I’ve been reading literary agent biographies and blogs over the last few days in an attempt to narrow my search and find a few I think would be a good fit for my novel.

While researching, I found myself going on-line and doing searches for words and abbreviations that were totally foreign to me: MG, Dystopian, MS, Upmarket and so on- I guess I still have a lot to learn.

At any rate, I thought I could save you some time by sharing a list of not so common words and abbreviations that I found during my research.

• MS:  Abbreviation for manuscript (the plural being MSS).
• MG:  Middle grade-ages 8-12.
• YA:  Young adult-ages 12-18.
• NA:  New adult: features a protagonist 18-25 and focuses on first struggles of adulthood.
• Speculative Fiction:  Fiction that encompasses supernatural, fantastical, or futuristic elements.
• Upmarket:  Fiction with commercial appeal (book clubs) particularly women’s fiction.
• Dystopian:  A futuristic, imagined universe, in which oppressive societal control and the illusion of a perfect society are maintained through corporate, bureaucratic, technical, moral, or totalitarian control.
• Literary Fiction: Serious fiction, the style and technique are often as important as the subject matter.
• Commercial Fiction:  Written with the purpose of attracting as wide an audience as possible. It includes westerns, romance, mysteries and horror genres.

I’m sure I missed a few, but these are the ones I saw during my research. Who knew there were so many different categories.

I guess I’m old school. In my day it was westerns, romance, mysteries, comedies, and horror. Oh yeah, you can throw children books and youth in there as well.

-Jan R