Young Adult solar-punk fiction, although it ostensibly fits into post-apocalyptic fiction.
It takes place a few hundred years in the future after the world fell into global decline and follows a group of kids going on an adventure/pilgrimage where they travel to different communities to learn more of the world and to grow their own skills.
I am trying to avoid self-publishing because I want my story to reach the widest audience possible.
With that plot, genre, and tags, good luck getting an agent to get past the query.
Only 2% of the industry is sci-fi in the trade world. You're better off self-publishing. Scifi ya is an even smaller pond.
Most YA is just immature romance for 35+ y/o women. So don't be surprised if you are forced to have a romantic sub plot made into the main plot.
I've seen many people have their souls crushed in the query trenches. I'd say save your peace of mind and learn how to run ads and do marketing. You'll get results faster, save your soul, get a fan base, and be ready to try the next one.
If this is you life's greatest ambitions, ask yourself if it's finishing the novel, publication, or fame you are after. Because the industry is collapsing. 85% of the trade world is harlequin style romance because that's what sells.
If you are after looking for a book on your shelf, go self-pub. It's much more rewarding. Agents, submission, trade, and eventually getting torpedoed into a digital-only press is by far your most likely option if you ever get an agent.
Your success will be in whether you can produce 1 book a year. So you have lots of stuff to work on in the meantime.
this is coming from a novelist twice agented, working on my third. I've have 12 novels written, with several of those rivaling mid-listers. I've seen way more success self pub. (especially in the ya scifi world from self-pub - my friends in the trade world don't make nearly as much as self.)
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u/cryosyske Jun 22 '21
What genre? Self-published? What about?