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An odd demographic, I'd like to pursue.

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Coreyt0304

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So I know when you start shopping your book around, a key question they ask is what demographic do you see reading your book. I have an odd demographic I'd like to pursue with my book...Now hear me out, please.

I want to pursue the soap opera demographic. The soap opera genre was once a television phenomenon. ABC, CBS, NBC had two to four soaps on a day, each. Over the years the genre has shrunk down to 2-4 soaps overall. Shows filled suspense, drama and characters you watched evolve 5 days a week.

You take that fan base and you will see the most loyal followers of any genre of any tv show, movie, book ever.

Now, I know writing a book and saying I want to pursue a demographic that is television based is a bit risky. But with the soap opera fan's loyalty to the characters, patience as the plots unfold, and emotions that I can twist and turn by the turn of a page, combined with my fictitious town of Glencove County and the countless stories filling my brain that the people of Glencove County will be involved with. I know it can be a connection for the ages.

What do you guys think? Sound good, or is it too far-fetched of an idea.
 

T Robinson

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Sounds like a bunch of short stories with a central theme/characters. I have my doubts that it would be economically viable, but you have nothing to lose but your time at this point. Try it.
 

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I'm not sure it's a bad idea, though there are other TV demos and literary demos that are very loyal as well. Sherlock Holmes has an extremely loyal following, retellings or reimagining of Shakespeare and other classics are pretty loyalty inspiring too. I say go for it, give it a try. Worse that could happen is you can't get an agent for it and need to write something more saleable first.

Not a soap, though I surprisingly watched passions as a kid. Blame Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer for that. But I enjoyed shows like Everwood, Gilmore Girls, Roswell, Smallville, and Stargate SG1 when I was younger. They had both a seasonal arc and episodic one. That may be a bit hard to translate into writing. If you were to do it well, it would be awesome though.
 

Coreyt0304

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My feeling is in the first book introduce a main set of characters, and 5-6 minor characters through out the book as well as painting the picture of the town. THe next book would be one of the minor characters in a main character role exploring a dilemma they are facing, the next book perhaps picking up a character from the first book that went to prison, and him returning to town picking up the shattered remains of his life. It doesn't have to be short stories, I am thinking of a series of novels. Think R.L Stines pre-teen series Fear Street. A series of books about a town. Though my book would be more thought out as far as the characters all tying into each book somehow. But i could release 2 main books a year, and have 2-3 short stories online that tell a little tale from someone elses point of view, that can tease, and lead in to the next book.

For example the first book has an outsider, a bartender, a bar owner, a cop, the cops sociopath wife, all as the main characters. I've spread a few minor characters through the book. The elderly town historian (I can explore her family in other books and bring new characters to the canvas) her sister a nurse from the school of hard knocks. A group of kids who get busted smoking, (they can lead to a story set in the high school, to bring in a younger demo), and a borderline alcholic, bachelor ER doctor. At the end of the first book the bar owner dies, leaving the question what is gonna happen to the bar. The next book references the bar and its smart ass owner, leaving the reader to speculate if its the guy from the first book. I think as far as being economically viable,

I think this proves its quite the contrary. I have an everlasting amount of stories, that can be done. From a winter storm where people are murdered, to a woman dying of cancer, to a child going into highschool, with a birth defect, horrified of being accepted. I have tons of ideas that could all be written in this series.
 

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Just to be clear: you're using your own characters, not transplanting them from existing or defunct TV soaps, correct? Using someone else's characters in your own work would open up a whole can of copyright worms - not to mention the expectations of fans about the fates of said characters.

As for the rest... it actually sounds similar to what others have done in various genres, if I'm reading it right. For instance. Alexander McCall Smith's No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency books have mysteries, but they're mostly about the characters, following them through courtships and mishaps and such. And many romance series follow interconnected characters in the same family or town (Book 1 may be about Bob and Jane, while Book 2 picks up on Jane's friend and follows her ordeals in love, etc.) I don't read much literary or chic-lit or such, but I keep thinking I've read about other fictional towns/family sagas/groups of characters that build through connected, ongoing books. Your suggested story ideas sound a bit scattershot, TBH - the same audience that wants to read about a murder mystery may have a hard time caring about a teenager's high school struggles, so you may want to consider what genre/audience you're targeting when picking "episode" plots - but, as they say, it's all in the execution. (Maybe you don't want to write a series per se. Some writers, like Stephen King, write stories that connect to the same town but aren't necessarily part of a series - rather, they're standalone tales with a little extra layer for those who have read more than one King book. So you could write your winter murder mystery and high school girl stories as separate entities, targeting different audiences, but have them set in the same town.)

I'd say give it a shot. Try to make at least the first story a stand-alone, and see how things go.
 
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cornflake

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So I know when you start shopping your book around, a key question they ask is what demographic do you see reading your book. I have an odd demographic I'd like to pursue with my book...Now hear me out, please.

Who asks that question? That's a new one on me for fiction.

I want to pursue the soap opera demographic. The soap opera genre was once a television phenomenon. ABC, CBS, NBC had two to four soaps on a day, each. Over the years the genre has shrunk down to 2-4 soaps overall. Shows filled suspense, drama and characters you watched evolve 5 days a week.

You take that fan base and you will see the most loyal followers of any genre of any tv show, movie, book ever.

Now, I know writing a book and saying I want to pursue a demographic that is television based is a bit risky. But with the soap opera fan's loyalty to the characters, patience as the plots unfold, and emotions that I can twist and turn by the turn of a page, combined with my fictitious town of Glencove County and the countless stories filling my brain that the people of Glencove County will be involved with. I know it can be a connection for the ages.

What do you guys think? Sound good, or is it too far-fetched of an idea.

I think your premise may be flawed a few ways. First, with the demographic question. Second, if I ignore the demographic thing, and look at it like fan base, pursuing a tv fan base isn't risky at all, it's well-trod ground.

However, there's a reason that, as you note, soaps have declined. People like soapy things, sure, there are tons of shows with lots of soapy drama, but the audience for the drawn-out soap is not what it was.

My feeling is in the first book introduce a main set of characters, and 5-6 minor characters through out the book as well as painting the picture of the town. THe next book would be one of the minor characters in a main character role exploring a dilemma they are facing, the next book perhaps picking up a character from the first book that went to prison, and him returning to town picking up the shattered remains of his life. It doesn't have to be short stories, I am thinking of a series of novels. Think R.L Stines pre-teen series Fear Street. A series of books about a town. Though my book would be more thought out as far as the characters all tying into each book somehow. But i could release 2 main books a year, and have 2-3 short stories online that tell a little tale from someone elses point of view, that can tease, and lead in to the next book.

For example the first book has an outsider, a bartender, a bar owner, a cop, the cops sociopath wife, all as the main characters. I've spread a few minor characters through the book. The elderly town historian (I can explore her family in other books and bring new characters to the canvas) her sister a nurse from the school of hard knocks. A group of kids who get busted smoking, (they can lead to a story set in the high school, to bring in a younger demo), and a borderline alcholic, bachelor ER doctor. At the end of the first book the bar owner dies, leaving the question what is gonna happen to the bar. The next book references the bar and its smart ass owner, leaving the reader to speculate if its the guy from the first book. I think as far as being economically viable,

I think this proves its quite the contrary. I have an everlasting amount of stories, that can be done. From a winter storm where people are murdered, to a woman dying of cancer, to a child going into highschool, with a birth defect, horrified of being accepted. I have tons of ideas that could all be written in this series.

This sounds like a soap translated to book forms, but even slower. An entire book just to introduce characters? I just don't see who the audience for that would be - people like things to happen in books. That sounds like it'd be a book about, Larry David can excuse me, nothing.

There are certainly books that stick with characters, generally romance novels, but others as well, 'chick-lit,' mysteries, other things.

I don't know that having a bunch of ideas proves the economic viability, or not, of the idea. Whether the books would be bought and sold is the question, and this sounds like beyond a hard sell. It doesn't even sound like they're stand-alone?
 

Coreyt0304

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Okay a few things to answer everybodies questions. This is my original idea. I would use my own characters. I may have a few nods to soaps with a few storylines, but nothing obvious. The idea is a bit rough right now. I know that I do want it to be a series. I was actually curious about something you said. The different stories in the series not going for the same fans. I was wondering how i'd do that. The winter massacre book will be a stand-alone. A way to test the waters. And I'd tell the agent/ publisher such. And would then go on to tell them the possibility I feel their is in it being a series. I disagree with someone above who said that the soap fans aren't what they once were. Sure some of the fans have withered away from it, but something like this, if done right, could lure even those old fans to my books. But the soap opera genre is withering away because of crappy networ execs, not because of low popularity.

I, do see potential in it though. Maybe a stephen king esq way to go. Like have all the books set in the same town, but not as a series. Like the first three books are about the main group from the first bok. The second set of books set in the highschool and can nod to the first set of books. But I still feel even if this is the way to do it, it'd still benefit to go for the soap demo.
 

cornflake

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Okay a few things to answer everybodies questions. This is my original idea. I would use my own characters. I may have a few nods to soaps with a few storylines, but nothing obvious. The idea is a bit rough right now. I know that I do want it to be a series. I was actually curious about something you said. The different stories in the series not going for the same fans. I was wondering how i'd do that. The winter massacre book will be a stand-alone. A way to test the waters. And I'd tell the agent/ publisher such. And would then go on to tell them the possibility I feel their is in it being a series. I disagree with someone above who said that the soap fans aren't what they once were. Sure some of the fans have withered away from it, but something like this, if done right, could lure even those old fans to my books. But the soap opera genre is withering away because of crappy networ execs, not because of low popularity.

Where do you get that idea? Networks don't cancel things that have high popularity. Shows that are popular make a lot of money.

Also, I think a lot of those soap fans can't be lured back without some sort of necromancy, heh.


I, do see potential in it though. Maybe a stephen king esq way to go. Like have all the books set in the same town, but not as a series. Like the first three books are about the main group from the first bok. The second set of books set in the highschool and can nod to the first set of books. But I still feel even if this is the way to do it, it'd still benefit to go for the soap demo.

This brings up the issue the other posters pointed out - the people interested in a mystery with adults will not generally be the same people interested in books set in a high school.
 

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I recently read a cozy mystery that's set up to be kinda like that. In the first book, the MC comes back to her hometown and sort of starts to rekindle her romance with an old boyfriend, but nothing has happened between the two of them. There is a stand-alone mystery that gets resolved by the end of the book, but there are also strings left untied, such as whether the heroine will end up with the ex-boyfriend, whether she'll be able to save her mom's bakery, and so on. Nothing that's extremely pressing.

Howeverrrr, it didn't start out slow in the sense that the mystery immediately unfolded as the main plot and the rest is just backstory, and treated as backstory. I don't know how successful a book would be if it requires too much patience from the reader to "stick with it".

In either case, I don't think this is a new idea. Many writers have written stand-alone books with recurring characters in the same world. Terry Pratchett comes to mind. Also a lot of self-pubbed romance writers do the same thing, with book 1 between couple A and then book 2 focusing on couple's A's best friend, book 3 focusing on best friend's brother etc. But each book needs its own story. It can't just be an introduction of all the characters.
 

Coreyt0304

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Actually the head of abc was quoted to saying "viewers don't want to be entertained during the day, they want to learn." And th e cost of soaps compared to the cost of crappy cooking/talking shows much smaller. ABC wanted General Hospital gone but fans stood up and got the show incredible ratings so they can't be soap killers this time.

My point is, I want to find a way to do this. A series, or idk what you'd call it, trying to be able to write angsty mysteries, while at the same trying to work other characters into it with their own issues.

I'm sure theirs a way.

I feel like I have the lay out, now I just have to figure out a way to make it work.
 

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If you want to do this, I think making compelling characters - characters readers will want to get to know and follow, and who create interesting dynamics when put together - might be a priority here.

Just be careful not to fall so in love with your work that you forget to make it interesting to your audience: you don't end up like this guy... (Onion parody article link, lots of swearing)
 

cornflake

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Actually the head of abc was quoted to saying "viewers don't want to be entertained during the day, they want to learn." And th e cost of soaps compared to the cost of crappy cooking/talking shows much smaller. ABC wanted General Hospital gone but fans stood up and got the show incredible ratings so they can't be soap killers this time.

My point is, I want to find a way to do this. A series, or idk what you'd call it, trying to be able to write angsty mysteries, while at the same trying to work other characters into it with their own issues.

I'm sure theirs a way.

I feel like I have the lay out, now I just have to figure out a way to make it work.

The bolded means the soaps didn't get ratings that justified their continued airing. Same as the cost thing - though depending on the talk show, I don't know about the expense differential - the soaps didn't pull the ratings.
 

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I hate being a nay sayer but here goes.

Nay.

It's sounds like you're talking about serialised fiction, which does already existing in various written forms. But they're not novel length and are published in the periodicals you might find in a waiting room.

Soaps however are cleverly crafted to place as many people before the advertisers as possible at a regular popular time. To tap a demographic of people who like to be sat in front of the TV every night, you're going to need either a TV product, or to destroy every tv in the world.
 

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Soaps are much, much more expensive to produce than "reality" shows.
 

cornflake

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Soaps are much, much more expensive to produce than "reality" shows.

I'm not sure if you meant reality like anything not scripted, including talk format-type, or the Housewives-type, which is kind of how I took it, but I can see the other meaning. Forgive me if I misinterpreted.

In the U.S., in the markets I know about anyway, soaps were replaced mostly with talk shows, like Ellen Degeneres' thing. Reality shows, like the Real Housewives stuff, are cable fodder. I said I'm not sure about the differentials w/re talk because some, like Steve Harvey I think has one, are cheaper than a soap, but something like Ellen, for which she's got a massive contract in the tens of millions, and produces more expensive pieces for the show and stuff, might run closer. They're also all daily, live-taped, live-audience productions, which cost something to keep up, staff- and space-wise. I dunno. She obviously also generates good advertising dollars, or wouldn't get the contracts.

Reality of the Housewives type is notoriously cheap as they just require camera crews and editing and minimal pay to the focus of the shows - and they're non-union to boot.
 

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Brightdreamer mentioned Alexander McCall Smith upthread. I'd suggest having a look at how he handles the Scotland Street books, which have an ensemble cast. Also Armistead Maupin's Tales of the City series.
 

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You could say you're aiming at the people who loved Strout's OLIVE KITTERIDGE.
 

WriterDude

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You could say you're aiming at the people who loved Strout's OLIVE KITTERIDGE.

I think he's aiming at people who watch soaps. It is a massive demographic, or rather, a massive market, but the missconception is that its an audience for certain types of stories and characters, its not; watching TV and reading a book are two very different activities.

Star Trek had a huge following in the 1990s, but how many of those loyal fans made the leap to novels?

Not saying the concept isn't viable, books like Olive Kitteridge clearly demonstrate that is, but the thread is more about the target audience and a product that appeals, and the only way to reach that audience is via the TV.
 
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LJD

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People who like soap operas might like a category romance line like Harlequin Presents.
 

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Like have all the books set in the same town, but not as a series. Like the first three books are about the main group from the first bok. The second set of books set in the highschool and can nod to the first set of books. But I still feel even if this is the way to do it, it'd still benefit to go for the soap demo.

Sounds a lot like how small-town romance series work. Each book typically deals with a different couple, but couples from other books and other townspeople are seen throughout. Difference is, you don't want ever book to be a romance, I guess.

Anyway. I do wonder how many soap opera watchers might also be romance readers...
 

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I've never been asked which demographic one of my books is supposed to capture, probably because there is no doubt. I don't write left field, experimental novels, I write straight genre with an obvious demographic. If someone did ask, I think my reply would be, "Are you serious? It's your job to know that, not mine."

This said, I'm not at all sure how you would capture what is essentially a TV audience with a novel, but if you could, I think the results would probably be pretty good. I have no idea how to aim a book at any particular demographic, and don't care one way or teh other. I just tell teh best story I can, and that's that. Someone capable of intentionally capturing an untapped demographic, however, could make quite a splash.
 

Coreyt0304

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I see a lot of people saying that romance novels do this. SO at-least I know its not uncharted territory. So i'll take it from romance novels and just add my own special spin on the idea. As far as taking fans of a tv show and bringing them to books, the great thing about that demo is a lot of them read as well. ANd they will love the idea of reading a book that takes all of the stuff from the soap put it in books crank it up to about ten because in books its easier to create images and ideas and plant them in their minds. I think it could even be better than television soap operas.
 
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BenPanced

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First romance author that comes to mind is Debbie Macomber. She has at least one series with recurring characters; in fact, one year at RT Booklovers Convention, she said she loves writing series like this because it gives her a wealth of characters to use. Not everybody gets to be front and center all the time, so she can write a couple books with the "main" characters and the next book is about the next door neighbor who got just a few scenes or chapters in the first two books but finally gets an entire book to herself.
 

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I think it could even be better than television soap operas.

To be fair, there were times where that wouldn't be particularly hard to do... (Yes, I know, writing under a tight deadline and catering to producers/demographics and all, but how many times can the same character have amnesia, discover an evil twin, and/or come back from the dead? ;) )
 

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When I was young(er), almost every prime time TV show I watched was an episodic-type show, that is one story in one episode, straightforward, front-to-back, with the final resolution packed into 60 (minus time for commercials) minutes. The only 'serial' shows were the soaps, on in the afternoon. These shows were easier to syndicate after the show ran its course.

Then came shows like Dallas and Dynasty - a serialized show, which you really needed to watch each week to keep abreast of what was going on.

Now most of the shows I and my kids watch are of the serial form. Long shows in which the characters develop and change and the story sort of floats in an arc from chapter to chapter. (Which is why, I think, binge-watching has become so common. People want to catch up on a show (series) which 'everyone' is watching.)

So the thing is, there's an audience out there who want to follow a series of characters through all their adventures, whether they be cops, paranormal detectives, a weird family, or whatever. IMO the soaps aren't dead; they just moved to prime-time, cable, netflix, and similar.
 
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