What would you write, if you could or would write it?

It's an unfortunate fact of the publishing industry that if you really want to get a book published, and can be a little mercenary about your writing, then you need to write a novel that caters for the current trends or demands (like, teenage vampire fiction has been ridiculously popular for too long). The trouble is, normally by the time you've written your new book, the trend has finished...

If a publisher contracted you today to deliver a manuscript in a year's time, what genre or style would you write in an attempt to be successful? Break out your writer's crystal ball, check the current top-seller lists, look for growing trends... what would you write?

The other option, of course, is to stick with tried and true formulas that should find a spot. Crime or adult romance...

Graeme.

If I wanted to sell lots of books, I think erotica is selling well. I can't write it and I don't read it but the sales are really up there and most of the plots are irrelevant to the sex so it shouldn't be too hard to write just to make sales.

Next choice would be a real wallapaloozer political novel full of sex, affairs, and secrets that might be real people...

I would write a series of historical fiction fantasy western romances set in the Texas Hill country during the 19th century - and 20th - and 21st, if that's where my characters end up off and on.

Come to think of it, I am doing just that right now.

I cannot write what people tell me I ought to write in order to make money. It just doesn't work for me - my muse dies.

1/11/2013

If I had the imagination I would write what sells, SEX, SEX, SEX, SEX

AND MORE SEX, BUT ALAS MY MIND RIGHT NOW IS CONFUSED !

Cheers.Joe.....

joefrank wrote:

1/11/2013

If I had the imagination I would write what sells, SEX, SEX, SEX, SEX

AND MORE SEX, BUT ALAS MY MIND RIGHT NOW IS CONFUSED !

Cheers.Joe.....

You'll go blind Joe. You'll go blind. Stick to what you do best.....

I write what I am compelled to write and have a market that enjoys my stories. I believed the thread was inquiring what we would write if selling books was our primary goal.

My goals are dual: write about a subject and inspiration that compells me to write and find the market that thinks siilarly in terms of enjoying a good story.

I thought of it--it was the funniest, most riveting piece of work ever written. It would have interested men, women and children all over the world. I couldn't find a pencil to record it and freaked out to the point I completely forgot it. Ah Phooey!

It would have been a best seller and Pulitzer prize winner.

GMHague wrote:

It's an unfortunate fact of the publishing industry that if you really want to get a book published, and can be a little mercenary about your writing, then you need to write a novel that caters for the current trends or demands (like, teenage vampire fiction has been ridiculously popular for too long). The trouble is, normally by the time you've written your new book, the trend has finished...

There's nothing "mercenary" about it. I call it good business sense. That is, if you actually want to make money, not just dream about it. I ONLY write books where I've identified a niche first. Not the other way around. I just write nonfiction, as it's much easier to find niches and break into them. More people buy nonfic then fiction, as you can tell from any Barnes and Noble. At least in mine; less than 1/4 of the store holds fiction, the rest holds nonfic (and gift items). Trends that last a year don't really apply, either; one of my books is going on its 7th edition.

I posted the list of the top hundred indie books on Kindle, LC. The list is here:

http://www.publishedauthors.org/t9226-amazon-indie-bestsellers-list

And? I didn't realize his post was about indie (self-published) books. I'm aware that most indie stuff is fiction.

How does this change what I said about most sales, period, going to nonfiction? Are you disagreeing that 3/4ths of Barnes and Noble is nonfiction stock?

That is true for print books, LC. However, if you were to check the "the current trends or demands" then you will find that the biggest growth in books in the fiction genre are, in fact, ebooks.

Quote :

However, if you were to check the "the current trends or demands" then you will find that the biggest growth in books in the fiction genre are, in fact, ebooks

Color me slow ...I'm not seeing the relevance of this to either the OP or what I posted. Are you saying that novels are the fastest growing genre? If so, commercially published novels or self-published novels? It makes a difference, I think, because the OP seemed to be concerned with sales and publishers. I may have misinterpreted it.

The OP said that it would take a year to write a novel to cater for the current market trends, by which time the next trend would be in full swing. So, what is happening today? Authors are not submitting to agents/publishers and waiting months for rejection letters and two years for publication after they've signed a contract. They are writing novels right here, right now and self-publishing on Kindle and Nook. That is authors who want to cash in on current trends, not authors who spot a gap in the market for a non-fiction book and write a book to fill the void.

Ok. Are they actually "cashing in" on those current trends, though? "Cash" being the operative word.

And do the trends really change that fast? What are these fast-changing trends?

And btw, nonfic isn't immune to trends and publishing a specific subject at the right time.

1/14/2013

LC...

Since I've put all four of my books on Kindle, Nook

and Smashwords I have been making money better than the

the publisher who has been lying to me, I'm happy and now

I'm about to do another book with murder, hot sex and morals.

What kind of books do you write ?

Cheers..Joe..

I'm using one of LC's text books for a coffee table book - it is beautiful with great interior design diagrams.

1/14/2012

I wonder what kind of text books LC writes, I may

get into that line of business....



Cheers..Joe..

Probably the way to market a textbook is to teach a class and assign the book for the text for the class.

Alice -that's one way, and I sure do it! LOL But you need lots of other instructors to assign it, too.

LC wrote:

Ok. Are they actually "cashing in" on those current trends, though? "Cash" being the operative word.

And do the trends really change that fast? What are these fast-changing trends?

And btw, nonfic isn't immune to trends and publishing a specific subject at the right time.

If you checked the thread I posted, you would see that indie authors writing in the current popular genres are cashing in and outselling commercially produced ebooks.

Trends change faster than publishers can keep up with -- so they wait to see what emerges among the indie books and then sign up the authors -- this is becoming the trend. All the successful vampire, indie authors since the twilight series now have publishing contracts, same with erotic romance books, zombies and werewolves. Thriller and mystery writers are cashing in too. Amazon have set up several imprints to sign up the bestselling indie authors.

I did check the thread. Most looked like garden-variety romances and erotica. I didn't read each description ...is there a specific trend I would find if I did?

Romance and erotica have always sold well, they're hardly a trend.

The twilight series spin-offs went in two directions -- erotica romance for adults and young romance for YA fiction readers, which replaced the Potter series. However, teenagers are becoming less enthralled by the romance in their books and are seeking out adventure and fantasy again. So the pendulum is starting to swing back. The same will happen with the Fifty Shades trend; readers will tire of it and look for something new.

Well, good for the authors who can cash in on those trends, then, and crank out books that fast. I sure can't.

Quote :

What kind of books do you write ?

Joe, I once PM'd you a link to my books. I guess you forgot, or they weren't very memorable. lol

LC wrote:

Well, good for the authors who can cash in on those trends, then, and crank out books that fast. I sure can't.

Neither can most fiction authors. It's what separates the best from the rest. If everyone could do it, we would all be millionaires.