My middle-grade query stats

And trends/thoughts on MG overall

Apologies for the longer-than-usual gap between newsletters. I’ve been busy - restarting as an agent and working in my local indie bookstore. I can’t believe it’s now been 5 weeks since I started at DMLA - time flies!

As part of my interviews for the job, I promised to expand my middle-grade (MG) offering - something no-one else at the agency is currently focusing on - so for my first open submissions window, I opened to MG exclusively. Here’s where it all stands as of today (with apologies for the weird framing of this screenshot):

As you can see, I received 203 queries - full disclosure, a few of these are referrals and not necessarily MG, so I’m calling it a flat 300. Of these 300, I’ve requested 1 full (the other two being from referrals), rejected 164, and have 36 maybes remaining to consider.

First of all, I’m really glad that this tactic of opening in a limited way is working to improve my response times so far, as that was my biggest issue last year, when I would remain open to everything for long periods, normally keeping writers waiting for several months. But that’s besides the point: now onto the meat of this newsletter…

Trends in MG right now

There are a few big things publishing people have been talking about with regard to the middle-grade market…

1. Middle-grade has been tough for a few years now for a variety of reasons. In the US, in 2022, Barnes & Noble stopped stocking and promoting MG hardbacks due to low sales and high return rates, which has only added to the difficulty of breaking out new MG titles. In the UK, very little middle-grade is published in hardback - however, my feeling is that we (speaking as an former acquiring editor in this area!) overpublished and crowded the MG market with a lot of similar titles after a period of strong success.

2. There are rumors that B&N may be reversing their policy to some degree. Very much ‘on the grapevine’ and unsubstantiated - however, it’s promising in itself that publishing is talking about MG positively again and, apparently, editors are starting to acquire accordingly. We may be headed for a revival!

3. Across the US and UK MG markets, there is recognition that MG titles have grown a little too long. Editors are talking about acquiring books with word counts at around the 40k mark, rather than 50k or 60k. There are a few reasons for this, including feedback from teachers, librarians, and parents on children being put off by chunkier books; literacy issues following the pandemic; and shorter attention spans as books continue to compete with screens for entertainment value.

Trends in my MG inbox

I noticed a few big trends in this round of submissions.

1. Firstly, writers have listened to industry guidance about shorter word counts - I’m seeing a lot more in the 30-50k mark than previously.

2. I noticed a big content/theme trend towards monsters. Monster hunting, monsters in a contemporary setting, monsters in a fantasy setting, making friends with monsters… they were everywhere! Not sure if this is a fluke or a Thing, but it’s interesting.

3. I noticed, too, a swing towards more contemporary stories - there’s still a LOT of fantasy (there always is, for every age-group!) but at least among writers there appears to be a growing appetite for tacking real-life subjects for 9-12 year olds.

4. As YA has shifted ever upwards in terms of age-appropriate content, space has opened in sections we might call ‘teen’ and/or ‘tween’. I see books in these areas pop up both when I open to YA and to MG and this always piques my interest. Generally, publishers have been wary of this - the usual excuse has been ‘bookstores don’t have shelf space for these books so they don’t sell’. Well, Kepler’s (where I work a few days a week) has just introduced a ‘tween’ section and books are absolutely flying off the shelves. There is demand from readers - I have a feeling publishers will follow.

I think the future for MG is bright - and I’m sorting through my maybe pile with great care and interest! I hope to be in touch with a few of those authors before the New Year.

On that note, I’ll be skipping my third week of the month open period for December because it’s the holidays - and also because my current open week (for BIPOC writers of YA and adult fiction, plus select adult non-fiction) looks to be a very busy one! I’m closing on Monday so if this is you, ensure you send me your query before then. Here’s the link to submit: https://QueryManager.com/3659 Otherwise, my next open period (genre etc. tbc) will be January 20-27.

Until next time!
Kesia