I signed up for Publishers Marketplace or whatever it is where you get notice of the deals made on books everyday. Someone said it was a good idea to understand the marketplace if you were trying to sell a book.
But no kidding, it just scares me. Every book has some supernatural element. Or is set in a remote place. Or features recipes. Or afghan patterns. Or dogs that are afghans. and solve crimes Or creatures from other worlds that fly and fight. Doesn't anyone write about regular folks? Do you ever consider adding such an element just to make it sell?
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I look at it this way. Stuart MacBride has already started on "Book of the Fifth," which is about cops in a second-tier industrial city (albiet in Scotland, which is exotic outside the UK and Ireland). It's all he does for a living.
Therefore, I can write a police novel set in a second-tier industrial city.
Just in case, I have a wizarding world-meets-Alias idea in reserve.
I'd rather set books between the fifties and sixties-no technology and no historical research needed for someone my age.
It's not a question of whether you should throw in flying saucers, a vampire, a recipe, or a sixth century Chinese girl.
It's a question of whether you should throw in flying saucers, a vampire, a recipe, and a sixth century Chinese girl.
Absolutely not. Not all deals are reported, particularly for established authors, and it goes through phases. Don't take any of it too too seriously, although it's good to understand what's going on, and who represents what and who sells what.
I'd like to see a new book set in the fifties - a misunderstood decade if there ever was one, all boiling just below the surface.
If I could only pull it off, Megan.
John-Did you watch Mad Men? That's pretty much how I remember it although I was only a child.
Sandra-I hope you're right because I am so out-imagined.
Just because a particular genre is popular in some segment right now doesn't mean it always will be.
And it doesn't mean that books that don't fit that genre aren't popular.
I think being aware of the market is good, but not to the point of trying to game it. That way lies madness.
You can only write what's in your head, but I wish mine was more exploratory sometimes. I am so rooted in the ordinary. Oh, for a little of this kind of thing. aa2579
What Stephen said. Write about what you want to write about. It's the passion that counts.
I've got a supernatural element in my current WIP (somewhat like the immortality in Being John Malkovich). Hopefully it won't end up being tacky.
Loved Being John Malkovich although I always incorrectly remember the title as Inside John Malkovich. Go for it. And if you can get a recipe or two in, so much the better.
Oooh, cooking. I forgot about that. Maybe I could throw in a recipe for a 1920s Cure-All Elixir.
Don't joke about that. I have a brochure of my grandfather's famous apple cure-all.
"Inside John Malkovich" That's a different movie all together - and not one I'd want on my netflix queue.
Write what you will and you'll end up with better material than you would trying to write someone else's style or subject matter.
Patti, did you sign up for the free newsletter, or did you join PM? If you got the "upgraded" paid membership, then you've got to set up your page there and link it here - it's terrific exposure they they update the number of hits your page gets hourly!
I'll have to look into doing that. Thanks. I thought I just got to look at the deals. Never bothered to check into other perks.
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