Write the story in your heart.
One of the questions I'm often asked in relation to my writing is why I don't like to write stories that are "on trend" or "to market". The answer is that, though I have no issue with stories that are on trend or written to market, my own stories are often just not that way fundamentally. What does "to market" mean? Well, reader preferences often create the market standard in the concepts and tropes that drive books being published. Stories that are written to market purposefully are designed by the author to appeal to all the things readers of the moment are specifically interested in. An example is the deluge of vampire-centric stories that were published in the wake of Twilight popularity, or the books that are akin to Game of Thrones since readers loved them and wanted more like it. There's absolutely nothing wrong with a writer who knows what their audience wants an gives it to them, that's good business. Authors who can write the stories they love and appease audience appetite have the winning formula.
There are plenty of downsides to being a writer who strives to write "to market". Often, writers find that reader tastes change as randomly as wind direction. It can be hard to keep up with ensuring your books are meeting the new audience expectation at every turn. It's also a real possibility that other authors will write books that go after the new trend, and eventually readers find the market saturated with books to choose from, making it hard to stand out in a sea of books that are a lot like yours in generality.
Trying to fit in to the "market" can be a real source of pressure for writers these days. I know, because I struggled with this for the first few years my own writing career. I knew what was popular and I tried really hard to make sure my books were fitting into that mold, despite the fact that it really hurt my writing overall to do so. What do I mean by that? Well, I'm the kind of writer who thrives on writing stories that she feels passionate about, but many of the concepts that were popular did not fit in with my own voice or style. I was sacrificing the things that made me ME in order to write stories that I thought might sell better. It wasn't until I was nearly completely burned out with the struggle to sell that I decided that I couldn't continue to chase the trends anymore. Of course, as an author, that was both a business and a creative decision to make. I knew that no longer following the market might hurt my sales, but also knew that I'd eventually find myself forcing myself to write books I didn't love if continued.
Authenticity isn't always a popular concept in fiction writing. Of course, it's touted as being extremely important, but it's actually sometimes a hindrance in a business that really relies on being what the majority wants even if that's not what you want. Every writer who publishes for public consumption has to decide how much they'll follow the market and how much they'll follow their heart. Only the very few lucky ones are writing exactly what the market wants because it's what they really love to do.
Each writer has to choose for themselves how they write their stories. For me, creative expression, mixing of tropes and genres, telling stories in new and exciting ways, was more important than following the trend. I knew that choice would cost me sales. It is absolutely possible to find a way to appeal to the reading market and write your own way, but it requires a lot of time and effort to blend the two. I try to do enough of both so that my stories appeal, but might give the reader a different experience once they purchase it. That satisfies my creative heart and gives readers a bit of what they were looking for.
If you're interested in reading a book that's a bit different, but might still have all the things you're looking for, try an AR DeClerck book today!
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