WRITERCON NEWSLETTER #146—November 2023
The Hero's Journey, Agent/Editor Reports, William Martin & More!
ART VS. COMMERCE: WHAT DO I WRITE NEXT?
WELCOME BACK TO THE WRITERCON NEWSLETTER!
This is our first issue from Substack so it looks a little different, but it’s still the same old WriterCon Newsletter, totally free and here to help you on your path toward achieving your writing goals. Tomorrow will also see the release of the next issue of WriterCon Magazine, so it seemed logical to sample one of the top articles from the magazine, a lovely piece written by Desiree Duffy. Sometimes it’s hard to know what to write next (for me, too). I have an idea for a book…but that genre isn’t selling now…I need something commercial to get an agent or publisher…and so it goes. This article will explain the conundrum—and help you move past it.
Here’s the lineup for the magazine:
Key Takeaways from WriterCon 2023
Back to the Writers Future (World-Building)
The Hero’s Journey (Plotting)
The Art and Commerce Conundrum (Planning & Marketing)
Guided Opportunity (Inspiration)
MICE for Authors (Literary Agent)
Q&A with William Martin
5 Tips for New Screenwriters
I particularly like the way Desiree Duffy’s article on writers and marketing dovetails perfectly with the Authors Guild report released last week (and discussed on the Facebook WriterCon group). We’ve done our best to put together a magazine that will become essential writer-reading each month. Subscribe now!
THE ART & COMMERCE CONUNDRUM
by Desiree Duffy, Black Chateau Enterprises
With over two decades in marketing, branding, and PR, particularly focusing on writers who are both creative and commercially oriented, I’ve seen it all. From the romanticized notion of the lone-wolf writer closing themselves off in a cabin in the woods, believing their art is better if no one helps them, to the cold, hard business of pushing units in trope-heavy formulaic books—the tension between art and commerce is a constant reality. How do you balance the passion-driven realm of creative writing with the necessity of marketability? Let’s break it down together.
Artistic Integrity and Commercial Viability—Are We on Parallel Roads that Don’t Converge?
Writers often find themselves at a crossroads where artistic integrity and commercial viability seem mutually exclusive. It can seem like these roads should be running parallel, not converging. However, as someone who’s spent years standing in this intersection holding up signs for all to heed, I say no, these roads can indeed converge. With thoughtful planning and strategic execution, there’s a way to satisfy both the muse and the marketplace.
Knowing your audience and deciding to write to their tastes will get you fast on the road to marketability. The other direction is a winding path ridden with the unknown, but it’s going to feed your passion. Understanding the two is crucial in knowing how they may converge for you.
Think Like an Agent or a Publisher—What Are They Really Looking For?
Do know what literary agents and publishers are really looking for? Have you ever considered why the “marketing” section of a book proposal is there? Agents and publishers know the market, understand trends, and know a thing or two about consumer buying patterns. They want to select books and authors who are marketable, so they can make money. Full stop.
If you want your book to be marketable and therefore something you can monetize, then adapt to their thinking. This may also help you get the attention of agents and publishers (among a litany of other things to consider, but that’s a whole ’nuther topic) and get that coveted book deal.
Take some time to research your genre, look up similar authors and comp titles, and if you really want to knock their socks off, use research tools like Helium or Publisher Rocket to get sales data. How big the market is, how sales are trending, what genres are hot and getting hotter, all factor into your market analysis. Once you know it, you can cater your writing to that audience.
Wait, Slow Down, but What if This Is a Passion Project?
Write what you know and love if your number-one goal is fulfilling your soul. Do it. Go there and embrace it completely. You may find incredible success like some of the greats. Think how controversial Harper Lee was back in the day with To Kill a Mockingbird or how outlandish it seemed that anyone would buy gonzo journalism on an acid trip like Hunter S. Thompson’s Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Is this you? Can you never be convinced to write commercial fiction or non-fiction? Then do what you love. I encourage this approach fully to satisfy your creative spirit, but I also caution that achieving commercial success will be much tougher on this path.
But What About the Outliers?
I hear comments like these often:
“But The Goldfinch is 300,000 words. How can you tell me my 275,000-word literary memoir probably won’t be a bestseller?” “Why can’t you market my book like Andy Weir? He just put The Martian online and, boom, look what happened? Easy peasy!”
I often meet writers who cite the outliers who’ve hit the big time. This is often their reasoning behind why they will also achieve such huge success. Writers like E.L. James and Andy Wier, who put their somewhat unconventional writing out on the internet and garnered huge followings and then got their book deals have been brought up time and time again. Books like Where the Crawdads Singby Delia Owens and The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt break
word-count and genre rules and still managed to become hugely popular.
However, the outliers are not the norm. While you may indeed get lucky or be fortunate enough to release a book in a moment of zeitgeist, where everything aligns for you, the cold, hard truth is that for every outlier who finds or creates an audience, there are tens of thousands who don’t. Is it worth the risk? Is it enough for you to put your soul out there and know that there may only be a slim chance of achieving huge success? Only you can answer that question.
I Can Lead a Horse to Water…
I often say, “As a marketer, I can lead a horse to water, but I can’t make it drink.” The onus of making your book relatable and engaging—that ultimate “click the buy button” factor—rests on you, the writer. I encourage either approach to strongly consider how the audience “sees” your book. What happens when they flip to the description on the back cover? Are they compelled to open the book to discover more? When the reader opens the book, or if they use an online retailer’s “Read Sample” feature, are they bombarded with a long prologue that does nothing to engage them? Is there too much setting or world-building up front with no action? Is the first sentence of your first chapter strong enough to hook them to read through to the end of the first chapter? Then onto the second chapter? This is where craft crashes into marketability head-on. Make sure you are grabbing your reader’s attention not only because you want to create a great literary work, but also because it helps sell the book…
Desiree then provides a three-tiered approach for deciding what to write next, how best to write it, and how to get an agent or publisher for it. Check out the complete article in WriterCon Magazine!
PODCAST (Video at YouTube, Audio everywhere!)
WriterCon Podcast episode 143 features an interview with mega-bestselling author William Martin, author of The Lincoln Letter and December ‘41 and many other fine historical novels. This dovetails perfectly with the Magazine (see, we plan this stuff!) because it features an interview with the same NYT-bestselling author. I’m using the Audible graphic above for a change of pace, but you can get this podcast—FOR FREE—anyplace you get podcasts. We also cover the latest writing-world news.
THE RED SNEAKER WRITERS BOOKS ON FICTION
ORDER ONE OR ALL TEN NOW! https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DBGD644?binding=kindle_edition&qid=1700413575&sr=8-1&ref=dbs_dp_rwt_sb_pc_tukn
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