What they want.
edfrzr said:
I read an article some time back about an author who found out what publishers were looking for and then wrote about it. He got published.
Does anyone known what publishers are looking for these days?
I think what publishers want from writers is quite often very different from what publishers want from a specific writer.
Now, odds are there will always be opening in the mystery and romace genres, no matter what year it is, but my opinion is that what a publisher wants from a specific writer is whatever type of novel they do best. This usually means the type of novel they most love to read. I'm not saying you can'y write to the market. I have written to the market, and I've made it work.
But I will say this is a terribly difficult trick for a new writer, and can even be tough for an old pro. If you really want to sell a novel, write what you most love to read. This is almost certainly what you'll write the best, and it's your best that publishers want.
If you don't love reading romance novels or mysteries, odds are extremely high you won't be able to write one that's publishable. Not, at least, until you have quite a bit of experience as a writer.
I think the best advice is to do your best to write a novel you would love to read had someone else written it.
There's also an old saying that "Publishers want something just like everything else,
only different."
It took me a while to understand what this really meant, but once I actually figured it out, and learned how to apply it to my own fiction, it made selling everything one heck of a lot easier. It makes perfect sense. It's learning to implement it that's the trick.
And, of course, if you really want to know what publishers are looking for in the near future, just read the bestseller list. The main goal of pretty much any publisher is to find writers who will write books that make the bestseller list.
And while no one can really say exactly what publishers will want by the time you finish your novel, all publishers do keep track of sales and project trends. They do have an idea of what they THINK they will want in two years,
and any good agent is tuned into these projected trends. You can also often learn them from such sources as Publishers Weekly and/or LMP.
But knowing them probably won't do you much good. When you say this writer learn that "publishers were looking for a book geared more towards the female point of view," it really only means one particular line at one particular publisher was looking for this. And one particular line at one particular publisher is always looking for something, and it's a well-written novel of the kind that line publishes.
The best bet a new writer has is to write a good novel of the type that writer most loves to read.
I've written in several genres, but I read and enjoy every genre I write in. There are certain types of novel out there I couldn't write successfully no matter how hard I tried simply because I don't enjoy reading them.
Instead of worrying about what publishers want, ask yourself what you want. What novel can you write that you would really love to read if someone else wrote it. Do it well, and this is exactly what publishers want.
