Happy New Year everyone! I took a few weeks off from the grind to give my brain a break before diving into all that 2024 has in store. But now we're back in full swing. Blogs may look a little different this year (every other Thursday instead of every Thursday). With editing picking up and a book to publish, there's a lot going on!
Today we're starting the year off strong and talking about writing to market. If you're unfamiliar with this phrase, it just means to write for specific elements that are currently selling (i.e., trend hopping).
I have a few thoughts about this. The short version is "no". The longer version is "no, but also yes".
No matter what industry you're in, there will always be fads and trends that come in and out. They can change slowly (a few years) or quickly (a few days or even hours). Regardless, there will be changes.
In the book world, this looks like sports romances and dragon fantasies. It's enemies-to-lovers in young adult and whodunit murder mysteries in detective fiction.
These trends tend to come in rather quickly, stay for a few months to a year, and then get overshadowed by the next market trend. And while it can be beneficial to hop on those trends, there's a lot more that goes into it.
Firstly, we need to talk about publishing in general. More specifically, the fact that the publishing industry is typically slow. It takes years to get something to print in the traditional world, and there's no guarantee the trend you wrote for will still be in demand.
This is one of the benefits of self-publishing: You get to choose your timelines.
But, to put it in perspective, writing to market like this would mean drafting, editing, beta reading, developmental editing, line editing, hiring a cover artist, proofreading, formatting, and releasing a book in the span of a few months. Think four months at most.
You may be able to cut some of those stages if you're used to that kind of turnaround, but a book release that fast typically results in a loss of quality. This may even be accepted in some genres (romance can be more forgiving than others).
When considering the first step, it's important to ask what the goal is. Is the goal to capitalize on profits from trends? Is it to write books that speak to you on a personal level? Either choice can be a great option, but we need to be sure we're writing in the best direction for long-term success.
The next thing to consider is how fast trends drop off. Just like they come in on a tidal wave, it dies out at shore just as quickly. And that means while there may be a spike in sales at the beginning, there's going to be a significant drop once that trend goes "out of style". Will there still be people looking for those books? Absolutely. But you'll lose a lot of your market as well.
A great example of this was the dystopian boom in YA around the mid-2000s. What worked? The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner. What caught the coattails? Divergent.
Both The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner did really well in this market. So much so that they landed film deals for each book in the trilogy (with the final Hunger Games movie being split into two parts). Divergent got the same deal - the books performed really well out of the gate, but they lost steam toward the end. Filmmakers attempted to milk the series for more than it was worth, which eventually led the final film to destruction as it was never made.
The Hunger Games and The Maze Runner are used in classrooms to this day, but Divergent has dropped off the map.
All this to say, if you miss the timing by a bit, or it's spread too thin, it can do more harm than good.
So where does that leave us? It sounds like I'm saying never to write to market, but there is a nuance to capture.
While writing to market is challenging, understanding the market and its movements is integral to knowing which books have a better chance of selling. Agents look at this data all the time. It's one reason why it's so great to have an agent on your side - it's their job to follow market trends and advise you in the best directions.
How do you make this system work for you? You write the books you want, and you get strategic about when to publish them.
When I started querying my first book, I had a feeling it wouldn't sell because I knew that wasn't where the market was at. But I wanted to at least try to get it out there. Sure enough, it wasn't the right time. I'd love to do something with it one day, I'm just waiting for the right moment.
What I do recommend is taking a look at the books you've written or want to write (put them in a list if possible). Look at key themes and ideas. What are the stories about at their core? What common tropes and elements do they use? What are the main themes?
Next, do the same thing for the current top sellers in your genre and category. Take some time to review what the common threads among those books are. Do you see any connections to what you've written?
Then look at what the up-and-coming titles in the genre and category are. Most traditionally published books will have good lead time on announcements. At the very least, the publishing deal should have a short description. Again, review the common threads. This will give a general idea of where the market is headed (or what publishers think is going to sell).
This method is very similar to what fast food restaurants do with McDonald's. Places like Wendy's and Burger King let McDonald's spend the money to conduct market research, and when McDonald's settles on a location, they simply shore up beside it.
In this case, the publishers are following the market, they're doing the research, we're just taking the time to notice where they think everything is headed.
When looking at your list of stories against the upcoming titles, which one seems to align best? If you can, choose to publish the story options that follow those trends. This allows you to leverage what's selling while still writing the books you want. It's not fool-proof, but it is often effective.
You don't have to tailor your stories to what's selling - there are always people who will be interested in what you have to share. Sometimes there just may be better options for different markets. You don't even have to follow publishing news every day.
What you do have to know (if you plan to make writing your career) is what's expected of your genre and category. Know the average word counts, common themes and undercurrents, etc. (For example, YA is frequently about a coming-of-age story, or finding oneself and one's place in the world.) If your fantasy novel is 50,000 words, that's going to raise some red flags. If your heist novel has nothing to steal, it's not going to perform as well.
Yes, you can break some rules, but you have to know what they are first. If we just make our own rules without understanding why the originals were valued in the genre, we're doing ourselves a disservice. (And cutting the chances of making large sales.)
But if you're looking at your list and thinking, "Nothing I have is even close to what's trending." That's okay too. As I said, there's always a readership. It's just a matter of getting it in front of the right audience.
So, no, you don't have to fret too much about hopping on those trends (and it's harder than you might think anyway), but it is good to know what's selling and how to leverage it. Especially if you want to get to a place of being supported by your book list.
Writing is a business like any other. Understanding market movements is a key element of that business if you're self-publishing. Even if you're querying, it can help indicate which stories may be better suited to the times than others.
How do you feel about writing to market?
Happy writing!
Erin
Comentarios