Trends Change and Some Thoughts #MSWL

I know this might come as a shock to some of you, but trends change.

Whaaaaaaaaaattttttttt???

I know, it is early in the morning and I am trying to be Captain Obvious. The point is, a trend is just that. Something that comes in, hangs around for a while and then disappears. (Kind of like a great character in a romance novel).

Publisher and agents are always out there trying to figure out what the next trend is. Between the editors and agents, the editors really have the harder time at this because they have to put their money where their mouth is. For agents, we are often a couple of steps behind them. For us, we might not put our money out there, but we are putting in a lot of time on projects that may or may not sell.

So, what are we looking for?

We are watching society around us. We are watching sales of books. We are watching what people are putting out there on the bookshelves. We are still guessing. We tend to know a trend is on the verge of ending or slowing when we see both a combination of a flood on the market, followed by what seems a trend of everything looking or sounding alike, to a subtle shift in sales and what editors are buying. For this last point, if you see a trend where they are leaning more on their established authors for releases, this might be a hint. 

At a conference over the summer, I remember sitting on a panel an we were asked the traditional question of what we thought were trends. I stated that I truly believed Romantasy was already dying out. There was a gasp. How could it be! But if you watched, following Sarah J. Maas and her incredible success with her series, suddenly everyone ran to their closets and spiced up those dragon stories (or something similar). The market was flooded. 

And then that group of readers realized "seen it, done it" and moved on to Dark Romances.

One of my authors recently stumbled upon an article that was a bit disappointing for her. Historicals were slowing down... gasp!

But come on, now that I have pointed this out to you, it should not be a shock. When Bridgerton hit, and the public was ready for Quinn's series, (which by the way was already out YEARS earlier), the historical market went wild. Did you pay attention to the movies showing up on Netflix, HBO, and Prime? The market was flooded. 

Now, does it mean these books will not sell. Absolutely not. As my author noted, it is time to just reshape what we are doing and stick to it. Good job! 

The key is to find a way to recraft something. It isn't that the editors and agents are going to say, "Ewwww, another historical." They still love these stories (at least those editors who have always read and loved the stories). They will just be looking for something new. Give us a new spin. 

So, if you want my thoughts, here is where I think we are heading to...

Contemporary romance stories are still going to be there, but I think these are going to be more in the line of a "real world feel" and more of something reading like a women's fiction story. These will still be romances but less of the rom-con feel like we are seeing now. Personally, I think the sports stories are gone or will be soon.

Historicals are still going to be there, but I do think that we are going to see some shifts to different time periods. I am still going to stick to the WWII eras. I am thinking these are going to give people more of a feel like we see with stories such as the new Tom Hanks movie and Young Woman and the Sea. Think that feel, but make it a romance.

Suspense and Thriller are going to take a shift from the "damsel in distress" to more of a feel like we see in something like Citadel.

Paranorma? Who knows....

Women's Fiction - I think these are going to be less about "drama" and "crisis" but more of stories about reflection. I think people are going to go in a different direction then feeling bad after reading a book.

Enjoy!

For Those Of You Using Query Manager

This last summer, I started using Query Manager at the encouragement of others in the business. "It's so easy to keep track of submissions," they said. Personally, my spreadsheet that I use with my regular submissions, as well with with the new Query Manager systems seems to be working fine, but hey, if people want it, I'm willing to give it a try.

And yet, this is far from a successful experinece.

First of all, so many authors just hit send to everyone who they think "is accepting their genre." Do they go to the website to see what we really want? Nope. So they end up with rejections simply because they did not do their research.

Secondly, when we have to set up our Query Manager page, we have to identify what we accept. For me, as you all know, I ONLY accept ROMANCE and WOMEN'S FICTION. But for anyone who understands the business of publishing, these do have subcategories such as Historical Romance, Paranormal Romance, Romantic Suspense and so forth...

Query manager does not have that option...

So I have to mark things such as Historical, Paranormal as well as just standard Romance. I make sure I post in as many places where I think authors should be reading that I only take romance and women's fiction. And yet, clearly these writers do not read. I am sorry but I do not read  WWII Naval Sea Battle stories. Is this historical? Yes. Is it Historical Romance, absolutely not.

Finally, query letters are like cover letters. When you send in that resume, and you include a cover letter, you take the time to demonstrate to the employer how you fit with what that company is looking for in a candidate. 

In all honesty, if you want to reduce the number of rejections you get, quit using Query Manager. There is a reason why so many agents and editors like it. We can simply hit decline with that form letter (similar to the one you just sent us) and get on with the rest of our day.

Don't Rush Editors and Agents

I tell authors when they submit to me, to give me up to three months to answer your query. Now, in reality, I get really annoyed with myself when I extend that to over 1 month. However, in recent weeks, I have had several authors (let me know that every one of these were from Query Manager submissions) write to me after I requested a partial telling me that they just heard from another agent and need an answer from me immediately. In one author's case, she had sent me a query, I replied the next day (good timing on her part) she sent me the partial a couple of days later and then in 5 days, was pushing to get a reply back because someone else had asked for a full and was now offering representation. 

There are couple of things to say here. 

First, you should only send out projects to agents that are at the top of your list. If any of those offer, you should take it. Telling that person you want to wait to hear from someone else implies you were not their first choice. 

Secondly, remember that agents DO have their own clients they work with and those people take a priority over your new submission. As for editors, they also have to work with their own authors as they navigate the publishing gauntlet as well, even if they did like your writing, having to take it to the team to see if it fits with the all of the other projects.

Finally, and I honestly think there are authors out there doing this, telling agents in particular you have an "offer" when you don't, or maybe the other agent just asked to see a full is not cool. I have no way of proving this, but my gut instinct says it is happening. 

I get it. It takes you all of 10 minutes to click on every agent out there on Query Manager who might be looking for your genre. It might take you all of 1 hour (I am really stretching that one) to copy and paste that same generic, non-specific query letter to every agent who's last name ends with E-G and hit send. 

This business takes time. 

You SHOULD be looking for an agent that does more than just crank out contact negotiations for you. You work for an agent for a long time to build your career. 

If you just want to get that immediate satisfaction of saying your are a published author, please, take the time to check out those self-publishing sites. As for me, I am going to continue to take the time necessary to find quality authors and quality stories.

If It's Not Working, Do Something Different!

I have found myself returning to a quote recently far too often. It is often misattributed to Albert Einstein, but right now, it is just the quote that matters.

Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. 

Unfortunately, far too many authors are not paying attention to this idea. There is this belief that if you believe in your writing, stick to it. Eventually, someone will like it. While a part of that might seem true, if you keep getting those rejections then the odds are, you might need to take a different approach.

I am not saying that you should jump over to a different genre if the one you have been trying is failing. Stick to that. What we are talking about is the way you are writing that genre.

I often get authors who I have passed on earlier, send me a new project. Because I do keep notes of what I thought about a project I passed on, I will always go back, check that reference, and then see if they have done something different. The majority of the time, the approach they took is almost always the same as the prior story (or stories). These authors did not change what they were doing. 

If you want to see this first hand. start paying attention to the contest finalist for the partials they sent in to local contests. You will likely see many of the same people showing up time and time again. What you will also see is that the majority of these authors never make it past those contest wins. Sure, they are winning with random readers who like their writing, but if you want to make it to that first contract, the people you have to wow over are the editors and agents.

So, what can you do?

First, read those rejection letters. Really see what they said about your story. (Yes I know some editors and agents don't send letters, so work with the letters you do get). If you are seeing a pattern, fix that issue.

Secondly, take deep dives into those debut authors and see what they are doing. Really dissect that story and see if what they are doing is what you are doing. No, this is not the plot that you are looking at, or they type of character, it is the approach they took to writing the story. 

Finally, get eyes on your project from people who "truly know". No, not your critique group. No, not your family. Real people who have successfully published traditionally. I stress traditionally because anyone can self-publish. You want those who have run the gauntlet and have gotten that great feedback. Have them help. And yes, this does mean joining a real professional writing organization.