Write what you love...unless nobody wants to read it?

allmywires

allmywires

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Does anybody here think hard about the commercial viability of their WIPs?

A string of pretty encouraging rejections (but yet ultimately still rejections) have made me think whether 'write what you love' is actually good advice or not. I've written a book that I love dearly, but what if nobody else wants to read it? It's not bad writing - plenty of people have told me so. It's just...neither here nor there, and probably doomed to sit unsold and unloved in my 'Complete' folder on my computer for the rest of eternity.

Equally, of course, there's no point writing something you don't feel anything for just in the hope that it fits in with 'what's hot' in an indistinct future.

Thoughts?
 
If you don't write what you love, then you won't end up putting all your heart into the writing. It will feel less of a story than what it could have been had you actually wanted to write that story, rather than forcing yourself to because it would sell.

Honestly, I don't think writing for the market works either, because it requires you to predict the market. By the time you've written a book worth selling, the in fashion trend has moved on, unless you lower yourself to writing some quick rubbishy story. But surely writing professionally is like any other job in the way that what matters most is job satisfaction? Are you really going to be satisfied writing for the market?

I write what I want to write.
 
There is something to be said for writing with a view to it's commercial draw, but in all honesty, my ideas tend to spark themselves. If I had to sit down and try to think of new stories in regards to how commercial they'd be I expect I'd get nothing.

One way I'm trying to be a little more commercially minded is to write novellas in different niches. Instead of investing 100K into a novel that no one wants, I can write 30-50K for several smaller projects. I'm a indie author, and so I can get my work edited and onto the market pretty quickly. I think it's a great way of testing the waters. By writing shorter stories, I can see which take hold and then elaborate on them with sequels etc. It's a strategy used by many, including Hugh Howey, and his WOOL series has done very well off the back of it.

So, I say write what you love but don't invest too much time until you've seen what books spark interest and which don't.
 
Don't get disheartened, amw. If it's good enough, somebody will want to read it, and as fads change a time will come when many people want to read it.

Many agents want to stay safe and go with what's popular, but some will take a risk. Keep at the writing, let this project sit for a while, and come back to it again.
 
I think you should write what you love, but still, you should keep your audience in mind. That audience won't dictate what you write, perhaps, but might mean you tweak a little, not write to an ever changing market.


Example (from one of my earlier books under my name, which was a fantasy romance) my editors gave me some notes on my hero, pointing out things that would put a romance reader off him. He stayed essentially the same - sarcastic, dark, funny, a bit of an ego maniac. OK, a lot of an egoi maniac lol. But little things got changed. Sometimes all it took was one verb instead of another (romantic heroes should not giggle ;)), or recasting a sentence to give him a little more sympathy.
 
If you had asked that six months ago, I'd have said write what you love.

Now, though, I think slightly differently. Firstly, what's your motivation behind writing? To have it as an interesting hobby, or to become a writer. Because that motivation significantly changes things. If it's a fun thing to do at the end of the day, a distraction from work and college, that you'd hope one day to get something published in, then write what you love.

The couple of weeks I've spend working on queries etc has changed my mind a little.

I want to be a writer. I didn't when I first got here, but I've got the bug, it's the one thing I truly love doing. Having made that decision, my motivation has changed. The bottom line is if I want to be a writer, then I need to sell something. And if I want to sell something, I need to be marketable.

I wrote Inish for a competition, to fit its requirements, but also to have it at marketable length, in a genre that's doing well, with cross over appeal, which seems to be popular at the moment (both the Hunger games and Pittacus Lore's stuff have been released with adult covers and publisher guidelines that they are to be stocked in both YA and adult, where possible). Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed writing it, I wouldn't have got to end and done three edits with one more to come, if I didn't. But... I wrote it to have a chance at selling. And I learned to write queries (still a work in progress, admittedly) to sell it. And joined twitter to stalk agents to figure out who to sell it to... and I intend to continue writing the new one with a focus on the market, whilst also writing something I like.

So, what do you want to be? What's your motivation to write? That might be where the answer lies?
 
The problem is that it's a story with an expiration date. And it's genre-crossing in possibly the least marketable way possible. I knew it when I wrote it, but it was the story I wanted to tell, and I'm proud of it. So for me the wanting to get published isn't so much that I want to be a writer - I'm not doing this ridiculously hard degree for nothing! - but because I want my story to be told, and other people to read it, before it becomes irrelevant. I want to prove to myself as well that I am good enough. Selfish and arrogant reasons they may be, but it's what I want. And having feedback that proves I'm so close to what I want has made me a little frustrated.
 
That being the case:
I think Alc's post was a good one. You have only just started querying. If it's getting nays, you might want, eventually, to revisit and change it? I redid the start of AC cos I didn't think I'd started with the right hook, and will try submitting with that.
The Kindle option is there for the 'I wrote a book, here it is,' although I think it's a bit early for that!
But, mostly, give it time. It's so slow, it's frustrating, and it's a really competitive market, but tastes change, and markets change.
 
I know it's only early on, but to be getting such encouraging feedback...it grates! thanks for the advice though. I've been thinking about changing the beginning (the curse of beginnings!) but honestly I do think it's just the subject matter that's standing in the way, seriously, at the moment. I did send it off to a few more yesterday so I'll revisit this thread in 6 weeks or so with more complaints, haha.

The more I think about Kindle the more I desperately don't want to go there. It seems like a lot of marketing, social media, pushing it on people for what it's really worth. Especially when that time could be spent polishing and querying to more agents.
 
It's not the subject matter, it's you being melodramatic! I've been reading this thread at work, dying to log on and kick you up the arse Bishop Brennan stylee. I hope I can stay logged in long enough now.

I've read the story amw's on about and it is more than good. She's shown me the feedback she's been getting from agents and I'm so jealous!

It is not something 'nobody will want to read.' I'm going to keep telling you that until you believe me. I don't like football and yet I still enjoyed the story. Now, stop being a dingbat and listen to your Aunty Mouse. Keep submitting it, and submit it to the right places. Now, come along.
 
You might not when you hear what the genre it's crossed with is! (Hence my agent-ing problem).
 
What? What? There's recently been a big fuss about a baseball(?) YA story...


And to answer the question -- er. Don't know. Kind of hoping I can do both.
 
alchemist said:
Romance? Gay romance?

(*casts fishing line towards amw)
Click to expand...

Yes.... :eek:

It's not really romance though. It's a bit navel-gazing kind of literary type guff.

If you're interested I would be glad for some football/different perspective...?

edit: @Hex - what YA story?

@HB...now if only I'd thought of that!
 
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