Tonight I'm taking a class through Loose Id that, among other things, helps authors track their individual sales and book trends. Which books were big sellers for you, for example, and which ones tanked, all nicely charted out and analyzed.
Armed with that data, authors can feel a little more informed the next time they sit down to play the "what if" game in front of a blank Word document. If I know, say, werewolf ninjas are selling big, I can hurry my werewolf ninja idea to market and hope that wave hasn't crashed before mine releases.
Some writers don't track things in that manner. They follow the dictates of their muse and write where their stories take them. Others approach their career a bit more methodically.
I think I kind of fit in the middle, though as of yet, I haven't written anything that I didn't feel compelled to write at that time. Well, that's probably not true. Full Disclosure, my first novella, I wrote because a) I wanted to try to write an erotic romance and b) because I'd been told so-called "cougar" novels were hot.
I also wrote my vampire menage (which I'm still wrestling with) for the same reason. I've delayed and dawdled over that book so long that vampires are no longer hot or even lukewarm…and some people downright hate them now. But that, like most other things, will swing around again, I think. In a few years, vampires will probably enjoy another resurgence. A girl can dream, right?
So I have a two-part question for you today. For writers, do you write to trends or do you strictly follow the muse? And for readers and writers, what do you think the next big thing in romance will be? Is paranormal dead? Will it be cowboys or historicals? I'd love to hear your thoughts.
