Holiday Time Is Not The Time To Write A Holiday Story

I know you love these stories. We all do. Secretly, some people binge watch those shows on tv during the summer with hot chocolate and a blanket and pretend it's winter. But then, the holiday season rolls around and now you think, it is time for you to write that story. Heck, every publisher must need a new story each year, so why not you?

Well my friends, especially you new authors, I would suggest you avoid taking that route. Stick to what you are doing. I know, you really want to write it, but this is going to be a lot of wasted time on your part and the odds are going to be against you.

First of all, remember that this IS a limited market. There is not a whole lot of flexibility for the editors which, of course means, limited "shelf space." They will only be putting out so many books each year. You are also limiting yourself because there are only a few publishers who take this sub-genre of book so now you are even making your search even harder. For agents, if you are to pitch this to me, I am potentially looking at a "one-hit-wonder." Remember, I am looking for you to be in this for the long-haul and not just for one book. Even if I did sell that single book and we got an advance on it, the odds are, you would not sell through that advance and the time I spent (and you) would not be worth the income we receive.

Now, here comes the bigger issue. Remember I said that there is limited shelf space? The publishers want to make sure these books sell so they will be giving those coveted slots to the writers who have been selling and they know WILL bring in the sales. I remember being at a conference a while back right as the holiday books were coming out and I overheard one author complaining that she was not getting a holiday book that year and she had a really good story. She was not happy when she was told that they wanted to build up her sales more and create a stronger following. What this author was complaining about was that she had sold before (NOTE: self-pub and only digital and her numbers were not there... I looked up the information later). She believed that those numbers should count.  In the end, this is still about the selling of a product.

Truthfully, stick to what you are doing. Keep those holiday stories on the back burner. There may be a chance later on to write on!