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Is Dystopian a Publishing Trend?

Does dystopian have staying power or is it a publishing trend that will soon come an end? First off, I think that vampires, demons/angels (supernatural), super-powered humans, werewolves, witches, aliens and zombies are trending themes in novels and on the screen. Some are "out" right now and some are "in".

On the heels of Twilight we had Vampire Diaries, True Blood and Dracula that were adapted on TV & the big screen. Buffy the Vampire Slayer was quite big too in its hay day too. However Vampire Academy, a popular YA series, bombed in the theaters so did Beautiful Creatures...and a slue of other book adaptions.
Humans with super powers is a reaching trend made famous by comic book adaptions. Comic books have been around for decades and this trend is here to stay. The supernatural trend has been alive in the 10 seasons of Supernatural on the WB network. However Mortal Instruments totally bombed in theaters.
As far as I know there hasn't been a Werewolf book adaption to blow up this trend unless you count the old and new versions of Teen Wolf and Twilight. Shiver is a bestselling book series about wolves (I did not like) so maybe there is some traction there...eh...I hope not.        
                                                    
Witches made famous by The Craft, Practical Magic, The Harry Potter Series, Charmed and now American Horror Story: Coven, Salem & Witches of East End, is a trend that seems to always stick around in my opinion. However The Secret Circle and I am Four did not do so well in their adapted forms.

Aliens - this is an ongoing trend in and outside of the YA genre: Ender's Game, X Files, The War of the Worlds, Zathura, The Host, The 5th Wave, Roswell, The Lux Series, The Last Year Series...all have helped keep this trending theme in the forefront.

That brings me to zombies which is alive and well I think, there is Warm Bodies, The Walking Dead, World War Z and probably some bestsellers I am forgetting.
My conclusion is...
There are over 60 novels (and probably lots more not on this list) that have had the film rights bought, some deserving some not so much and what will make money is really a toss up in the air. There is no cookie cutter formula to what is trending or if a trend will have staying power and adaption power.
Some publishers and agents will tell you that dystopian is a hard sell. When querying, 4 agents told me that it is. And it might very well be for them but I say, if a story is entrancing, well-written and captures the eye of someone in the position to move it along then there you go, it's not such a hard sell. People are still buying dystopian after Hunger Games and Divergent. There are bestsellers that support this fact Delirium, Matched, Legend, Under the Never Sky, The Selection, Uglies...I could go on and on.
I think the reason the dystopian genre has staying power in the YA market is because teens often feel marginalized and misunderstood. They feel like they are treated unfairly and in a dystopian society these elements are Omni-present.
I see the next trend that has staying power as "aliens" (but this is probably because I've been writing an alien/witch/supernatural story since 2011. Now run tell dat. (*Drops the mic and steps off soap box).

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