123 - Balancing the book of your heart with market decisions

Today, Emily & Rachel talk about writing what you want vs writing to market.

What you’ll learn from this episode:

• staying true to writing what you love
• considering market as a business tool
• not letting this question mess with your mindset

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Transcript

Rachel: 1:00

Hey, writers. Welcome back to Story Magic, the podcast that will help you write a book you're damn proud of.

Emily: 1:05

I'm Emily.

Rachel: 1:07

And I'm Rachel.

Emily: 1:09

Today we are talking about how. How to balance the book of your heart with market decisions. Dun, dun, dun, dun.

Rachel: 1:20

So hard. So what's that? What's that mean? What is this question meaning?

Emily: 1:28

So I think the question, did this come from the community or did we make this up? I don't remember.

Rachel: 1:32

I think it came from the community. Like a question in Tanisha's writing.

Emily: 1:38

Yeah. So I think this question is sort of how do you balance writing a book that you want to write, Right. That has all the things in it that you love, that follows your heart. Right. And all of that versus, like, what are reader expectations and what does the market want? And I think it could be specifically like, oh, what is the market looking for right now in this moment? Or just in general, like, what is the market looking for? And like, what sells? And do you build a book based on what the market is asking for? Or do you build a book based on what you want to write and what your heart wants to write? And is there a middle ground?

Rachel: 2:22

Yeah, I think this is a very common question, especially if you're not necessarily new to writing, but maybe still working on your first project that you've started before. And I, I have like, a couple examples from, like, my own writing, but also from one on one clients that I've worked with before. So I did nano a couple years back. Like, I don't know, this might have been like 2021, 2022. Like, I think Rose was born, but she was still really little and I was really struggling to decide, like, what project did I want to work on in general. And so I started writing this. I'm really into video games, and I'm really into watching video game streamers on, like, Twitch Play video games. So I wanted to write a book about a video game streamer. And so I decided to write that for nano. And so I was writing this book about video game, like, a video game streamer. And then she, like, it ended up being kind of like a mystery plot because she was like attacked on stream. And so it was all these people, like, watching her be attacked on stream and like, doing nothing about it because there's all. All these. I was trying to explore too, like, the, the consumption of, like, women on the Internet. Like, they're very much dehumanized. Like, women on the Internet especially, I think female gamers, like, we're very belittled to like, you are an entertainment. You are not a person. So I was. Anyway, I was exploring that. The reason I'm telling the story is because while I was writing it, it was nano. So I was just trying to like hit word count goals. So I decided to throw in like vampires. So then this book like became about like vampires and video game streaming. And then like by the time I finished Natto, I was like, this book is a wild ride. It doesn't fit anywhere. Like I finished that manuscript being like. Or I finished nano, I hit the word count. Being like, this is just crazy. It doesn't really fit in one box or another. I was just kind of tossing ideas in there as they came. And like, I had a really great time writing it. It was super fun for me to write, but it was chaotic and had a lot of cross genres and a lot of overlap. And it was like kind of dark, kind of, but also like a little bit of fantasy, a little bit of urban fantasy, but also very sci fi because of the video gaming. So it didn't really fit anywhere and I shelved it and it was just like. I decided it was just like a fun project for me. But I loved writing it. Like that was at the time something I was very into. I mean, I'm still into that. I might go back to that idea because I think it's really interesting. Anyway, that was what I would probably call a book of my heart. But if I had tried to sell that, it wouldn't have gone anywhere. Like it wasn't. It didn't live anywhere. It didn't exist. It. It existed in like multiple places at once. Is it a sci fi? Is it urban fantasy? Is it paranormal? Is it vampire romance? Is it video game? Like it doesn't have a home. So. So it had. It lived in a lot of different places and that made it very. It would have made it very difficult to market. So that's like. That's usually a situation where I, I find these writers in is like they were writing a book. They had a lot of different ideas. I worked with a one on one client like years ago where she had written it had started as like alien. Like there, there were aliens in it. So it was like sci fi. But then it had like magic in it. So it was fantasy and then the aliens and the sci fi. And then there was like, then it was like elves. So then it was like high fantasy. So it was like this, this blend of a lot of different things and. And she would ask me like, what genre is it? And I was like, it doesn't have one. Like, it truly just doesn't have one. And that makes it really difficult to understand where it goes. So if you're going to take that book to query to, like, try to sell it, the likelihood of it selling is very small. To get to an agent, to get to an editor, because it doesn't. It's not easily boxed. And unfortunately, to sell something, it kind of does need to fit in a box. But that's. That's what happens is we have all these ideas we really love. Like, we might love aliens, we might really love magic, we might really love fantasy. And then we kind of mash them all together, and then it's everything and nothing at once. But it's the book of your heart. So what do you do? Yeah. Yeah. I don't know. I mean, that's a tough place to be. But I think you have to think about what are your ultimate goals for this project. Yeah. And sometimes for me, it kind of comes down to if this is your first project, let it be the book of your heart.

Emily: 7:30

Yeah.

Rachel: 7:31

And if you want to sell it, you. I think it's important to consider market.

Emily: 7:38

Yeah. I mean, you can sell it without any sales expectations, and that's great. But if you want to sell it and see financial success, you need to consider, like, who is going to buy it and, like, where is it going to be shelved? And, like, what is the genre and what are people looking for? And I think it goes beyond just genre. It's also, like, there are particular just, like, things that quote, unquote, don't sell. So I feel like. I feel like Crimson was a little bit. It wasn't my first book. Thrones was definitely my heart, just mostly in the sense that, like, I threw in everything. It was my first story. I threw in everything, every character, trope, every, like, idea, every. Everything that I could think of into this massive epic fantasy. And it's just a reality that, like, big books don't. Haven't done great for a really long time, especially in the traditional world, because they involve a lot of paper, and nobody wants to print something that has a lot of paper because it's expensive. So it was sort of like. Like, I just. That was kind of the. The big piece of it that didn't make it a good market decision, but it was like, all of my heart was in it. But then I went to write Crimson, and I was like, okay, now I'm gonna write for market. But I was like, I'm gonna have it be Theater related and political. And I'm gonna throw in a con artist female main character who's. Oh, a lot of things necessarily genre things, right? Theater is kind of a setting, a set piece for playing words. And then like, the. The flawed female main character is like a, you know, a market decision, quote unquote, because people are sexist. And so there's just, like, there are considerations about pieces of your story that, you know, people might tell you that quote unquote doesn't sell. And people told that to me about Crimson all the time. And of course, Crimson did sell, and it did, you know, marginally good, whatever. But I do feel like that held it back. That made it hard to market. It made it hard for my publisher to market, hard for me to market. It just ended up with lots of, you know, poor reviews that were specifically about those things. Right. The politics are boring. I don't like the main character. So you just kind of have to, like, expect that. And if you want to publish and sell the book of your heart and it doesn't fit market expectations, whatever, that's great, wonderful. Please do it. But just know that that's gonna, like. You're not gonna be the exception. That's not, like, a thing. And I think that a lot of times when folks are. Especially folks who've been working on their first book for years and years at a time, right? And have been sort of. It's. It's so deeply ingrained in their heart that they have trouble putting it down, which I say from experience, that was me with Rhodes. Um, a lot of times it's because they know. They have realized through the process of writing it deep down that it doesn't fit into traditional market decisions. And so they're trying to, like, perfect it so that it somehow can go beyond that, and it's just not really. I don't know. I feel like that's a hard truth. But the market is the market because the market is just what people will pick up and what they want to read based on what they've read before.

Rachel: 10:57

Yeah, it's like, really, you know, genres exist and tropes exist in order to. If I said to someone, this is an enemies to lovers high fantasy, you kind of get an idea of what that is. And most people are able to say off the bat whether they would like that or not. And that that's the aid of using genre and tropes to sell books, is that it gives the reader a snapshot and, like, a vibe check, and then they're able to say, before they even buy it. Yes or no. And if they buy it and they're like, yes, I love enemies to lovers. Give it to me, great. Like, that's a tool. But then when you have a lot of different things mashed into one and they can't get an accurate picture of what it is, that is when it becomes really challenging to sell. Because if you say it's like an alien slash, fantasy slash political thriller, that's really, that's a lot harder to like, nail down. And, and it's makes it more difficult for someone to click that buy button. Like, nobody wants to buy a book. They don't think they're gonna like, you know, like, it's a way of money. So. So if they. The value of having something that fits within a marketplace is to be able to find those readers that already like those things and get them to buy your book. And if the book of your heart isn't able to concisely or easily explain those things, then a reader has a way, a. A lot less likely of a chance to take a chance on it. Because, yeah, I don't want to spend money on a book. I don't think I'm going to. Like, that would be a waste of money. But there is a lot of value, like personal value, art value of writing something you want to write. I mean, who's to tell you not to do that? Because it, someone might not like it. Like, you know, we always have such a. Such a strong stance that like, right. Write what is heavy on your heart. Like, write what is meaningful to you. Write what is important to you. Write a story point that you need, you know, like, because that's, I think, where you get really beautiful and meaningful stories if they mean something to you. Yeah, but if you're, if you're gonna deviate from like traditional marketing spaces or, or boxes or whatever it is, just know it will be an up. It might be an uphill battle. Are you willing to take that on? And, and if you're willing to take that, then more power to you. I think it's possible. I don't think that selling a book that doesn't fit into a standard box is impossible. Especially not now when we all have access to social media and TikTok and you can say whatever you want and you can say it a jillion times, and the likelihood of someone coming across you is very high. Like, you absolutely can make it work, but are you willing to put in the effort? Because selling a book is hard. It is hard work and it takes a Lot of time. And if that scares you and you. And you don't see yourself doing it, where is this book going? You know, what do you want to do with it? If your goals are literally, I just want to write a book because I love it. Amazing. I think that's great. I don't think there's any problem with that. If you're like, I have dreams of making authoring a full time career and I want an author business. I think you have to think about these things and make market choices because this is business. A book of your heart is a book of your heart. And many times you can combine the two. Sometimes you can't. And that's when you have to kill your darlings or let them go or shelve them for a little bit.

Emily: 14:49

Yeah.

Rachel: 14:49

And come back to them later.

Emily: 14:51

Yeah. I think. And especially when folks tell me I've got this crazy unique idea that I am obsessed with and I want to query it.

Rachel: 15:01

Yeah.

Emily: 15:01

Like you can self pub and sell. I mean there are people out there who are going to want to read your book. There are. It might be an uphill battle to reach them, but you can do it. Especially if you self pub. Right. Like you can you. If you're willing to put in the work to market it, you can find those people when you're querying. It's different because they are looking for the market decisions that you make. That is what they are looking for when they read your query. So even if you have a strange, unique, sort of out of the box idea, it has to tick certain market decisions. It's gotta have the intrigue, it's gotta have the stakes. It's gotta fit on a shelf somewhere.

Rachel: 15:36

Right.

Emily: 15:36

It's gotta, it's got to check those boxes or like. Cause that is what agents are looking for. And so I, it always like hurts me a little bit when people say that that's their dream with, with unique ideas. Because I just think it's risky. It doesn't mean it's not possible, it's just risky. So I don't wanna bring everybody down. I don't wanna leave on an unhopeful. That's not the right word, hopeless note. Because I don't think that this needs to be a hopeless discussion. I don't think that this has to be a hopeless question. Like the flip side of what we're saying is not. You need to go figure out what the market wants, write it, sell your soul and like give everybody exactly what they want. Like that is not the answer. The answer I think lies in the middle. And I feel like I told the stories about my first book that I didn't query. And then my second book, which I did sell, that I had trouble marketing. And then with my third one, which is on sub right now, TBD on its success. But I feel like for this one, what I did was I asked myself in a convoluted way, as you'll know if you've listened to other episodes. But I asked myself, like, what is the genre? Because I didn't ask myself that question when I wrote Crimson. And so this time I was like, I'm determined. And I had to draft a bit to figure it out. But I was like, I'm determined to figure out what is the genre so I can make decisions about the structure, about what I include and all of that to meet reader expectations for that genre. And so the reason that I did that is so that I could have sort of guardrails within which to infuse my heart. Right. And I think that's why it's so hard with first projects, because you don't start writing from that place. You don't start writing from a place of what is everybody buying? I'm gonna go write that. You write from a place of love. And I see this time and time again I've got a one on one client doing the same thing where her first series was very much like, I'm gonna throw in everything I love. And like we did that and it was great and it was successful. But it the second time around she was like, this time I want to be more intentional about sort of who I'm writing for and like what genre it is and how I'm going to meet those expectations. So same thing, right? Once you kind of can put some boxes around what you're trying to achieve, then you can just infuse it with all the heart and fun and joy that you want. And I do think that that is easier when you start that way versus like trying to impose it on something you've already written. It can be done that way too. Right. If you have something crazy, you know, like your example from before about, I'm gonna have aliens and magic and Fae. Right?

Rachel: 18:01

Yeah.

Emily: 18:01

You could make decisions about how you revise that based on the genre that you. I, I don't know this client. I don't know what happened with them. But like, you know, just as a. In the context of like, you have a bunch of things that aren't marketed together, you can always revise and try to make it fit A genre more than another genre. So you can market it better, right? Like, that's also possible.

Rachel: 18:21

Yeah, I was thinking the same thing, and I was gonna say the same thing as far as like, the fir. I think the first book you write, it's very natural to just let it be the book that. I mean, writing, learning how to write and writing your first project is such a monumental task that putting the pressure on it of being able to market it is like shooting yourself in your foot. So my. I always am like, just write the book. The first one. Just write the first book. But now that I've done that, I spent my second, third, and fourth book. And then when I go into my next series, which I've already started writing, I did ask myself the question before I even started, what are the tropes of this book? What will it be like? I think when you're writing that first book, you write the book and then you're like, oh, what's in it? But then when you're writing to market, you say, this is what will be in it. Because I know it will sell, and then I write the book. So I think, like, the mindset is also different depending on what phase of the journey you're in. When you're in the earlier phases, like, it's already hard enough to do this, so just do it. And then you have another. You always will have another idea. You always will have another project. And if. If you want this to be a business or a career, you know, like, treat it that way, but not to the point where you create so much external pressure that it paralyzes you. Because it's so much better to have a finished book to be able to at least try to sell it and self. Pub trad. Whatever way. Like, at least you have a finished product. Then to work yourself into a tizzy where you're. Where you cannot make decisions because you're so afraid of. Will this sell? Like, that is a question for the. The more experienced author, perhaps for like, perhaps maybe a couple steps down the road.

Emily: 20:13

Yeah, well. And I think for. So to use Thrones as an example, my first book, I got to that point where it was like I was paralyzed because I knew I had. I had learned enough about writing in the industry and market and stuff to know that it wasn't gonna. It wasn't gonna. Likely to sell to. At that point, I wanted an agent and I was like, I'm not going to be able to query this. No one's going to. I mean, I can. I can query it. That's in my control. But no one's going to write it because it's too long. It's too much of a gamble. And so I was sort of got to this point where I feel like for like six months it was just really hard to write because I just felt stuck in what am I going to do with this? Yeah. And so I've shelved it. And you know, you and I were just talking during our retreat this fall about if I pulled it off the shelf. Here's how I could pull it off. Right now that I have that distance from it, it's. Well, I could, you know, if I, I think it would work well in a sub self pub if I restructured it and did it in, you know, segments in different ways. And so we talked about various ways that we could do that and I just didn't know enough. I couldn't see it at that point in time to know what I could do with it. TBD on if I do that. But, but I do think there's something to be said like, like you said, there's so much to learn and market is one of those things. And a lot of times people learn about market after they've already poured their heart and soul into half a book. And I think that's where people get paralyzed. So just finish it, write something else.

Rachel: 21:35

Yes, you and I both have. This is another thing too is like, I think people assume that our published books were our first books. Not even close. I've got like three or four full manuscripts that are just in my scrivener hanging out. Like they're just there. Maybe I'll go back to them, maybe I won't. But like, they're there because I had to write them first to figure out what was it that I actually could take take out into the world. And for me, choosing the genre that I chose actually gave me a lot of freedom in the publishing path because thankfully this is something that's like, I think new. At the time that I wrote Blood in the Water, traditional publishing was not publishing. Why choose books? Yeah, they are now, which is very exciting. It's becoming more popular. But because I had chosen that genre, it forced me into self publishing. And that book started as, as something I just wanted to write. I just was like, hey, I really want to write this. And then when I realized there's actually a really big market for this, just not the path that I thought I wanted. Yeah, it became way easier to like take it into this space. Um, and as the industry changes, because you Know, I. I feel like publishing is very stuck in their ways, very old and stagnant a lot of the time. But I think there's a lot of shift going on now as the publishing industry. Yeah, right now, as the publishing industry tries to determine how it will survive in the future, there will be some changes, I think, coming. Like, I think there will be a lot of shift, a lot of the. Maybe trying new things. That's not historically what TRADPUB does, but perhaps we will see them try new things. And I think expanding the genres that they are willing to publish might become more popular. So just keep an. Another thing. Keep an eye on what's coming out. Maybe we will see some interesting market shifts that are. That make, I don't know, the market more accessible or like, more open or more hybrid. Who. Who knows? But it's. My point is that I think we are seeing more changes, which is good. But like we've already said, don't you know, there is a time and a place for focusing on this and at the early stages, I don't think it's the right time. There's. You're doing too much. So don't let it become like the weight that stops you, but let it become like the lens through how you look at. What do you want out of this?

Emily: 24:19

Yeah. And I think my biggest advice, if you are stuck on this question, especially if you're working on your first book, you can't seem to finish it. You're stuck on this question. It's giving you lots of anxiety. Just set that project aside for a little while and try writing something new. That does not mean you need to shelve it forever, does not mean that there's something wrong with it. It just. I think sometimes that for me, it was the shift in perspective. By setting Thrones aside and then working on Crimson, I was able to kind of give myself perspective of like, this is what it would be like to. I thought I was writing with market in mind. Right. This is a process.

Rachel: 24:54

Right.

Emily: 24:54

I'm gonna, like, you keep learning more as you go. Um, and like, there's nothing wrong with starting a new project, playing around with it, going back to the old one. Right. But you might have a little bit more of a perspective. And just space can be helpful sometimes if you're that wound up in anxiety about whatever you're working on. Like, please step and try something that sounds fun, that's just for you. Because if your heart's not in it, then you're not going to reach the end.

Rachel: 25:21

Yes, so we have an episode. I just looked it up on talking about when and why to table a project. And if you feel like you're in this spot, go listen to that episode. It's one of our earlier ones. And you did talk about Thrones and Tabling Thrones.

Emily: 25:35

Yeah.

Rachel: 25:36

In there. So that's episode 18, when and why to table a project. I think it's really a really helpful, like, perspective of it. Might be time to just put it aside. I've got plenty of ones that are just aside.

Emily: 25:51

Yeah.

Rachel: 25:52

Maybe one day they'll come back. Maybe the one day they won't. But they taught me a lot while I was working on them.

Emily: 25:59

And you don't have to put a lot of weight on it. Like, pausing for a month to play around with a new idea is not. There's you. There's no. Nothing emotional that needs to be attached to it. You will probably have emotions attached to it. But, like, just know that they are emotions that you are ascribing to it that you don't need to be. Like, it doesn't have to mean anything.

Rachel: 26:19

That is. How I wrote Blood in the Water was because I was. I had finished the second draft of a portal fantasy, and I didn't know what to do with it. So I was like, I'm just gonna put it aside for a little bit of time and have fun with a new story. And then I never went back. And then I published three of those books, and, like, I'm writing the fourth one. So, like, there. There's. It's just for fun. I mean. Yeah, you might. You might discover something that you love in a different direction, or you might get exactly the clarity you need to come back to, like, revise it into something that it needs to be. It's totally okay to pause, go do something else, and come back.

Emily: 27:00

Yeah. All right. Just try to have fun, guys. Try not to distress too much.

Rachel: 27:09

The world is hard enough as it is. Yeah, we're recording this in January. Who knows the state of the world when this comes out? But the world is already hard enough as it is. Like, please don't borrow unneeded stress from these questions. Yeah, you'll be fine. We've got your back. Okay. If you want to build a successful, fulfilling, and sustainable writing life that works for you, you've got to get on our email list.

Emily: 27:40

Sign up now to get our free email course. The Magic of Character Arcs. After seven days, Female magic. You'll have the power to keep your readers flipping pages all through the night.

Rachel: 27:47

Link in the show notes. We'll see you there.