Your Book Of The Heart May Not Sell

Writers are often told to write the book of their heart and not write to trends. In other words, write what you are truly passionate about. I will often add that many writers will often be told that simply, if the story is great, it will sell. While there are certainly some aspects of this that are true, the reality is that this is a business, and the laws of supply and demand and market research still apply. Your story is a product and if there is not a market for it, the story simply will not sell.

I know this is a bit discouraging, but writers have to look beyond their writing if they plan on becoming a professional, selling author.

As an agent, I look at the initial premise of the story and often times, will pass on projects simply because the market is not buying that type of book. For those of you who have been around for a while, you have seen just this. In the early 2000's the hot item to sell was Chick Lit. You wrote one of those and you were a hot commodity. But then the market became saturated. Supply exceeded demand and guess what? If you used the words "Chick Lit" in your query letter or pitch, it was immediate death. Sure, people tried to use "RomCon" instead, but we all knew just what you were talking about.

Now, I know what some of you are saying. "There has to be someone who starts a trend! There has to be someone who is first!" I have to 100% agree with you. Someone does have to be first. But, these are the rare exceptions in this business. This is a HUGE gamble and one that only a rare few will ever win!

So, does this mean "you sell out?" Yes, I used that phrase because I know a lot of you are thinking that. The answer is no! We still want you to write what you are passionate about. We still want you to put your heart and soul into that story. Believe me, your passion does come out in the writing. But to be successful ALSO means that you have to do market research. You have to take the time to see if this project will really sell.

OK, so how do you do this? The first thing I would say is take the time (yes we are back to taking your time) to see what is currently out there on the book shelves. Look to the NEW releases and not the re-releases of authors. I would also encourage you to look at NEW authors and not the established authors. Remember that those established authors can get away with a lot of things new authors cannot do. The other thing is to remember that new authors somehow caught the attention of those editors with something special. If you are seeing several (no, one is not a trend) writing in a particular direction, then that might be telling you something.

Remember, this is a business. Economics still rule sales. It is not your passion.