"Hero Chronicles" Goes Middle Grade

Sometimes it's hard to choose the correct age group for a book.



I recently re-released my series, The Hero Chronicles, as YA fantasy. However, I had been debating whether it might be better to label it "middle grade," and the consensus from reviewers has made me finally make that switch.

Getting poor reviews always sucks; however, it's often a means for an author to grow as well. I recently sent out a number of e-copies to Goodreads reviewers. Some loved the series. Others really didn't like the first book; most of these liked the rest of the series well enough, but a few didn't.

I've come to the conclusion that the reason some of my readers really didn't like the books was because they were expecting one thing and received another. From their reviews and talking to them, I've decided to call the series "middle grade" instead, to better target the correct readers.

I read an article that talks about the differences between YA and middle grade:

write4kids.com/feature6.html

The article did help greatly. It was still a hard call for me, as an author, but thankfully, that's where readers come in handy. The books' quirky humor, deep focus on friendship and inner growth, its more light-hearted dating relationships, short page lengths, fast pace, and their sometimes fairy-tale feel just make them a better fit for middle grade, despite the outside trials the characters have to deal with, the fact they are in their early teens instead of being tweens or younger, and the fact that themes like death are touched upon.

So, there you have it. Sometimes, the cookie just doesn't seem to crumble in the author's favor. I had honestly never had such a negative response from that number of reviewers; however, I've chosen to embrace it as a learning experience, and hopefully I've left my readers left confused.

If you're like me and you still can enjoy the world of fairy-tales, magic, middle grade humor in all its weirdness, coupled with an intriguing story and characters you're not soon to forget, The Hero Chronicles may be for you. Otherwise, feel free to checkout some of my true YA works such as Bloodmaiden. One of my reviewers, Lacey Lane, wasn't so keen on The Hero Chronicles but loved Bloodmaiden enough to give it five stars. Kudos to her for sticking out reading all those books.



As it is with many things, so it is with readers. The trick is attracting the right readers to the right book. To each his own.
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Published on April 16, 2012 11:03 Tags: age-group, differences, fantasy, hero-chronicles, middle-grade, ya, young-adult
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message 1: by Susan (new)

Susan Ashcraft I really enjoyed the Hero Chronicles. I hope you get a great response with changing to middle grades.


message 2: by Christine (new)

Christine Schulze Susan wrote: "I really enjoyed the Hero Chronicles. I hope you get a great response with changing to middle grades."

Thanks, Susan. Though, as I said, getting bad response to a book sucks and has never really happened to me like this, I think making this change and other small changes, like switching the characters' ages to more middle grade ages, will greatly help. I'll be fixing other small details as well which I think will strengthen the book as a whole.

The series truly does get better and deeper as it goes along; it evolves, if you will. And, as in Harry Potter, the characters do grow up. But it doesn't hold as dark a feel as Harry Potter comes to, and since those are still considered middle grade, I think Hero Chronicles will fit right in. I just need to make sure that first book scores so that readers will be compelled to read the rest of the series. Books 3 through 5 end up being the favorites of many, and most enjoy 2 as well. I think perfecting 1 a little more by my readers' help as well as doing simple things like changing the age group will help immensely!

Thanks, Susan, for the encouragement. I know you liked the books and am glad you did. But not everyone enjoys books aimed at a younger audience, so I need to make sure I am targeting the correct readers; that's what this change is all about.


message 3: by Susan (new)

Susan Ashcraft I really admire you for listening to what your readers are saying and trying to do right by them. Not everyone would do that. I hope you'll post when you are done the changes as I would like to reread when you are done. I'm interested to see the changes you make.


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