I am not sure if this is the right area however please move if not. But I am curious what is the selling genre nowadays? I haven't read that often, except for the old classics, [LOTR, Hobbit, Mody Dick, etc] so one can say I am tad out of date. So what genre does the most nowadays? And iis it better to do action - blood, etc - or romance like the Twilight stuff.
From what I've read in trends it's books classified as Mystery/Thriller/Crime - James Patterson and the like. But never decide on what you want to write based on trends. If you have nothing invested in vampires, or crime thrillers your work could sound forced or hallow. Always pick something that holds your interest.
Chicagoliz said it best. Don't worry about the trends, what people want, or any of that. Write what you want!
go to your local book store and see what's on the shelves. it's as easy as that. tastes change all the time. see what is modern and selling. then write the story that you want to write.
it doesn't matter what sells now, because if you're just starting to write a novel, it'll be years before it can reach bookstore shelves, even if you're lucky enough to buck the enormous odds and snag an agent and publisher on the first try... writing will take you a year or more... querying and getting an agent can take that long--or more [if ever]... the agent snagging a publisher can take the same amount of time--or more [if ever]... and if/when the book does have a publisher, it takes from one and a half to two years from the date of signing the contract, to the release of a book... add it up! so, write what you can write best and don't waste time trying to predict what will be 'hot' when/if you ever finish it and it gets 'out there'...
First eliminate what does NOT sell - bad writing. If you can purge bad writing from your system, you'll be well ahead of most wanna-be writers. Ditto Mama regarding chasing trends, too. Leave it to the *publishers* to chase trends. If Ninja-Cyborgs are the new, hot thing, they will A) mine their slush piles for finished manuscripts about Ninja-Cyborgs, and if that fails they could always B) farm out the chore to a writer/team who already has a reputation for quick turn-around. -Frank
I like this statement, but it's harder than everything else said here combined. Unless you write a book, save some kid from drowning, get on a talk show and mention your book, you have no chance in heck. I have been trying to give my work away and have been told to get lost. I read this somewhere and I think it is accurate. "By default, nobody cares about your book."
This is a tad extreme. Although in some respects, it might at times seem easier than going the traditional publishing route. First time authors are published quite frequently. It's just difficult to hit that sweet spot of having something well written that publishers believe will sell. I'd say it's more like 'most people don't care about your book.' All you can do is keep at it, and work to make yourself pleased with your writing.
Like others said, good writing, excellent storytelling. As for genres, it's my understanding that romance has held its own and even increased some. Of the genres that have really fallen, westerns.
As others have said, I wouldn't advise tailoring your writing to what you think is popular. You'll end up with a better product overall if you write what you're passionate about rather than what you think is commercially viable. That said: young adult fiction is now a big slice of the market, romance and erotica are both selling very well on digital platforms, fantasy and the supernatural are generally pretty prevalent, and there's something of a dystopia fad that's just beginning to die out.
Westerns have pretty much morphed into science fiction subgenres. Settling sparsely populated frontiers, border wars, conflicts over resources, and lone justice were themes of the Western genre that are now realized primarily in science fiction.
In an earlier post about writing, you said that you "don't claim to be good at it". So I'm not sure why you say all this about saving a kid from drowning--surely the prerequisite for selling a book is to be good at writing. And that's even the prerequisite for giving away a book--for most people, their investment in a book is about the hours that they spend reading it, not the dollars that they spend buying it. A free book "costs" almost as much as a full-price book.
Right on, ChickenFreak! Also, to think a bit about the flip side of the original question, if everyone wrote what was most popular, everyone would write Romance, since that generally sells the most. (People can also buy them by the dozen, as they are quick reads, from my understanding.) But let's say for a moment that all writers had the ability to write good romance, and that's what everyone did. Think about how hard it would be to write a Romance that really stood out, and gained notice and was so different that everyone HAD to read the one you wrote. Then if, instead, you wrote a sci fi, think how different that would be -- it would be noticed much easier, because no one had written anything like it. It would be fresh and new. And it probably wouldn't even have to be as good to get noticed as a romance would have to be to get noticed. (Although it would still have to meet a certain threshold of 'good.')
If you want to know what sells, you must first look at what people 'need.' The best selling items are those that have a functional purpose, and are not just good for want and desire. Now some people might say, that art is one of the things that define us as a society, so therefor it's essential. So, with that being said, you have two paths to follow, you can write a groundbreaking story that reaches out of the book and pulls the readers nose deep between the spine, or some piece of garbage that desperate people can use as a bathroom book, where if someone runs out of toilet paper, the pages of the book become a 'need.' So I guess it's up to you, do you want to write for 'need' or for 'want?'
Well, what really sells are new interesting stuff. Although, novels with vampires as heroes like twilight and vampire diaries dominates the world of literature, romance novels are still selling well. I suggest that instead of following the trend, give your novel a little twist and combine romance with action. If you follow the trend, it will be difficult to cmpete with the other best selling novel.
