Trends May Not Be What You Think

I heard these comments at a recent conference.

Some authors were assuming if there was a ton of one type of book out there on the shelves now, that must be the new hot trend. Some other authors were taking a different approach and believing, if there are no books like theirs, they would be the one's starting the trend. While both comments are "sort of true" authors have to remember there are a lot of other variables that might be coming into play.

Let's start with the overabundance of your style of writing. 

IF and this is a big IF, you have this many books showing up AND it is early the trend, you may have some chances to get your book out there. The one word of warning to remind you of, is that these books you are seeing on the shelve were purchased easily 1 year ago. And that leads to the second potential problem. Let me explain...

There was a recent push for sports romances, and more specifically, hockey romances. It seemed like every publisher was buying a ton of these books. But here came the problem... They had bought so many of the books, that they overwhelmed the readers. When the readers shifted to a new concept, publishers were stuck with books they just could not get rid of. So they started dumping the books. This is part of the reason you started seeing so many of the books at great rates. It wasn't that they were trying to get new business. They were simply trying to unload stock.

Not really a place to be as someone selling products

Now, let's go to that other side of the equation. What if there are no books out there on your topic. Yes, this could mean there is a vacuum and you could set a new trend. HOWEVER, the odds are that is not going to happen. The reality is, if there are no books on the shelves, it meant the book buyers were not seeing a need, and that would trickle back to the publishers who were not looking for those books in the first place.

The reality is, if you want to look for trends, you have to just look around you and do some critical thinking. Pendulums swing. If everyone is into happy rom-cons they will likely say, we're tired of these and we want something else. If they are tired of fantasy, they will want reality. 

Hope that helps for a Tuesday!