What Is NOT in right now!

OK, so you want trends? I can't give you those. What I can tell you are things that people are not really buying right now, or if they are, you dang well better bring something TOTALLY amazing. 

Mafia Dark Romances are going out of style - This is according to my 20 year old daughter who is a voracious reader and lives on BookTok! Can  you spin it? I think so, but you better bring something new.

Romantasy? - Right now, there is really only one big name author who has the market going. Another is trying hard to hold on but the readers on BookTok (thank you daughter) has said they don't care about the new books). At this point, everyone has done nothing but copy previous book stories, plots and trope. WE ARE EXHAUSTED!!!!!

Historicals - These are just a plain hard sell right now. Bridgerton killed the market. Readers today, I hate to say it, are not intellectual (yes, I know that sounds bad but they like easy fast reads with not a whole lot going on). I personally think that if you do Historicals it needs to be in WWII and more of a women's fiction spin but...

Women's Fiction - Sorry but mentioning Colleen Hoover is probably not the best approach right now. I am not saying she is a bad author, but... the drama she brings might not be what you want to attach to your stories. People want stories for their book clubs that they want to talk about. Do they want drama. NO, and I say that out loud! Oh, and here is a hint. Not every husband has to cheat on their marriage to get the story going.

New Adult - College kids sleeping around is a thing. I get it! But does this really make a great story? Um no. I wrote about this once before. What is the take away? If you want to do something like this, make sure you have a real message here. 

Now, here is my list of things I still do not like:

• I don't like band/rock star stories
• DO NOT pitch me duel POV stories
• If it is a time travel, the time travel MUST be integral to the storyline
• Don't pitch a Christmas story unless you are already an established Harlequin, Tule, or Hallmark author.
• Don't tell me your story is one thing and then change it when you submit. BE HONEST!