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Write What You Want…
Why do you write what you write?
Why do you read what you read? Well, isn’t the reason because it’s what interests you? What you like?
So you write what you like. Correct?
That said, do some writers chase the market? Agents and publishers say they want this genre or that genre because that’s what’s selling right now. Well, we all know that what you write today might not be what’s hot by the time your book is published (traditionally, of course) next year; as many know it’s at least a year out until a book is published once a publisher agrees to publish it.
I write what I want to write, and I don’t chase the market. My current publisher, once they agree to publish my manuscript, places it on their calendar a year out. Again, yes, this genre it hot and that one is not (at the moment), but books in ALL genres are still published each month and year-by-year. I like detective stories and historical fiction. There are plenty new ones published each month.
Yes, we’d all love that (elusive) big contract and make a lot of money and chasing the market is what some think they should do to make that happen. But, realistically, not many of us will. (Keep hope alive however, right and keep trying?). But I write for the exhilaration of seeing a finished work.
So write what you want.
I think I’d struggle to write to market, especially being quite new to writing. When I do write though, like you say, it’s something that interests me and I enjoy putting down every word.
I’m lucky that I enjoy writing in different genres and that they happen to be commercial genres. I couldn’t force myself to write in a genre I wasn’t interested in; there would be no heart in it and I doubt I’d be motivated to finish. Market awareness is important though,… Read more »