The following post was inspired by this post on Kirsten Lamb's blog: https://warriorwriters.wordpress.com/2016/08/29/want-to-sell-more-books-give-consumers-what-they-want Kirsten's post was basically saying that if we want a book to sell we need to write what readers want to read, not what we think they should read. Her post was essentially a reminder about why we don't ignore the techiques/ guidelines/rules for writing fiction that will give the reader what they want, which is a great story. She was talking about not endulging in info dumps, overwriting and unecessary words, and neglecting solid world, character and plot building and so on - all issues I deal with in my book The Elements of Active prose: Writing Tips to Make Your Book Shine - but I'm going to look at the broader picture of genre in saleability. Something the mainstream publishers know a lot about is what sells, and books are easier to sell if they fit into one genre. The first series I wrote - YA fantasy - … [Read more...]