In the general market, young adult books are one of the most popular genres, and while books are written for readers aged 12 to 18, readers of all ages read books like Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and Divergent, just to name a few. At the same time, in Christian publishing, many YA authors have struggled to connect with young readers.
How do we fix this problem, and how do we connect with younger readers with our books?
To help answer this question, we have a special guest. She is a blogger at GoTeenWriters.com, which has been named one of Writer’s Digest 101 Best Websites for authors. She’s an award-winning author of over a dozen teen novels, including By Darkness Hid and Captives. I can say from personal experience that she is a pretty decent Swordfighter, Jill Williamson.
How did you get started writing young adult books?
Jill: At the time, I was a youth pastor’s wife, and I was reading all the books my teens were reading. I thought it would be fun to try writing something for them. So I started working on a book about a teenage spy, and I was obsessed. I was having a blast, and that’s how I got started writing.
It was my first novel, and I was incredibly naive. I had no idea what I was doing. It took me about three and a half years to finish it, and even then, it wasn’t finished. I thought it was done, but I finally put it down and moved on.
Of course, like many new writers, I immediately jumped into writing a sequel. Writers often get caught up in our epic series and want to write all the books. Thankfully, someone talked me out of that, and I shifted gears.
After that, I wrote a modern-day retelling of Anne of Green Gables and another book about an Alaskan girl who used to live in the woods and had to adjust to life in town when she started school.
Thomas: It’s important for us to note that you didn’t take that first book and declare it a masterpiece. You kept working on your craft, and you kept writing. Instead of spending the next three years collecting rejections on that first book, you wrote another book.
Jill: Yes, but let me add some context. This was back in 2004 or 2005, and self-publishing wasn’t anything like it is today. If Kindle had been around back then with the ease of hitting “publish” at the push of a button, who knows what I might have done.
But at the time, I wanted to be traditionally published. Self-publishing still carried a stigma, and I didn’t want that. I wanted a traditional publishing house to publish my book, so I kept at it.
It was hard because that first book feels like your baby. I took it with me to conferences and got so close so many times. Steve Laube was the first to reject me.
Eventually, I learned I had to set that book aside and try something new. One of the best ways to grow is to write the next book. Every time you write something new you improve. Then, when you go back and look at that first book, you’ll see it with fresh eyes and realize, “Now I know what to do.”
Thomas: It often takes years of writing to be able to see the freshman effort for what it is. Finally, the rose-colored glasses come off after you’ve written several additional books. At that point, you’ll be glad your book didn’t get published.
You wrote a version of Anne of Green Gables. What happened after that?
Jill: I wrote my fifth book, which was a science fiction book about clones in Alaska in the middle of nowhere. Then I wrote a fantasy story that I had an idea for, and I wrote the clone story, which became Replication, for NaNoWriMo. It was my first try, and National Novel Writing Month taught me that I could write an ugly first draft. It was kind of a huge aha for me. I discovered that if I race and I don’t care if it’s good, I can finish it faster, and then I can fix it. That changed the way I worked as a writer. That was huge for me.
In December, I put clones aside and I wrote a first draft of a fantasy novel. In January, we moved from the Los Angeles area to the middle of eastern Oregon. That’s when I stopped going to the Mount Hermon conference, where I first met Jeff Gerkey. After we moved, I started attending the Oregon Christian Writers Conference. At the conference that summer, I pitched my fantasy novel to Jeff Gerkey, who liked weird stories. Nobody else was looking for young adult Christian stories at that time. I wanted to pitch to editors from Zondervan and Thomas Nelson, but they were not at the conferences I was going to. I was desperate for feedback. Since I had met Jeff the year before, I gave it to him as an editor, just to get feedback. I didn’t even know he had started a publishing house (Marcher Lord Press) which is now Enclave Christian Publishing.
Thomas: You had five books in the drawer. Maybe they would come back. Maybe they were just learning experiences. But you got this book published with a brand new, teeny tiny publisher (which I don’t normally recommend), but it worked out for you. Your books were Enclave’s initial hits. As the former marketing director of Enclave Publishing, I knew which books were selling, and yours were often the top-selling books. They went out of the gate strong and had enduring appeal.
Interestingly, those books initially weren’t presented as young adult books. They were presented as traditional fantasy books because there was a bias against young adult books.
Neither Christian kids nor Christian adults think they want to read young adult books. For that reason, we went with adult packaging for your young adult book.
What are your thoughts on the bias against YA now that you’ve written successful YA books?
Jill: It reminds me of when Steve rejected my Spy Kids story. He said something along the lines of, “Young adult doesn’t sell in the Christian market. I don’t represent it.” At the same time, Jeff didn’t even want to call it a young adult novel. He saw the books as being for adults, even though the main characters were teenagers. But in their medieval world, they were considered adults by that age, so we always kind of agreed to disagree on that point.
I kept begging him to list it in the Young Adult category on Amazon because I truly believed it was YA, and I wasn’t alone. I even got a review from VOYA (Voice of Youth Advocates), which is a general market library publication. They named it one of the best YA fantasy books of the year, alongside books by Rick Riordan and others. I remember thinking, “See? It is a young adult book!”
But the reality at the time was that most Christian publishers didn’t know how to market YA, especially without Christian bookstores. Even when Christian bookstores were around, the YA section was just a couple of shelves tucked in a corner. Most of it was Melody Carlson, with maybe a few books by Bryan Davis and Wayne Thomas Batson. But teens weren’t shopping in there anyway.
Why has Christian publishing failed so miserably at targeting young adults?
Jill: First, we tend to have more success connecting with teens at homeschool conferences. Many teens attend with their parents, and it creates a natural opportunity to engage with them directly.
As for the Christian bookstore angle, most teens want to read what everyone else is reading. Whether or not their parents allow it is another matter, but the teens themselves are drawn to what’s popular. They are more likely to go to Barnes & Noble, or more often, they hear about books through word of mouth. They want to read what people are talking about, which usually means titles like Harry Potter, The Hunger Games, Divergent, and other mainstream books.
If you imagine a pie chart representing all teen readers, the slice for Christian teen readers is already very small. The challenge is figuring out where they are. Most of them are not shopping at Christian bookstores because they don’t believe there’s anything there for them.
Thomas: It’s a self-perpetuating cycle. There are no books for teens in the Christian market, so teens don’t go looking for them. Because teens aren’t shopping, the stores don’t stock books for them, and the cycle continues.
I have a theory about why this might be happening, and I’d love to hear your thoughts. If you look at the secular YA books that are successful, many of them are gritty, intense, and deal with heavy themes. They’re often dystopian, dark, and emotionally raw. This reflects the reality that young people today are growing up in a much scarier world than their baby boomer parents or grandparents did.
Baby boomers came of age in a post-war era where the general feeling was one of safety and progress. Sure, there was the looming threat of nuclear war, but it was abstract. Economically, each decade seemed better than the last. There was a sense of stability. You could count on getting a job, buying a house, and building a future. It wasn’t perfect, of course, but for many, it felt relatively safe and predictable.
In contrast, young people today face a lot more uncertainty. They don’t know what the future holds. Jobs feel less secure. The cost of living is high. There’s political unrest, violence, and global instability. It’s a darker, more chaotic world, and I believe they’re drawn to stories that reflect the fear and complexity they’re experiencing. They’re not looking for a glossy, Disney version of life; they want stories that feel honest.
Many Christian authors look at dark YA books and say, “I don’t like that. I’m going to write something lighter and more hopeful.” That is understandable, but if we refuse to engage with the darkness, we miss an opportunity. It’s in the darkness that light shines the brightest. If we’re afraid to write about the dark, maybe we’re not confident enough in the power of the light.
Your own books, including By Darkness Hid, didn’t shy away from the dark. They explored it directly. Some might even say it was a little on the nose, and yet those books resonated and did well.
Are young people truly craving stories that help them grapple with the darkness?
Jill: Young people are grappling with dark and difficult topics, and some adults are too. I’ve always tried to help kids face that darkness through stories. My goal was to write books that felt like the general market YA books but with God woven into them. That’s been my approach all along.
My book Captives was a bit more out there in terms of theme and setting. I was just trying to tell the story in my own way. But that kind of storytelling isn’t always well received by parents and teens.
Some of my readers had grown up with By Darkness Hid, and by the time the Safe Lands series came out, they were young adults or in college. Many of them appreciated the new series. However, for some of the younger readers, the dystopian setting (my version of Babylon) was harder to connect with. You just can’t please everyone, and honestly, you shouldn’t try.
But when the market is already small, and there aren’t many places to display or promote your book, it becomes even harder to find readers who do get what you’re trying to do.
I also found it interesting that some fans of my Blood of Kings trilogy didn’t connect with one of my other books because it was set in a modern high school. They felt more at home in a fantasy world than in a setting with lockers and classrooms. For some of my homeschooled readers, fantasy felt more realistic than a contemporary school environment, and that shift threw them off.
Thomas: A huge part of the Christian YA market is made up of homeschoolers. Christian kids in public schools are often reading Harry Potter, just like their non-Christian classmates. But homeschool kids, especially when Harry Potter was first coming out, typically weren’t allowed to read it. I remember having just one homeschool friend who was allowed to read it.
A lot of people overlook the homeschool market because they assume it’s small. They think, “How many homeschoolers can there be? I hardly know any.” But homeschoolers make up a significant portion of the Christian book-buying audience, especially for YA.
It’s not just the teens. Homeschool moms are a major part of the adult Christian book market as well. They’re engaged, passionate readers, and they often influence what their kids and communities are reading. Ignoring them is a missed opportunity.
What did you learn trying to sell to homeschoolers?
Jill: I went to a homeschool conference in Nampa, Idaho, held at the Nazarene college for eight years. The first year I went, I only had By Darkness Hid. It was the only book on my table. But I kept going back year after year, and slowly, it built. Families started coming to find me and asking if I had a new book.
Over those eight years, I found readers and built a following, but it was hard work. I couldn’t afford to travel to all the homeschool conferences, and that’s what Bryan Davis did to grow his readership early on. That’s also where I made some lasting connections, and many of those readers stuck with me through multiple books, but not all of them.
I’ve learned a hard truth for writers: you have to decide whether to be loyal to a specific group of readers or to the stories God puts on your heart. For me, I never felt specifically called to write for homeschoolers.
I love them dearly, but I was working with a youth group in Burbank, California, and I was writing for those teens. I remember once getting an email from a missionary kid in South America. She was upset about The Safe Lands series. She said, “You started with the Blood of Kings series, which was amazing. Then you wrote Replication, which was okay. But now you’re writing about these Babylon things?” She was clearly not my target reader.
When your market is already small, and your true target audience is even smaller, you have to decide who you’re writing for.
If your goal is to write specifically for homeschool readers, you need to commit to that audience. But the mistake I’ve made, if you can call it that, is that I’ve continued chasing stories that deal with darker themes. That appeals to a different type of reader, and it’s not necessarily what most homeschool families are looking for.
That tension is what’s made my career feel like it’s had ups and downs. I haven’t always been able to clearly define who I’m writing for, and that target keeps changing too, which only makes the path harder to navigate.
Thomas: Your heart has always been to write for Christian kids who are keeping their heads down in public school. They’re trying to stay faithful in a challenging environment. But interestingly, the readers you initially attracted were homeschoolers.
It reminds me of Peter Drucker, the business thinker. He had all these innovative ideas about improving how factories were run. He was American, but none of the American companies were interested in what he had to say. The only companies willing to listen were small, relatively unknown firms in Japan. So, he went to Japan. He worked with companies no one had heard of at the time, like Toyota and Sony. They applied his ideas, grew massively, and proved his methods worked. Eventually, he returned to the U.S., and now he’s in all the business textbooks. The very companies that once ignored him ended up learning from him.
You’re in a similar situation with your writing. Your message and style are meant for Christian teens in public school, but the audience that responded first were homeschool readers. As your stories include edgier or darker themes, you’re running into the tension that homeschool readers often have a low tolerance for that kind of content. That’s usually the main thing they don’t want in their books.
When you include that edginess and explore darker themes that may deeply resonate with public school kids or others living in tough realities, you risk alienating the homeschool crowd. But I do think it’s possible to walk that line.
Your early books, like By Darkness Hid, are a good example. That story had real darkness. It was a scary world, but it also had powerful light. You balanced the two in a way that didn’t push readers away but drew them in.
How have you worked both darkness and light into your books?
Thomas: You’ve clearly had to learn some lessons the hard way. But how have you found a way to work both darkness and light into your books without alienating either group? How did you approach that balance?
Jill: I handled the balance of light and darkness well in the Blood of Kings trilogy. It was allegorical. I used the image of darkness spreading across the land, and my two main characters were coming of age within that context. There was also an allegory of God, emphasizing the idea of one true God rather than many. That approach worked well for the homeschool market.
But when I shifted to writing dystopian fiction with the Safe Lands series, things changed. I had originally envisioned the series as more of a fantasy. But The Hunger Games was huge at the time, and Zondervan asked, “Can you make it dystopian?” I thought, “Well, I’d like to sell a book, so sure.”
The challenge was that when you’re writing a future dystopian world, it starts to look more like our modern world. If you’re setting up a dystopian Babylon, it becomes harder to maintain that allegorical distance. The more futuristic and familiar the setting feels, the more visible and direct the themes become. That shift made it harder for readers to stay comfortably engaged with the story. I moved away from allegory without fully realizing it at the time.
Allegory is helpful, especially in the homeschool market. It feels safe and familiar. But it can also be limiting. In Christian fiction, it often ends up being the same allegory we’ve seen before, and publishers start looking for something fresh.
That’s where creativity comes in. I love what Nadine Brandes did with her Fox book. She used historical fantasy, setting it during the Protestant and Catholic Reformation but reimagining it with types of magic like color magic and white magic. It was clever and unique. She took something deeply rooted in history and used fantasy elements to explore those themes in a new way.
The key is finding creative approaches that allow you to explore deep truths without hitting readers over the head with them. Sometimes, readers don’t want to face harsh realities directly, especially younger or more conservative readers. But if you can wrap those truths in story through allegory, fantasy, or creative world-building, they can still absorb the message and be swept away by the experience.
Thomas: Allegory works well in the Christian YA market, and that’s an important point to recognize. It doesn’t tend to work in many other markets. If you’re trying to reach a secular adult audience, allegory usually falls flat.
What are some other tropes that you see resonating with kids these days?
Jill: Right now, it feels like fantasy is the main genre that’s thriving in the Christian YA market. That’s not true across the board, but many of the Christian publishing houses still can’t seem to decide what to do with young adult. They keep going back and forth on their approach, which makes things inconsistent.
In the general market, historical YA still has a strong presence, especially stories that play with time or reimagine history. For example, Nadine Brandes has done this well, and there are books like My Plain Jane, a humorous retelling of Lady Jane Grey, who was famously beheaded after just a week as queen. That book completely reimagines her story in a fun, creative way. There’s a trend of taking historical settings and adding a twist, whether it’s fantasy, humor, or an alternate timeline.
Another major trend in the general market is diversity. Readers are seeking stories that center on characters who aren’t just white or able-bodied. For far too long, books have been published for a narrow audience, and many students have felt left out. They don’t see themselves on book covers or in the stories they read.
Featuring diverse characters front and center as main characters is more important than ever. Readers want to see themselves reflected in the stories they love, and publishers are starting to respond to that need.
Thomas: It’s worth pointing out that the younger generation in America looks very different demographically from the older generations. If you look at Americans over the age of 50, the majority are white. But among those under the age of 20, the majority are not white. That’s a major shift, and it matters if you want to write for today’s young readers.
You might not realize this if most of the people you interact with are similar to you. But today’s kids are growing up in a more diverse world with different cultural influences and perspectives.
I once spoke at a homeschool high school co-op, and the one thing all the students were into was PewDiePie. He’s a YouTuber with over 100 million subscribers. That’s massive, especially when you consider that the entire U.S. population is around 300 million. Yet, very few people over the age of 30 follow him.
I feel like the one “old guy” at 34 who watches PewDiePie, but I do it because I want to understand what’s shaping the minds of this generation. This guy once did a 45-minute breakdown of Plato’s Republic, chapter by chapter. It was in-depth, and that video had millions of views.
If that challenges your assumptions about young people, it should. Today’s youth are asking deep questions. They’re curious, engaged, and thinking about philosophy, justice, and meaning in ways that might surprise you.
While it might seem new, it’s not entirely. I was into those kinds of discussions when I was younger, but I was a total nerd. Now, nerd culture has become mainstream. In the 1980s, comic books, fantasy, and deep thinking were mostly for the outcasts. Today, they’re everywhere. Discussing philosophy is cool. The stuff that used to be on the fringes is now at the center of youth culture.
We can’t dismiss the “nerdy” kids anymore because they’re not on the margins. They’re leading culture.
If you want to write for young people today, you need to spend some time watching PewDiePie to understand what he’s doing. It may feel foreign at first because he’s not just putting out content; he’s having an ongoing conversation with his community.
He interacts directly with fans through his subreddit, where people submit memes, ideas, or feedback. It’s participatory and highly interactive, and it’s very different from the one-way media we grew up with. The most influential voices for young people today aren’t on television or the radio. The MTV generation is long gone. Now, cultural influences are on platforms like YouTube and games like Minecraft. PewDiePie is a great example of this shift.
He doesn’t fit neatly into traditional political categories either. He doesn’t align clearly with the left or the right, and in that way, he reflects the mindset of many in Gen Z. They have their own worldview, and if you want your writing to resonate with them, it’s important to understand that shift.
In fact, even the general market has been struggling with this in recent years. There’s been a noticeable challenge in trying to bridge the gap between Millennials and Gen Z.
Gen Z is more similar to Gen X than they are to Millennials. They’re less idealistic and more pragmatic, and they don’t see themselves as needing to “save the world.” In contrast, Millennials were often raised with that very expectation. Whether homeschooled or not, many of us were told by Baby Boomers that their generation had messed things up, and it was up to us to fix it. I can’t tell you how many times I heard that growing up.
That message created a lot of pressure, and as Millennials, we set out to change things in our own way. Every generation makes its share of messes. Gen Z doesn’t seem to be driven by the same kind of crusading mindset. They’re quieter, more grounded, and more focused on practicality than grand movements for change.
Do you think Gen Z is more motivated to make change in little ways as opposed to big ways?
Jill: Many of the editors at publishing houses in New York right now are Millennials. In many cases, they’re trying to “save the world” through publishing, especially by pushing for “own voices” and increased representation.
Many editors don’t necessarily want your story unless it fits that specific mold. They’re actively looking for stories that align with their mission, not necessarily stories that readers are demanding. It’s not like teens are standing outside publishing houses asking for more books about XYZ. It’s often the editors and gatekeepers who decide what gets published based on their own values and goals.
That’s why your comment about Millennials resonated with me. I see this tendency across society, too. When we recognize something is wrong, we often overcorrect. We swing too far the other way to make up for it, and that’s happening in publishing right now as well.
Thomas: Are you saying we’re seeing a “get woke, go broke” situation in YA publishing? Are these Millennial editors publishing message-driven books that don’t always resonate with Gen Z readers?
Jill: Not exactly. Some of those books resonate with certain readers. But they might not resonate with everyone. I’ve talked with a lot of Christian authors who want to write for the general market. They feel discouraged because they think publishers only want LGBTQ stories or books filled with sex, drugs, and dark content. I do see that kind of content being prioritized. But at the same time, I’m also reading general market fantasy novels that are relatively clean and still getting published.
Some publishers know they need to maintain a balance. When sales numbers come in, they’re paying attention to which books are selling. If cleaner stories are doing well, they’ll keep publishing them.
I’ve noticed a trend lately where I’ll read a generally clean book, and the only nod to representation is something subtle, like a character mentioning they have two moms. It’s not the focus of the story, just a detail. I often wonder whether that came from the editor or if it was the author’s choice.
How can researching music help you write for teens?
Thomas: If you want to write for teens, find out what music is connecting with young people. Figure out how the artists are connecting with teens. For example, NF is a Christian rapper who’s found significant success in the secular music world.
His music is incredibly raw and often explores themes of mental illness. He’s honest about his personal struggles with anxiety and depression. Yet, woven throughout his lyrics is the hope that comes from Jesus. There’s a light in the darkness and a sense that even in the pain, there’s a source of healing and redemption. His songs are powerful.
Some of his top tracks have over 800 million streams on Spotify. I believe the reason they connect so deeply is because they speak to what so many young people are going through today. Mental health struggles like anxiety and depression are increasingly common.
Now, imagine you’re in high school in 2020. The world feels uncertain. Jobs are disappearing, protests are happening in the streets, and for months, you haven’t been able to see your friends in person. Maybe your only social interaction is through Minecraft, and even then, your mom only lets you play for an hour a day. The rest of the time, you feel cut off and alone. That’s the reality for a lot of young people.
If you, as a Christian author, can understand that pain, you can write books that meet young readers in that place of struggle. You can write stories that resonate and offer real hope. Christians have that hope to give, and that’s what you hear in NF’s music.
Jill: I’m not sure if my daughter listens to NF, but I know our youth pastor plays his music a lot. My daughter is 16, and these days, she and her friends mostly hang out online, watching YouTube together since they can’t go out.
She genuinely wants everyone to love each other. She’s all about creating a safe space and asking, “Why can’t we all just get along?”
Her friend group is diverse. This youngest generation isn’t necessarily trying to change the whole world overnight, but they do want to make a difference, even if it’s in small, everyday ways.
Honestly, that’s a beautiful way to share Christ. In fact, it might be the simplest and most powerful way. We should all be sharing Christ by loving people daily.
What advice do you have for someone who wants to write to the younger generation?
Jill: At writing conferences, they often say, “Just write your story and don’t worry too much.” But if you’re writing for teens, and you don’t have any teenagers in your life right now, or you’re not reading books written for teens, it’s going to be tough.
I’m not talking about reading Harry Potter, Divergent, or The Hunger Games. Those are old books now. Read books published more recently. Read current young adult fiction and get a sense of what today’s teens are reading and relating to. Respect your dream enough to do the research.
More importantly, find a way to spend time with teenagers. Talk to your youth pastor. Volunteer at church or a local school. Sign up to be a tutor. Host an exchange student. Do something that gets you around teens. If you’re not spending any time with them, it’s going to be hard to write authentically for them.
You can’t write teen books just by reflecting on your own high school experience and tossing in outdated slang like, “It’s heavy, dude.” That won’t connect. You need to understand their world, not just remember yours.
Thomas: That’s solid advice. Volunteering with teens isn’t just research for your writing, it’s also a way to bless young people in your church. Most churches are desperate for youth group volunteers. Pastors are practically begging for people to step up.
Getting involved allows you to build real relationships with teens. It’s about listening to them, not preaching at them. Ask them questions:
- What music are you into right now?
- What books are you reading?
- What shows or movies are you watching?
- Which YouTubers or influencers do you follow?
Then, engage with that content to understand it. Watch those videos. Listen to that music. Read those books.
It reminds me of when the University of Texas was rising toward its national football championship. Mack Brown was the head coach at the time. He was a white guy coaching a team that was culturally diverse and had many African American players. One of the team’s stars, Ricky Williams, won the Heisman Trophy. People asked, “What was the secret to Coach Brown’s connection with the team?”
Well, Mack Brown went out and bought an iPod. Then he loaded it with $500 worth of hip-hop tracks, which was the music his players loved. Ricky Williams said something like, “He learned to hear the beauty in the beat.” When Coach Brown embraced their music, his players felt accepted racially and generationally. He built a bridge through music, and it made a real impact. That connection helped fuel a team that won a Heisman and a national championship.
If you want to write for young people, you must be willing to listen to their words and their world. That means tuning into their culture with curiosity and humility. If you can’t do that, you’re probably not ready to write for them. But if you can, it opens the door to stories that truly resonate.
Connect with Jill
- JillWilliamson.com
- GoTeenWriters.com
- Storyworld First (Affiliate Link)
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