WANTED: Middle Grade Online Communities

Happy Monday, everyone! Here's a little trivia for you: I'm one of those people you hate who love Mondays and wake up happy (way too happy, according my family). I spent this past weekend in Houston at the Houston Book Rave. I had a fabulous time, as always. Meeting readers and seeing my writing friends is priceless!

On to what I’m blogging about today… MGM received a great question from a follower:

“Why are there so few middle grade online writer communities (and so much less information in general)?”

That’s the middle-grade million-dollar-question! I have one legit answer and lots of hunches, so here we go.

The Legit Answer…

Several months prior to the release of my first middle-grade novel, I asked my agent (the effervescent Holly Root) about marketing for the first book in a series with Aladdin M!X (blog tours, book signings, release day events, etc.).  What she said makes sense, even if you don't like it. And, yes, I'm totally paraphrasing. Whatever she said was much more sparkly.

We (authors) try to market our books to our target audience (middle graders), but that's where we go wrong with middle grade fiction. It's unlikely that our target audience is trolling blogs, tweeting about their new favorite book, or checking Goodreads to see the next great book. And even if they are, they aren't holding the purse strings to buy books without a parent's involvement. 

Middle-grade readers get information about books from four different places: friends, parents, teachers, and librarians.  

That's who you have to reach online.

Makes perfect sense, right? But I've yet to find Middle Grade Marketing for Dummies, so I'm winging it. For me, the process is evolving, and I never quite feel like I'm where I need to be. You know what they call that? Frustrating!

I do believe, however, that Holly's answer explains why there's such little middle-grade online presence. 

My Hunches…

• THE PAY OFF: Middle grade publishers don’t invest as much money as we'd like into marketing middle-grade fiction because it doesn't pay off. The general belief is that the best marketing comes from having the book on a Barnes & Noble (or other such brick & mortar booksellers) shelf. 
• IT'S ALWAYS ABOUT MONEY: When's the last time you saw a middle-grade novel hit BIG? As in, Diary of a Wimpy Kid big. It's been a while. Too long, if you ask me. Publishers invest marketing dollars on books they think will give them the biggest return on their money. That book is rarely in the middle-grade section of the store. The bottom line: It's a business. And a cutthroat one at that. 
• BLOGGERS: Some bloggers only review young adult novels. Some bloggers only review middle grade novels. And some bloggers offer both young adult and middle grade fiction reviews. There are more middle-grade bloggers out there than you think. The key is finding the bloggers who take their blog seriously and post regularly. The ones who do offer reviews on middle-grade novels are precious to authors. They're the link that often connects authors and their books to readers.
• FOR WRITERS: There is virtually no online presence for writers of middle-grade fiction. And that's a tragedy because authors need each other. We learn from one another and sometimes need to connect with someone that just "gets it." It would be fabulous if someone would create the middle-grade version of Women's Fiction Writers' Association. Yes, I know all about SCBWI, but I'm thinking of something even more narrow than that... namely, middle-grade fiction. Maybe something like Middle-Grade Writers' Association. MGWA. Looks okay to me!

So... now that the million-dollar middle-grade question has (kind of) been answered, let's move on to the new one.

Who's going to start MGWA? 

Everyone’s path is different. Stop comparing.

I’ve been on this “trying to be published” trail for a while now. I started writing seriously in 2009, went to my first conference in 2011 and since The Writer’s Voice in 2012, I’ve been closely following many writer’s journeys, all the while hoping I wasn’t too far behind the ones that “made it.”

I’ve seen writers go from stuck in the query trenches, to agented, to amazing book deal in a matter of weeks. 

I’ve also seen authors sign with an agent, followed by months of silence. Sometimes those authors keep fighting alongside their agents for years, some end up with book deals out of it. Some don’t.

I’ve seen an author go from big name agent to self-publishing on her own (to amazon best seller lists and eventually a big deal for one of her titles)

And of course, there are writers like me that come out with a book deal without an agent.

If there is one thing I’ve learned during this whole process, it’s that some paths are harder, some take longer, some make you feel more affirmed, but how you find your way doesn’t matter. It never has.

Are some writer’s careers better than others? Sure. But that doesn’t mean the “others” don’t have amazing careers, or didn’t get what they were hoping for all along. And it definitely doesn’t mean they chose the wrong path.

Not all successful writers start out with the traditional agent and big book deal. Some start out by self-publishing. Some by small press. Some sell three books before they find one that hits the market with a splash.

I’ve been agent hunting for years now, with three different novels. I still don’t have an agent. I know that my path isn’t overly traditional, but that’s okay. I’m still fighting for that agent, but I’m sincerely happy with the publisher I found on my own. I know that if I never sign with an agent, I can still have an incredible career.

If you’ve been struggling in those trenches for what feels like forever, keep your head up. The ones who have the strength to keep fighting will make it out one way or another.

 It’s okay if you never find an agent. 

It’s okay if you do but your book doesn’t sell. 

It’s okay if you spend years and years trudging through while others find their way before you. You WILL get there.

It’s okay no matter what happens because there are no dead ends. There is always a new path to choose. Be brave enough to take it.