Trends in Children's Literature Part II/Call for Submissions/Contest

This week I’m continuing to cover trends in children’s publishing. Here are a few more:
1. Young adult books are still in demand. Problem novels, fantasy, realistic contemporary, historical fiction, and time travel are popular genres.
2. Picture books under 750 words, or less, seem to be in demand, while longer picture books are not as marketable.
3. Collections of poetry seem to be making a comeback.
4. Diary format books are exploding at the moment. The market will soon be saturated if the trend continues.
5. Graphic novels are hot.
6. Beginning readers are popular with the primary grade readers. Stories that once were published as picture books are now in the beginning reader format.
7. Books for tweens, a cross between middle grade and young adult literature are selling well.
Trends come and trends go. Literary vampires and zombies appear to be less trendy, along with stories about kids moving to new homes, as well as divorced and dead parents.

Keeping an eye on trends helps us to avoid certain formats or subject as we write stories we’re passionate about. If our stories happen to coincide with a trend, great; if not, maybe our stories will kick off a trend. My advice: Keep writing and stay informed. Useful information is gold to writers.

Call for submissions for students:
Imagine Literary Magazine is looking for well-written stories and poems as well as creative art and photography by young people, with a loose age guideline of 13-18 (If you're a few years out of that range, don't worry, your work can still be published). On occasion, Imagine Literary Magazine will publish works by adults, but please note that submissions of young people are given an advantage. The magazine is primarily meant for a children and teen audience. Stories can be any fiction genre (fantasy, science fiction, mystery, humor, contemporary, and historical just to name some). Nonfiction is only accepted if the story is written in a narrative form. Stories under 2,000 words is a maximum. All different forms of poetry are accepted. Just make sure to keep to a reasonable length.
Guidelines: http://imaginelitmag.blogspot.com/search/label/Submissions%20Guidelines

Contest for Adults:
Wonder in the Wander Contest: A contestant must submit a personal story, 2000 words or less, that describes a Wonder in the Wander, which is about the awe and inspiration that occurs in every day living whether it be a long dreamed of vacation or just picking up some groceries at the market. We are all connected in this life journey. What amazing Wander have you experienced? To see example content, visit http://susanleighpicking.blogspot.com/.
Deadline: June 30, 2011 at 11:59 PM Eastern Standard Time.
Details at http://susanleighpicking.com/witwpromorules.htm