[PubQ] Feeling lost and discouraged trying to traditionally publish my Urban Fantasy novel

Hey, guys. I've been lurking here and in other writing subs for a while now, and finally made an account. I've been working on what was originally supposed to be a YA Urban/Dark Fantasy novel on and off for longer than I care to admit. After getting some feedback from beta readers, and several rounds of editing, I’d recently felt like it was at a point where I was ready to make a serious go at querying. But then I discovered that urban fantasy’s a dying subgenre and straight male protagonists are basically a non-starter in YA nowadays. I’ve been floundering ever since.

It’s my fault since I enjoy reading completed series, so the bulk of the YA I read was older, and others were adult that I initially mistook for YA, like Red Rising. I briefly considered turning my Hispanic protag bisexual or swapping he and his younger sister’s roles, however I know it wouldn't sit well with me to betray my story to try and make a sale. Then I read here that lots of male authors and writers with male protagonists are aging their characters down or up and going MG/Adult, instead. Going adult was appealing at first, especially since my word count is on the higher-end at 115,000 words(I’ve been working on cutting it down, though the ideal 100,000 seems impossible) and the romance aspect is pretty light, but the main characters are mostly teenagers and a few pre-teens/children. I aged them 1-2 years, though ageing them into adulthood from the outset would pretty much nuke the current plot. I’ve read adult books with children protagonists, but there are usually several adult POVs or they grow into an adult over the course of the book.

I know most people don’t publish their first book and the common advice when hitting a wall like this is to just start working on the next, but I feel like I can’t move forward unless I give this an honest try. Still, with how much this book has going against it in the current traditional market, it’s starting to seem like I might be better off self-publishing or posting it as a webnovel on somewhere like Royal Road.

Sorry for the long post. I guess I’m looking for any advice you guys can offer and hearing from people who’re going through or have gone through similar experiences. Thanks.