pacnwlitagent

The book industry is increasingly driven by the market. There doesn't seem to be much on this site talking about that so I thought I'd throw my two cents in: Who will buy it and why is the question any author, especially those who write non-fiction, need to answer.

Spudley

A good point, and well made.

It'd be interesting to hear more of your thoughts on this. What is the market looking for at the moment? Is it a good idea to aim at following the current trend, or should you just write what you feel?

How many of you out there have experience with using an agent? I suspect that most inexperienced authors will be sending their work to the publishers directly: How does this affect your chances compared with using an agent?

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gabriella

A good book!

There's more than one genre out there, and there's more than one market. They're not gunna be looking for the same thing.

As for trends... there are no trends. People like different things.

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northerain

there are no trends? aha....right...then all these books about the lord of the rings trilogy and the everything related were always around eh?...

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gabriella

Frist of all, it was.

Second, it was written in Shakespean times. They reprinted it so people like us could understand what the hell he was saying.

Third, they're only reading the book because of the movie. Although a book's popularity shouldn't be dependant on the movie.

Fourth, it was pretty popular even before the movie.

Fifth, it's said that Tolkien is the master of fantasy. That he "invented" that series. So obviously it was pretty popular a loooong time ago.

Sixth, how the hell is it a trend? Because everyone's reading it? Lord of the Rings isn't the only book these people are reading. Similarly, not everyone's reading it. It's not like fashion. Nothing is "in" and nothing is "so yesterday." All we're doing is finding a new great book. It seems popular because we all "found" it at the same time - when the movie came out. But regardless of movies, we discover books at complete different times that everyone else. At school you see the kids all wearing something similar and get the message that that's in. In books, there are so many "malls" (genres) hardly any two people you will see are reading the same books.

Trends go in and out, get that straight. Books don't go out because there are always plenty of people who are discovering an authour alot slower than others.

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northerain

here we go again...first of all, im not dumb.i KNOW when tolkien wrote his books, and how they were popular.you insult my intelligence. secondly, lotr is IN these days.if you dont see that, you re in self-denial or something.just look around....''guide to the movie'',''movie companion''.....and all his books now reprinted with different artwork, or even worse pictures from the movie.then we have callendars.and all his books say things like ''featuring bilbo'' on the cover, so the dumb consumer can understand that ''the hobbit'' has actually something to do with LOTR...weeeeeeee

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Spudley

The Hobbit was first published in 1937, and Lord of the Rings in 1954/55.

That out of the way, please try to stick to the topic. We don't want the thread to turn into a flame war.

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Fantasia

Oh, I'd really like to see this answered. At face value, it seems only logical that having an agent would give ones book a better chance, yet I've heard published authors say that one shouldn't get an agent unless the author has published 3 to 5 books by themselves. So... what's the best recourse?

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DL Ferguson

I notice that on this message board as well as a few others that I like to hang out in that a lot of writers do a lot of putting the cart before the horse. They want to know how to get an agent, they want to know how to market their book, they want to know the technical details of selecting a cover....and they want to do all this before doing the first thing you have to do: sit down and write a completed, professionally written book that has marketable value to a pubisher

As for getting an agent...I've got friends who have agents who have told me that getting an agent is a lot like going to the bank for a loan: the bank only loans you money if you don't need it and agents only take you on as a client once you've proven that you can sell a book to a publisher on your own.

To be fair, the friends I got are prone to exaggeration when it comes to agents and publishers (they can tell you some pretty outrageous stories when they get cranked up) but I DO believe that writers should be more concerned with honing their skills first instead of worrying about how to get an agent

Fantasia

Ah, well that's always good advice.

But the discussion's been broached and it perked my interest. Doesn't mean we don't try to improve our writing skills anyway, yes? ^_^ With that said, I believe you've answered my question, DL. Thanks.

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Elphaba

Well, I have plenty of experience with being rejected by agents...

I would like to get a chance with a good publisher with my novel(s), and a lot of those won't take unsolicited manuscripts. So, I feel my best shot (actually, it's more than feel-- it's the way I have to go) is through an agent. Preferably one with good access to publishing houses. I do think it helps to have some publications under your belt (to magazines and zines, etc), but there are agents out there that take on new writers. That's my short answer.

Not trying to pick an argument, Mods, but I don't see where that was said in this thread. Although I agree.

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Stefanie

Yes, lord of the rings is in, but are other fantasybooks popular too?

Spudley

Terry Pratchet.... Harry Potter....

Just two that came to mind straight away. The fantasy genre definitely seems to be going through a revival over the last few years.

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Stefanie

Right. I forgot Harry Potter. That's because I don't want to read those books. You see, when I was a teenager, I read that book by Anthony Horowitz. It was the translation in Dutch and I don't know the title in English. But the story of Harry Potter is very simular. Some think it was stolen from Anthony's book. I loved that book by Anthony very much so I don't feel I need to read about Harry Potter. Unfortunately, Anthony refuses to write a new part as add on to his book about David Eliot.

blackswan

Fantasy trends? I think it's rather sad and hard to find a really good fantasy book to read now, I mean like epic fantasy, not Stephen King Anne Rice type fantasy, which I do love so very much .

Most of the epic fantasy books now are not very original. I think it's because of Tokien's LOTR movie influences, but also people are just not trying to do any thing new. Most of the fantasy novels are at least 500 pages and half of it are useless and boring information about the world, the character's habits, clothing, ect. ect. and sure there's nothing wrong with the storyline and creatures, unoriginal as they may be, but those kind of books actually sickens me.

A few authors I like right now are not really epic fantasy writers, because it's hard to find any good ones now, but one I really like is Terry Goodkind, great character and storylines. Others, obviously, Stephen King, Anne Rice, John Grisham, J.K. Rowling...and I never liked Tolkien much, so maybe all this is just me...