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| Photo credit: Horia Varlan on Flickr |
So when slaving away at their WIPs
and rummaging through bookstores, writers often wonder how much they should be
paying attention to the market while they write their books.
While I think it's important for
writers to be aware of what publishing trends are rising in the book market
(and, conversely, what is becoming more difficult to sell), and while I think
it's especially important for writers to be well versed in their genre, I truly
believe that it's far more important for writers to write the stories they want
to write regardless of what's going on in the market.
Hear me out. The state of the
publishing market is something that is completely out of the writer's control.
What's more, it's a well-known fact that what is popular today probably won't
be the hot in-thing in five years. That's not to say it won't be selling then,
but publishing trends only last so long.
Writing a book, meanwhile, takes
an excruciatingly long time. Even if you're a ridiculously prolific writer who can
pound out a first draft in a month and revise in three and you either a)
self-publish four months after writing the first draft with a fantastically
revised novel done in record speed or b)
manage to find an agent and land a publishing contract immediately (which
usually takes time), in the case of the self-published writer it takes time to
build buzz for your book, and in the case of the traditionally published writer
it can take up to two years (or more, even) just to get that story on the
shelves. By the time that novel is released (or really builds up buzz), who
knows what the market will look like?
Then of course, there's the
opposite problem of writers who write to a trend that already passed because
they love the genre and spend time worrying about whether or not it'll be able to
sell. Again, the state of the publishing market is something out of our control. The energy spent
worrying about the trends could be spent bettering your book, instead.
Look, I'm not an agent or a
publishing expert, nor will I pretend to be. But from what I understand, (and I could be wrong here) if
you're looking to publish traditionally, very few agents are going to turn down
an excellent story that they absolutely love just because you "missed the
boat" so-to-speak, as far as trends go. And by the same token, very few agents
(or publishing companies) are going to pick up a mediocre story that was
written quickly just to fit the current market.
And I suspect it's not all that
different for self-published writers: a good book is going to sell regardless
of publishing trends and a mediocre book that fits the market, well, not so
much.
In short, I think it's important
for writers to be aware of the market, but it's far more important for writers
to focus on writing a fantastic book. If you can manage that, your book will
find a place in the market regardless of what the trends look like.
Now it's your turn: Do you think
writers should write to the market? How important is it for writers to be aware
of the publishing trends?
