It’s tempting. It’s so tempting. You see a trend happening, a type of book that seems to sell gangbusters, and you say to yourself, I could do that.
Could you? Probably. Should you? Almost never.
It’s so tempting, though, as we all know. I’ll just knock out a book about vampires. An Amish romance. A dystopian YA. Whatever seems to be selling. It’s popular now, and when people like something they want a whole bunch of the same thing right afterward, so you know there’s a market, and you tell yourself, that book will sell.
But we know better, don’t we? That by the time a trend shows up, it may already be on the way out. Besides, while there are a bunch of vampire/Amish/dystopian books that are big hits, there are a lot more vampire/Amish/dystopian books that are just as on-trend — and probably even just as good — that are barely selling at a trickle.
Three more points to consider:
It’s better to be at the front of a new wave then the end of an old one. Did we know there was an unmet need for a TV dramedy set in a women’s prison? We did not. But now there’s “Orange Is the New Black,” and the reviews are great, mainly because the series is great. Linda Holmes of NPR’s Monkey See blog made a good point in a piece recently about how doing the same old thing won’t work forever — it might seem like everything that comes out of Hollywood is a superhero movie, but were there superheroes 100 years ago? There were not. The thing that our children’s children will most want to read about or watch or experience in whatever way our children’s children will experience their media — we may not even be able to imagine what it is. Someone has to strike out in new directions along the way. It might as well be you.
Even an exact copy of a blockbuster will not produce another blockbuster. “I could write like Dan Brown!” Yes. Yes you could. But if you did, you wouldn’t be Dan Brown. Even Dan Brown wasn’t Dan Brown until The Da Vinci Code. One of the problems with studying blockbusters is that there’s almost nothing to be learned from them. It takes a special convergence of the planets — just the right book at just the right time, with just the right marketing muscle, striking just the right chord with readers to build that undying word-of-mouth momentum — to make that happen. If you’re chasing that dream, the chances that you’ll get there are verrrrrrrrry slim.
Consider your opportunity costs. It isn’t exactly a zero-sum game, but it’s close. The time you spend writing one project is the time you don’t spend writing another. If you decide to just spend a couple months slapping together a fast draft of that vampire book and putting it up on Amazon “just to see what happens,” that’s time and energy you don’t spend writing a different book, maybe the book you really want to write, one you might get to “someday.” Every day is someday. Make sure you’re making a conscious choice about how you spend your creative capital.
About Jael McHenry
Jael McHenry is the debut author of The Kitchen Daughter (Simon & Schuster/Gallery Books, April 12, 2011). Her work has appeared in publications such as the North American Review, Indiana Review, and the Graduate Review at American University, where she earned her MFA in Creative Writing. You can read more about Jael and her book at jaelmchenry.com or follow her on Twitter at @jaelmchenry.
A wonderful post, and for me, timely. I recently returned from my first writer’s conference and it took me a few weeks to digest and regurgitate the genre formulas. There is a market, I know and I’ve been there in the cate-drone line needing a fix. There is a kind of book you read while waiting for your spouse to finish their radiation treatment or the soccer mom grabs at the supermarket checkout. It’s a drug, escapist –a unique plot is not required. Last week, I listened to recordings and wanted to give a penny to every agent or editor who was looking for a YA dystopian less than 50,000 words. Talking to YA writers, I kept hearing YA dystopian… it said nothing to me. I’d ask, how is it dystopian? –because for me, the best dystopian is utopian with a lethal flaw -the soylent green factor. It took a few weeks but I’ve distilled what I needed: a five-year career plan from Cherry Adair and from Nora Roberts: “Butt In The Chair, Mind In The Story, Words On The Page.” And, buzz words really work with agents and editors, but that does not mean they rule me. It’s just write the best I can and love what I’m writing.
I like this post a lot. There’s just something about writing for a genre or a market or a trend that seems like taking the easy way out. Not that any writing is easy, but following that path gives you rules and conventions and styles to follow. Is that being truly creative? I don’t think so. Okay, the motivation for many writers is to make money and gain some measure of recognition. And that’s all right. Most of posts on this site and other writers’ blogs are about creating something that sells. It’s just that when I go into the bookstore and see shelves and shelves of romance and mystery and sci fi works all blurring together in their sameness I feel like I don’t want to do that. I’d like to tell a different story. One I can’t already find on the shelf. To me the search for that story is the real story. Once I find it the writing will be the easy part.
The whole “Vampires are selling so all we will buy are vampire books” thing bugs the heck out of me. They might be selling because there are so few other choices, not because they’re what readers really want.
I write the books I want to read, and now, thanks to indie publishing, they don’t have to fit any trends or perceived trends. You want to be a first rate version of yourself, not a second-rate version of someone else.
Terry
Terry’s Place
Great advice, Jael. So so so much time and effort is put into writing a book and then elevating into something professional that you can be proud of. It’s not fair yourself as a writer or to a potential reader to only slap something together that won’t hold true just for the sake of following a trend. No matter how tempting the chance for commercial success is.
Love what Terry says, above: “I write the books I want to read.” When I first started writing, it was tough to even explain what an epic fantasy series with no wizards or hobbits or trolls was like. Now, thanks to HBO, all I have to say to any layman is: “It’s sort of like Game of Thrones.” ‘Nuff said. (Not terribly accurate, either, but close enough.) Good observations, Jael!
I write what I write. No crowd following or pleasing here. But what I write are books that are interesting, captivating, and thought-provoking. I’m working on my “Cult Trilogy” that begins with a fiction based on reality about my own childhood experience as a victim of a cult in the book A Train Called Forgiveness.
Hey, but how about a book about Amish Vampires?
“Every day is someday. Make sure you’re making a conscious choice about how you spend your creative capital.” –
enjoyed these wise words jael, thank you much :-)
plus the nice reminder, all trends were new at one time, someone had to start them!
all the best :-)
“Even Dan Brown wasn’t Dan Brown until the Da Vinci Code.”
Thanks for that, Jael. Super post for guiding us back to center.
Joel, So right on! I’ve always written outside the lines and after twenty years its finally coming through for me. Book I wrote about crafting a novel with John Grisham broke it open for me. Now the same publisher is bringing out the thriller I wrote with him and two comic novels I wrote years ago I’m self publishing. All are pattern breakers. Just goes to show that following your own path and having a ton of persistance and patience can pay off.
So true, but hard to remember! And even harder to take the step of faith and do something different than everyone else. Or refuse to do what everyone else is doing, just because everyone else is doing it. Thanks for the encouragement.
A wonderfully astute post, as always, Jael.
Loved this: “Every day is someday. Make sure you’re making a conscious choice about how you spend your creative capital.”
Yes! And to extend the metaphor, what we spend each day creatively is an investment in our writing career.
Very good points! I feel the same. Thanks!
Yeah, I have too any story ideas already.
I never want to be a status writer or a copycat.
I want to be a master story spinner.
Bravo Jael!
It astounds me how often this advice is ignored and then writers wonder why their work isn’t selling. It’s called market saturation and copies that pale against the original. Sixty years later people are still trying to rewrite LOTR. Oh yeah…gotta have elves. Gotta pack so many elves in there that their pointy ears stick out from between the pages. Whoops, my fantasy fiction doesn’t have elves so it’s possible the literary gods shall send sparkling vampires my way—or they might just say, “Hey, wait a minute, this is different…”
While I agree with everything in this post and comments, let’s set a few things straight for the record: elves have always sold, vampires have always sold, romance has always sold, sex sells & will sell, robots & spaceships sell etc etc. Now write the book you want to write & hope it sells…. LOL.
OOPS, I forgot to mention murder, did I forget to mention murder? and violence, especially sexy violence as in sucking all of the blood or whipping in playrooms. Violence against woman and children, apparently, is very hot. Violence sells even if its children killing other children. Go for it. Even wizards kill if its for a good purpose.
I never felt the need to write something that is currently “in”, might that be vampires, werewolves, fairies, etc. That said thought, I feel like just because you write something fresh, doesn’t mean that you will get credit for it with literary agents.
I am not saying ride the wave, but being fresh and original doesn’t necessarily mean you will get the break into publishing. I feel like among the great books and great writers there are always the few that make it big, not out of talent, or out of greatness, but because they got the marketing treatment. Anything sells as long as it comes with a shocking back story, or simply because it’s in front of your face literally on every corner, newspaper, magazine and ad in every shape and form.
Thank you. I have often wondered why fashion designers and book publishers tell us, “That’s not what’s in.” If dress designers put out only one style dress, then that’s all there is to buy and all that will sell. If my book has merit and is worth publishing, then it should be published. I don’t want to be told that’s not what’s in season now. How do they know the public is not ready for a change? If all that’s available is vampire/Amish, etc., then what else is there to buy. I like a good adventure, but sometimes I want to read a mushy romance, or a comic detective in a murder/mystery. My tastes fluctuate, so I would think the market would as well. Just give me a well-written book with interesting characters and I’ll be happy.