Recently, I was watching a video from LauraRaeSpeaks on Youtube about this author who was using AI. Now, you all know I hate AI and am staunchly against it, but this is less about AI and more about something the AI-reliant author said, which was that once you get further along in your author career and get serious, writing what you want takes a backseat to writing to market. I’ve heard a lot of authors say this, and as an author who has been publishing since 2014, I vehemently disagree with this position.
What I think gets lost in this discussion is that there are two markets:
- the general market of readers- who are the people who read and spend the most money and what genres do they buy?
- the market of your readers- who are the people who love your work and what do they like about your work in particular?
I am very against chasing market #1. The reason is that you quickly become homogenized and lost you when you chase the market. Keep in mind that the market is always changing based on people’s whims. If romantasy is popular, then you’re a romantasy author. If contemporary sports romance is popular, then you’re a contemporary sports romance writer. You have no identity outside of whatever genre you’re chasing. It’s very easy to become homogenized by writing what you think readers want, which quickly becomes the same tropes, archetypes, and stories everyone else in that genre is putting out. The result is an identity-less, middling body of work with no soul or passion behind it.
And unless you can write ridiculously fast and to trend, you aren’t going to be able to keep up. If you’re hellbent on putting out 3-5 books a year in an uber popular genre because some rando on the internet says that is the only way to make money, you are going to burn yourself out. Creativity cannot be sustained on money and profit-driven drive alone, so unless there is something in those genres that spark joy, you will flame out and crash your career at some point.
Authors who chase trends can absolutely make money, but my question to you is, do you want a quantity of readers or quality readers? The problem with constantly shifting with trends is that the second that genre becomes passe, you are identity-less and will lose readers the second you hard shift your genre into whatever is now popular. Those readers are into that specific genre, so if your book is one of a hundred sports romances they read that month, they aren’t going to follow you or recommend you as much as someone who loves your work because you wrote it.
This is why I believe you should focus more on market #2- your readers and why they like your work in particular. I’m not going to lie, I write mostly for myself. I write the books I want to read because I’m also my ideal reader, but I also will shift things around or give certain characters more page time because I know my readers like them. Readers who like your work for the special something that is unique to you will follow you through genres, time periods, and even age levels because they like your work.
When I think about my readers and what they like about my books, it’s pretty easy to figure out. They like my work because it’s queer, character-driven, has high emotional intimacy, a bit of heat, angst, lots of historical research, and is a tad morbid or dark while still having a happy ending. No matter what genre, you know what you’re getting with a Kara Jorgensen book. I know that if I decided to write scifi or a different historical period, my readers would stick around because the things that are unique to me will persist. My selling feature isn’t a genre but my style or flavor.
What makes some authors avoid this is because the pool for market 2 is going to be smaller at first because you are less universal, and it will take time for your idea readers to find you. If you’re decent at marketing and can hone in on pre-existing media that fits well with your work, then comps can be a great way to bring in readers who will like your work. With the Reanimator Mysteries, I always say the series is Sleepy Hollow meets Pushing Daisies but queer. Put the romance in necromancer with a dark, mysterious edge and queer characters. A snappy one line summary of the book that fits the book well also works (an autistic necromancer and his accidentally reanimated crush have to solve his murder in 1890s NYC is a snappy summary). You have to do more marketing to find your people, but once you do, they’re more likely to recommend your book loudly and often if they enjoyed it versus people who read 50 books in the same genre every month or two.
The most important thing about writing to your market is that you get to retain the special something that makes you you. That uniqueness can carry authors through different genres and series while still meeting reader expectations every time. One of the reasons I love KJ Charles’s books is because I know I’m getting some morally grey messes solving mysteries or doing crimes. Cat Sebastian’s books always have such emotional depth and complexity while still feeling like a warm hug. Neither author writes in the same subgenre consistently, but that special something is present in every single book, which is why they have become auto-buy authors for me and so many others.
I won’t knock anyone who writes strictly for money. You have to do what’s best for you, but I’m writing all this to let younger authors (and struggling preexisting authors) know that you don’t have to homogenize or sacrifice your style or passions for the market. You just have to find your market and have those people love your work. Now, part of this is also working on your craft, so the other half of the battle is writing a good book, but that’s for another post. Just keep in mind that the authors who write full-time are often the ones who wholly embrace who they are rather than chasing trends.
Kara Jorgensen 