'm querying a novel right now that I like to think is unique but at the same time marketable (as in, there's a ghost, but romance isn't the central plot nor is there any romance between humans and non-humans) and I have a few other ideas for novels that aren't dystopian/paranormal romance/etc, so...

I just don't know. I wouldn't want to waste a ton of time on something for nothing, in a sense.

CharacterInWhite · Feb 28, 2012

Vampires are dead? Really? I still see vampire fiction everywhere in the teen section.

(In other words: Don't worry about the trend. Seriously.)

As for that fear of rejection, you're going to have to handle that at some point. If you let that be the hitch, you'll never make it as a writer. Writers get rejected constantly, regardless of trends.

missesdash · Feb 28, 2012

CharacterInWhite said:
Vampires are dead? Really? I still see vampire fiction everywhere in the teen section.

(In other words: Don't worry about the trend. Seriously.)

As for that fear of rejection, you're going to have to handle that at some point. If you let that be the hitch, you'll never make it as a writer. Writers get rejected constantly, regardless of trends.

You're confusing two trends. Remember books on the shelf were bought one to two years before they appeared and most likely written a year (or more) prior.

What's on the shelf now has usually already run the course in terms of trends. PM helps a little because it tells you what's currently being purchased, but even then, how fast can you write?

Momento Mori · Feb 29, 2012

I've been to a number of agent events through the SCBWI where agents are talking about YA dystopia as being harder to sell. Not impossible but you do need more of an original plot/good writing to be able to sell it. FWIW I've heard a couple of agents say they've seen societies in domes done to death.

That said, if you think you'll have the manuscript done and finished by the end of this year, you should still be in with a good chance of snagging an agent and obviously, if you've got a unique take on YA dystopia then that will help too.

MM

Sage · Feb 29, 2012

Write the book you want to write. If you can't sell it when it's done because the ex-trend makes it impossible, wait a few years and it might be saleable then.

LindsayM · Feb 29, 2012

I agree with the others that you're a little late on the trend (I've been getting loads of YA dystopian novels over the past few months), but if it's unique and a damn good novel, just do it. They are still selling, and believe it or not, so are the vampire stories!

VioletRose · Feb 29, 2012

I think the trend is dying, but not dead, yet. Seven months ago, a dystopian sold in a major deal. If a publisher is paying that much for it, they must expect it will sell well. I think if the trend were utterly dead, publishers wouldn't still be buying something that won't publish until next year or the year after. Doing so implies they think people will still be buying dystopians in that time.

Anything could have changed between then and now, but I think you still have time. Probably not a lot of it, but I think it's there.

The_Ink_Goddess · Feb 29, 2012

VioletRose said:
I think the trend is dying, but not dead, yet. Seven months ago, a dystopian sold in a major deal. If a publisher is paying that much for it, they must expect it will sell well. I think if the trend were utterly dead, publishers wouldn't still be buying something that won't publish until next year or the year after. Doing so implies they think people will still be buying dystopians in that time.

Anything could have changed between then and now, but I think you still have time. Probably not a lot of it, but I think it's there.

I sort of think that dystopian is already dead as far as writing-now goes (unless your book has a really unique hook that you realistically think will make an agent sit up).

The dystopian mentioned by VioletRose is probably going to come out in the next four/five months, right? (Am I being naive in thinking that it's usually about a year from selling-->publication?) I would expect the dystopian market to spike slightly in the Hunger Games movie frenzy (not that I'm any kind of economist on this kind of thing), but that's way too early for you, perfectisafault, and that's why I would expect the major deal.

Basically, ehhh, I feel wrong/bad telling you to definitely ditch it, just in case it's the novel that could have saved the publishing world from itself

D). Also, bear in mind that dystopian isn't quite the same as the vampire trend - it's a much broader genre in a lot of ways. Dystopian can stretch from the psychological horror of 1984 to the ass-kicking of Divergent and back again. Write it if you love it, but don't have overly high hopes, just in case.

Cyia · Feb 29, 2012

The_Ink_Goddess said:
The dystopian mentioned by VioletRose is probably going to come out in the next four/five months, right? (Am I being naive in thinking that it's usually about a year from selling-->publication?) I would expect the dystopian market to spike slightly in the Hunger Games movie frenzy (not that I'm any kind of economist on this kind of thing), but that's way too early for you, perfectisafault, and that's why I would expect the major deal.

Mine was more like 9 months ago, but it's coming out in 2013, and was a major deal. It doesn't even have a cover yet.

Cyia · Feb 29, 2012

I stand corrected... mine was the one 7 months ago. I can't count today. :/

Sage · Feb 29, 2012

I always assume 2 years to publication from the deal.

breaking_burgundy · Feb 29, 2012

Personally, I groan every time I hear about a new dystopia coming out, but that's because many of them sound either cliche or just gimmicky.

Mandiloo322 · Feb 29, 2012

You can write whatever you want. I would just keep in mind that you may sit on it for awhile - possibly years, I suppose. If that's ok with you then just do it.

Windcutter · Feb 29, 2012

missesdash said:
but even then, how fast can you write?

You'd be amazed, I've read a blog of a published author recently in which she said she wrote and polished two novels in a little over three months.
*
On the general topic, doesn't it seem like we are running out of YA genres to trend with? xd

Another curious/amusing thing is that some Sci-Fi YA books seem to be promoted as dystopian or were some time ago--like Across the Universe or Under the Never Sky, the first being a locked room mystery on a spaceship and the second a post-Ap quest based science fantasy. While I'm worried that my own Sci-Fi YA might be rejected for having a dystopian flavor, since it involves a futuristic island-city on which a shady government does shady things. I have already fallen behind on my paranormal project because it disheartened me so much to think how it might be dead in the water. (Yes, I have a tendency to have many parallel projects, though I don't write them all at the same time.)

Becca C. · Feb 29, 2012

Momento Mori said:
FWIW I've heard a couple of agents say they've seen societies in domes done to death.

I can think of three new books on Goodreads that have dome societies.

bickazer · Feb 29, 2012

Heh, I'm kind of relieved that I don't really write dystopians or care for the genre in general. I was worried a while ago that I would get rejected for not being dystopian enough, of all things. XD So it's nice to hear that the trend is starting to pass.

Then again, I pretty much exclusively write secondary world fantasy, so...I'm going to have a hard time selling no matter what.

Windcutter · Feb 29, 2012

Becca C. said:
I can think of three new books on Goodreads that have dome societies.

But again, they were bought some time ago.

Dammit I'm getting frustrated with the market.
Paranormal? Dead.
Vampires? Dead.
Urban fantasy? See vampires.
Creature feature [angels mermaids whatever]? Dead.
Portal fantasy? Mummified.
Dystopia? Dead.
It's like most subgenres I like to work in are either dead or dying.

missesdash · Feb 29, 2012

Becca C. said:
I can think of three new books on Goodreads that have dome societies.

lol, I had no idea "dome societies" were even a thing.

Becca C. · Feb 29, 2012

Windcutter said:
But again, they were bought some time ago.

Not that long ago. Only one is released so far, the others are for late this year or early next, so they were probably only bought last year. It's enough for it to be pretty much saturated, though, since agents are already saying "no domes." Crazy, huh? But I guess specific aspects of books (societies under a dome with unbreathable air outside) can become stale way faster than more general trends (governments behaving badly in unspecified future).

Cyia · Feb 29, 2012

Blame Steven King for the death of the dome. After the 1100 page monster he penned, anything dome-like seems like bandwagon-jumping.

soopykun · Feb 29, 2012

When my book was on submission last year, I think I was just catching the tail end of the dystopian trend. Though my agent did say that even with the glutted market for dystopia, it really does depend if you can put a twist or spin on it, make it stand out as much as you can.

*edited to add that though I don't have a dome society, it might as well be (it's gated).

Is YA dystopia dead now?

Reads more than she writes.

You can't sit with us!

Kind of a big deal

You can't sit with us!

Tired and Disillusioned

Our Lady of Parentheticals

Smarter than she knew!

we're gonna make it out of the fire

Rewriting My Destiny

Rewriting My Destiny

Our Lady of Parentheticals

[Shhhh....I'm writing.]

someday we'll shine together

You can't sit with us!

Rewriting My Destiny