Movie stars, professional athletes and rock stars as heroes don’t sell.
Editors won’t buy historicals set in non-traditional locations, such as China during the Boxer Rebellion.
The market is saturated with military-themed romantic suspense, so no more Navy SEALs/spec ops/ex-Delta Force guys.
As impossible as it is to nail down trends in an industry that never stands still, some noise is loud enough to drift over the general din where it makes a hard impression on the newbie, unpublished writer. Dos and don’ts, formulas and taboos. Acceptable characters, unacceptable plots. Things that will never sell or will keep you forever on the bottom of the slush pile.
In order to change my status from professional writer-wannabe to professional writer-actual, seems I have to cross some pretty monumental hurdles. Statistics indicate 99% of fledgling writers never see their names on the cover of a book. This only accounts for those brave enough to attempt it. Clearly, the odds are not in my favor.
Don’t get me wrong. I understand the road to publication is paved with lots of dues paying. I’m not against hard work. I’m not afraid to stick my neck out, and I think I’m even okay with the idea of rejection (lots of rejection). I’m willing to practice, learn, improve and try again. I don’t expect overnight success nor do I believe there exists a magic bullet.
What I’m having a hard time with is conforming to the market trends.
They say you should write what you know. I extrapolate that maxim to include: you should write what you love. I don’t imagine many SF writers know first hand of the worlds and peoples they create. Nor do I imagine many historical writers having had experiences in Regency England or medieval Scotland. But this lack of knowing can be easily overcome when it’s supplemented with a passion for the characters and times and places the writer is trying to create or recreate.
But what if your passion is for professional sports? What if your knowing is hair-bands of the eighties?
What if you love military suspense romances and want to write some of your own?
What if you are from China and are fascinated by the Boxer Rebellion?
A neophyte writer faces a daunting decision. She (or he) can write what she knows and/or loves. But she is taking a big risk in a world where she is predisposed to fail. She does not have a name to use as her get-out-of-market-trends-free card. She has no stellar sales to ensure a publisher that readers will buy her stuff even if it’s about ex-WWF wrestlers in eighteenth century Katmandu who are carrying out a military coup.
So she must determine if she wants to write the stories of her heart or if she wants to write what she thinks has the best chance of getting her toe in the door.
I’ve read that a good start for writers is in the category market because it is both open to new, unproven talent and because the shorter format means less opportunities for major screw ups. Except, none of the stories I want to tell fit into any of the category lines.
First of all, they aren’t short enough. The stories in my head and on my hard-drive always surpass the 75-90,000 word limit. I’m a single-title-length story teller.
I include secondary characters in my books. I think it adds interest to my stories when the hero and heroine can bounce off other people. And I have characters that live in more than one book – couples who need room for their relationships to unfold. Like fine wines and George Clooney, some love stories need time to be perfected.
My heroes tend to be alpha military types. I’ve even had an idea or two that includes a rock star and a professional athlete (different stories, mind you).
In short, I don’t fit the market trends. Before my story hits a publisher’s desk, it already has two point nine-five strikes against it.
I suppose I could write for myself. Write for the joy of writing. Which I will do because I need to write even if no one is reading. For me it’s the journey, not the end. Sharing my stories is the icing, not the cake.
But when experienced (read: published) writers advise to write what I love, write the book of my heart, I always feel a strong urge to bang my head against my keyboard.
No related posts.
Well said, Lynn! I’ve also heard that credo – write what you know, as well as write what you love.
What I’m wondering is just how much do publishers know about what readers love? Obviously, they have some idea otherwise they wouldn’t have a job, but what about the other stuff? I’ve yet to read a book that really spoke to *me* – exactly the type of book I’d love to have published so that other people would say, “Wow. That book really struck a nerve with me.” Where are those books? I’m tempted to guess that they’re the ones not being published because they’re not within the market trends. But what do I know? I’m not a publisher.
Great post, Lynn. I still love alpha military heroes, so as far as I’m concerned, keep ‘em coming!
The problem with writing what you know is that it’s just so darned dull! I write to escape, not to revisit the places, people and situations I see every minute of the day.
I don’t know how fansciating it would be for Gateway to meet, fall in love, and marry Dell, the sexy Geek God.
Writing what you know…is very often taken too literally. If one is a history teacher in a small town, it doesn’t mean one must only write about history teachers in small towns.
One can write about tutors and governesses or philosophers in other periods and places in history – or on another planet.The situations, people and the conflicts one encounters can be applied to any scenario, anywhere, any time. That poor little kid’s bitch mother may be as great model, for example…
“Get-out-of-market-trends-free card.” Snicker.
Lynn, take heart — I sold a ST romantic suspense as my first novel with an ex-Delta Force officer as the hero and a writer (gasp! you didn’t have that in your rules, but I’ve heard it!) as the heroine. It’s coming out in four months, so publishers are still buying them.
You have to write what you love otherwise the book is blah–there won’t be the passion necessary to draw in your first readers (agent/editor).
The market changes so fast that if you wrote to the market by the time you got the book out there, something else will be “hot”. I tried to write a chick lit and failed miserably. That’s not my voice — even though that’s where the “trend” was.
Focus on agents who say they want “commercial fiction.” They are the ones who don’t even know what the rules are, so you won’t hear, “You can’t have an athlete” as your hero.
Good luck.
I’ve always hated the whole idea of writing to the market–not because of any conflict between following art or following commerce, but because the market fluctuates so quickly.
And if everyone followed the trends, who would set them?
Well, I’m a CPA, so I wrote about a CPA. I think it sold because it wasn’t like every other CPA story out there. (Okay, so there aren’t many CPA stories out there – in fact, there may not be any…Ha!)
But what I know now that I didn’t know then, is that what makes the difference in what sells and what doesn’t is voice. If your Delta guy or your ballerina girl each have a distinct voice, if the story is told in a way no other has told it before, it looks different. It’s interesting. It’s marketable.
Maybe.
It only makes sense that if there are oodles of a certain type of hero and heroine, the market won’t stand tons more. But it might stand ONE more – and it all depends on the voice of the writer. If you’ve ever judged a contest, you can see what I mean. Why is it that some stories, although well written and perfectly good stories, just don’t punch your buttons? In my opinion, it’s because the voice doesn’t ring out, doesn’t make the story stand above others.
I have to step up and be honest here – when I started the CPA book, I didn’t think it stood a snowball’s chance of selling. Not sexy enough. But I was in my 11th year of writing, and I was like you – so sick of following the trends, trying to find a chair before the music stopped. And it always stopped before I could sit down. I decided to heck with the market, and so what if CPAs aren’t sexy? MINE will be. I wrote it without looking back, or second guessing, or worrying about whether it would sell. Maybe that was the difference – I honestly didn’t really care. I was burned out. But I still wanted to write.
The book landed me two agent offers, and sold within a few months.
Hey, I don’t have all the answers, but I do believe, after my experience, and hearing others, it always comes back to voice. Yeah, some careers or story lines are harder to sell, but if the editor sees something there she doesn’t see anywhere else – namely YOU – and it strikes a chord, well, there you are – sliding into a chair when the music stops.
Stef
Interesting post. The novel I’m currently writing (a fantasy with strong romantic elements) takes place in colonial Australia. In my crit group, the vast majority were excited that I’d chosen an era that is not all that well-known or written about. One person did say she wasn’t interested in visiting Australia and the colonial period seemed boring, but everyone’s entitled to an opinion and it didn’t really bother me.
My point is, I guess, is that while I’m fascinated by medieval Britain, it’s been tread over in romance/fantasy so much that I didn’t feel the challenge. And researching this particular period in history has really 1) made my creative juices flow and 2) made me loooove the story I’m writing.
And I think loving the story you write is far more important than loving a potential market. There’s emotion in the former; not so much in the latter. But that’s just me.
Some really good thoughts here. Thanks!! And in the end, I very much agree with the idea that you have to write what you enjoy writing, whether it is “sell-able” or not. Because writing is such a long, lonely art. It’s hard work, and if you have to force yourself to do it (beyond the normal amount of discipline, I mean), then what’s the point? Rarely will you get rich from writing, so the act itself has to be the reward.
So expect to see those alpha military heroes from my little neck of the woods.
I know I’m late to the party, but I couldn’t NOT comment on this one. My first ms, the book of my heart, is one I’m holding back on (despite my CPs’ enthusiastic reactions to the story) because it doesn’t “fit” the market. But that doesn’t mean I’ll never try to get it published, nor does it mean I’ll stop writing my interests (even though “TPTB” say those things won’t sell).
I’m just waiting. Or gathering my courage. Or something.
I wonder if it has something to do with my first name (from one Lynn to another
)
Mediocre Progress
7.3%
Really, I must work harder. I only edited/rewrote about 9 pages. Lame.
So tomorrow, I’ll be aiming for a greater page count.
FYI – I read Write What You Love, Sell… Nothing. It really echoed my fear for the longest time…