You just got back from the bookstore and you are totally stoked about what you saw. There are a ton of Dark Romances centered around the sport of Curling. OMG! This is amazing. Hot guys with brooms on ice! You couldn't ask for more!
So, off you go to write your next great novel.
Might want to wait a bit. This might not be the best idea and this might be time wasted. This is also one of those times when I always say, if you don't understand the business of publishing, you might want to take the time to learn! This is a business of time.
What is hot now means that it was hot over a year ago when the editors started the process of buying those books and editing those books. Heck, those books were hot, probably 2 years ago when the authors got the ideas to put those fat guys out there on the ice and some agent and editor figured it might be worth a try and give it a run.
Remember all of those Hockey Romantic Comedies? Those things were all over the place? But if an author even attempted to reach out to an editor, they were being turned away left and right and were completely confused? If these books were this hot, why were the books being turned away? Because they editors had bought so many of them, they had a ton on their shelves. Now they were doing their best to just get them out of their warehouses. They had gambled the trend would have kept going a bit longer. It didn't.
Publishing is a game of guessing and gambling. Editors and agents have no idea what the future holds. We look around us and see what is happening now and try to guess what might happen. If something is selling now, will it be selling a year from now? Who knows? Editors may be telling people, we don't need westerns and all of a sudden, everyone out there may want westerns? Why? Who knows?
So, the next time you are at a conference and you hear an editor or agent say, "Just write the best dang book you have!" they mean it! Why? It may be the next trend? It may not? Who knows.
No comments:
Post a Comment