Age Category

When I first considered writing a Spacemouse 9 book, I thought the story would appeal most to children in the age range of 10 to 14 years. At the time, I was only aware of two categories of literature in that age range: Children's books and Young Adult (YA) books. Before I discovered a third age category of "Middle-grade" (MG), I struggled with where to place Spacemouse 9. There is some debate over what age range constitutes MG, but from what I have read the most typical definition is that it covers ages 10 to 14 (just what I had in mind for my book!)

In the wake of the Twilight series, so many books for young readers have been focused on the YA category, presumably because that is where the money is. At least one person in the industry, however, laments the decline in the number of MG books. John Rudolph at DGLM writes:

"So to all you YA writers out there—how about some middle-grade? I see so many creative concepts and storylines in YA that would easily translate into middle-grade, especially in fantasy and sci-fi. The audience is there—really, I can’t think of any traditional series that commands the MG market right now—and from my informal survey of editors, it seems like they’re hungry for it, too. All we need are the writers…"

Did he just say he needs more MG fantasy and sci-fi writers? ^^ Better get cracking on my book...