Should you write what you love or write what sells? Is it possible to do both?
In this episode of Writing Break, we explore how writers can stop chasing trends and, instead, find the overlap between personal passion and commercial viability.
If you have plot bunnies coming out of your plot holes, it’s time for a writing break.
n homage to Louis Bromfield's:
So, in this episode, we're meeting at the crossroads of Write What You Want Street and Write What Sells Avenue. I think this is where many writers start their careers. You know how it goes, you're told, "write what you want" but what they mean is, "what what you want, as long as it sells."
We get it, right? Publishing is a business. Books cost money to produce. Writers, editors, agents . . . heck, your entire publishing team needs to eat. Many writers sit at the keyboard and think, what's the return on investment for this book?
And the long shadow that reaches me no matter where I go or what I do is the thought that time is a priceless and limited resource. What I want when it comes to you and me and all of the authors I work with is to know that we are spending our inextensible time doing the things we really want to do. Does that mean I really want to be doing this podcast? You bet your fountain pen I do.
Look, I know writing exclusively for yourself is not the answer if your goal is publication. You're going to want people to read your stuff, so giving the people what they want matters. But to what extent?
The Writing Break cafe is open, so let's head inside and I'll share what helps writers walk the line between muse-driven writing and market-driven writing.
Over the years, I've met writers who abandoned projects they cared a lot about because they became convinced there was no market for them. I've also met writers who chased trends they didn't enjoy because they believed commercial success required it. Neither group seemed particularly pleased with their decisions, but publishing has always been a blend of creativity and commerce.
Books are creative works, yes, but they are also products. Writers tell stories because they have something to say, something they want to explore, something they can't stop thinking about. At the same time, books need readers. If nobody reads the work, the author remains unfulfilled.
When writers love what they're working on, they're often more willing to research and revise. The work is challenging and meaningful, and the book gets good. But the muse does not care about readership or royalties. This might result in a 600-page experimental novel about caskets. That's going to be a hard sell.
Sometimes writers become so attached to their personal interests that they stop considering their audience. Meanwhile, market-driven writing begins with audience demand. Instead of asking: "What do I want to write?" The writer asks: "What do readers currently want to read?" And, yes, this approach has its advantages. Understanding your audience is not "selling out." Knowing genre expectations, reader preferences, commercial opportunities, and publishing trends is part of the job of being a writer. Like it or not.
Other than potential lifelong unhappiness, why not chase trends? You can certainly try, as long as you understand you might be running after a train that has already left the station. Trends move quickly, but publishing does not. By the time a writer notices a trend, finishes a manuscript, and publishes it, the trend might be fading or oversaturated. Not always, but it could take you over a year to find out.
So, what's a passionate writer to do? Consider my two-step plan.
First, Venn diagram the situation. And yes, I did just use Venn diagram as a verb. Ask yourself, where do my interests intersect with reader demand?
Maybe you love history, so what kinds of historical fiction are readers actively seeking? Maybe you love thrillers, so what can you bring to that genre that feels distinctive? Every one of us has at least one idea that fascinates us far more than it fascinates anybody else. Your goal is to find the place where your interests become relevant to readers.
Once you've got that, you can move on to the second part, which is to build a bridge between your fascination and the reader's curiosity. Remember that, even though you're deeply immersed in your own interests, when readers discover you, they are arriving fresh to the topics and themes in your book. You've spent months or years thinking about these topics, and now you have to convince a reader to read it. How much time do you have to do that? About ten seconds, or as long as it takes to read the back cover of your book.
My recommendation for building that bridge is to identify your ideal reader, which is a concept I am obsessed with. I first talked about ideal readers on the podcast back in episode 7, but if you only go back to one episode to hear me talk about your ideal reader, go to episode 45. I'll link both in the show notes. But, the basic idea is, you create a composite of your target audience and keep this reader person in mind as you write. This can be as vague or specific as you want, but let's create a communal character for Writing Break. We'll use the gender-neutral and easy to pronounce name Dana. Maybe Dana is our Writing Break barista. Why not? As you write and revise, remember that you're doing it for Dana. Being that Dana is your ideal reader, the person you are writing the book for, ask yourself, will Dana find this fact interesting? Will Dana think this scene has gone on too long? The more you do this, the more of a solid audience begins to form in your mind.
Start a relationship with your ideal reader the moment you sit down to write. You're not betraying your artistic vision, ok? Understanding your audience is part of your job as a writer.
In the end, you need a sustainable writing process. Focusing exclusively on the market could lead to burn out, but focusing exclusively on personal interests could lead to rejection.
And rejection, whether by publishers or readers, could lead to resentment. Some writers resent the market for not rewarding the stories they most want to tell. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Rudyard Kipling are among these resentful writers. Others resent themselves for writing books they don't actually enjoy. Writers are not wrong for loving what they love, but readers are under no obligation to care about a subject just because the author does.
As for your overthinking prompt for the week, ask yourself, "What am I excited enough to spend years writing, and what audience might be excited to read it?"
If you already have a work in progress, answer the following four questions. One, why do you want to write this book? Two, who do you believe will want to read it? Three, what makes the project meaningful to you? Four, what makes it appealing to readers?
Then think about where the answers to those questions overlap and where they conflict. The good news is, you don't have to choose between authenticity and success. In the end, readers just want to read a good book, and they respond well to books that feel as though they could only have been written by one particular person.
That's all for this Writing Break. I'll be back next time with the latest publishing news.
Until then, thank you so much for listening, and remember, you deserved this break.
