November 22, 2023
Hey, folks!
On my Instagram page, I post Tuesday Tips every week. This week’s first draft got a bit too lengthy to put it all into an Instagram post, so I made that first draft into a blog post instead!
What was yesterday’s Tuesday Tip? Be aware of market trends, but always write what you want to.
But, Kaila, isn’t that sometimes contradictory?
Not necessarily.
When you look at what’s on the market, it’s more than just the story itself. It’s also the artwork. The tropes. The style of writing. The atmosphere and tone. Some writers will see that and believe they have to write a book that echoes all of that in what’s already published. The plot has to be similar, the characters need to fit into the same category, the sentences and lines have to be a certain pace or length. But that’s not true.
First and foremost, it’s important that you write what you’re passionate about even more than considering the market. If you try to tailor everything to market, it’s likely you’re not going to tell the story you want to. And that can end up being obvious to the reader. If you’re not passionate about it, they won’t be, either.
So what can you do?
Focus on the reader’s expectations and go from there.
Let’s say you’re writing a poetry book about being a parent. But you think, a lot of poetry books out there are about romantic relationships (either building or losing them), or self-discovery, or the state of the world. How will mine fit in to that market?
Well, let’s see. A parent-child relationship is still a relationship. So what expectations do readers have with romantic relationship poetry collections? Generally, there’s a story playing out from start to present. Little snapshots of the growth and pitfalls and hard times and good times. That’s translatable to a parent-child relationship.
What about the style? Maybe you write in longer, flowy language instead of the shorter poems that are quite popular. What could you draw from those poems and apply to yours? Emotional language is a good place to look. Those poets are tugging on heart strings. You can do that no matter the length of your lines.
See what I mean? It’s about finding the expectations of the readers in your target audience and playing to those more than the specific content.
For myself, I’m writing a fantasy novel. It doesn’t have a morally grey love interest, or enemies to lovers, or a magic system, all of which are highly popular right now. BUT people are also gravitating towards slow-burn romances. They’re expecting to be drawn in by characters, possibly more so than the plot. They’re expecting the cover to look a certain way. And all of those things I can cater to.
Market trends are important, but they’re not the be-all and end-all of writing a book. Keep them in the back of your mind while writing, and see how you can incorporate them in. Of course, there may be some things that are so far out of market range that it may not be great to write about – a very dark children’s book that has no staples to ground it in what’s currently out there; a story that’s entirely plot focused and the characters don’t really matter; incredibly ornate, flowery, purple-prose infused poetry. There may be exceptions, but those exceptions still need to find ways to connect to the existing market.
Basically, don’t write for the market, but see how yours can mesh with it.
Tell me, what do you think about writing to market? What does it mean for you?
Quick note: parts of this post are inspired by a webinar I saw with Michael La Ronn though Be a Bestseller 4.0. Thanks, Michael!