Why I Chose Traditional Publishing for My YA Novel

I've been asked why I'm pursuing traditional publishing for Tupi and the Red Dragon Egg when I'm doing hybrid for my adult series. The answer is pretty simple, even if it took me a while to get there.

I don't think like a teenager anymore.

Here's the irony: I spent years as a middle school math teacher. I was surrounded by teenagers every single day. And the only thing I ever concerned myself with about their reading was whether they were doing it — not what they were reading, not what would make them pick one book over another, not what would make them tell a friend. Just: are they reading or aren't they.

That was enough for math class. It is not enough for marketing a young adult novel.

When I was a teenager it was the 1970s. What I read, what I cared about, what would have made me pick up a book and keep reading — that world is gone. I have teenage grandchildren and I watch them and I still don't fully understand how they can completely ignore certain things and then hyperfocus on others. The instant gratification world they live in is one I operate in now out of necessity, but I don't think I'll ever truly understand it from the inside.

With my adult series I know exactly who I'm writing for. I know the women. I know what they've lived through, what they find funny, what they find moving, what they'll stay up too late reading. That's my age group. I can market to them because I am one of them.

But teenagers? I needed people who think like that. People who understand what a young adult reader in this moment actually wants, how they discover books, what makes them tell their friends. That's what a traditional publisher brings to a young adult novel that I genuinely cannot replicate on my own.

So it wasn't really traditional versus hybrid as a philosophy. It was about knowing what I'm good at and knowing where I need help. The adult series I can drive. The young adult series needed a different kind of engine.

I wonder sometimes if I made the right call. But then I remember that I made it honestly, with clear eyes about what I can and can't do. That's usually a pretty good sign. 🐉