What genre is hot now?

It doesn't really matter what's hot right now, because by the time you come up with a story, write it, then edit it into submission standard (I'm giving this a minimum of six months to accomplish, but many folks take longer), the hot genre will have changed.

Right now, steampunk and zombies are hot in fantasy, but will they still be in six months? Nine months? There's really no way to know.

To be honest, I don't even feel like Steampunk flourished quite as I thought it was going to which disappoints me a bit.

However, other than that, I agree with Chaos. Writing to a current trend is pretty useless. I've blogged about here. And then again here.

However. Depending on how fast you can do it, Paranormal Romance isn't going anywhere any time soon.

Paranormal romance / urban fantasy. Vampires and werewolves and zombies.

Well, about 50% of paperbacks are romance. And of that something like half is the Harlequin Category/Series books.

Have fun.

As others have said, what's hot now is completely immaterial. What's hot now was purchased two to three years ago....and written even before that.

Write the story that is most taking possession of you. If it's a great story and you write it well, there's a decent chance it'll get picked up regardless of what's hot or not when you start flogging it. A fresh story in the most over-saturated genre can still get picked up.

Corn-detasseling novels.

caw

Whatever is hot right now, some people are sick of it already and looking for something different. Corn de-tasseling, for instantce.

ChaosTitan said:

It doesn't really matter what's hot right now, because by the time you come up with a story, write it, then edit it into submission standard (I'm giving this a minimum of six months to accomplish, but many folks take longer), the hot genre will have changed.

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Yep.

Pick the story that has the best chance of being one of those damn good stories an agent or editor can't refuse. Why try to appeal to a subgroup of people (agents and editors) whose crystal balls are just as cloudy as yours and mine? An author should write the story that has the greatest pull on his/her emotions, that best challenges his/her creativity, and that provides the best chance of engaging readers into that can't-put-it-down trance. If a writer has a strength in constructing stories in a specific genre, that should be a strong consideration as well.

SPMiller said:

Paranormal romance / urban fantasy. Vampires and werewolves and zombies.

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Zombies are done, vampires are way overdone if you are trying to break in, and werewolves are a tough sell (because again, done).

The hot stuff in paranormal romance at this VERY moment is fallen angels. But that's if you have a completed manuscript to shop around in the next few weeks, because it's pretty much saturated now that every house has bought up a ms or two. I'm already hearing word that a lot of people have angel manuscripts and are hearing "Sorry, already got one."

Here's the thing with the trends (at least in romance). One angel book makes a splash and then every house thinks, "OMG we need something like that on our list." Everyone -- editors, contracted authors looking for a new project, agents, etc -- scramble to get an angel book in front of editors. There's a mad rush and flurry for a few weeks, an angel book or two get acquired, and then every aspiring author starts paying attention because, wow, angels are EVERYWHERE on Publisher's Marketplace, so they must be hot.

Except by the time you decide to write an angel book? Everyone already *has* one. And now they're going to wait and see how they do before wanting more. If every angel book that comes out in the next 2 years tanks like a mad tanking thing, angels will be done. If every angel book sells through the roof, the publishers are going to sit back and consider more projects -- as long as they don't compete with the existing angel projects, mind you -- and look at acquiring more.

So when you get wind of a genre starting to become 'hot', it's already winding down. If you have an agent, a good track record of sales in your genre, and you can whip together an amazing proposal in the space of about a week, you might be able to jump on board. Otherwise? You just need to hope the particular trend has major, major legs (like vampires).

Case in point -- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. Did amazingly well. Everyone scrambled to have the next book. Some publisher paid a ridiculous amount of money for Queen Victoria: Demon Hunter. It came out this last week. Did you hear a peep about it? No, me either. That trend is already dead in the water.

Stories about time travelling zombies who are fighting to save the universe from the dreaded Three Boobed Queen of Zarrr'yu'juk.


What's big now doesn't matter at all. Write the best you can and bollocks to the trends.

seun said:

Stories about time travelling zombies who are fighting to save the universe from the dreaded Three Boobed Queen of Zarrr'yu'juk.


What's big now doesn't matter at all. Write the best you can and bollocks to the trends.

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Just so I can get it right in the new WIP I'm starting as soon as I log off, is it the three-boobed queen who is big or the three boobs that are big?

NeuroFizz said:

Just so I can get it right in the new WIP I'm starting as soon as I log off, is it the three-boobed queen who is big or the three boobs that are big?

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To quote from Trading Places, "Can't we have both?"

blacbird said:

Corn-detasseling novels.

caw

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Everyone knows that's a completely oversaturated market. First thing my agent said when I sent her my six-book series was, "But how can we differentiate this from all the other corn detasseling books on the market?"

Same as the others.
Write what you feel best about, and who knows, it might be the 'hot genre' right when you start sending your queries around.
I'm wild about writing thrillers, action, spy stories, but I could never write any romances or vampire fantasies effectively even if I wanted to. Never mention corn-detasseling literature.

NeuroFizz said:

Just so I can get it right in the new WIP I'm starting as soon as I log off, is it the three-boobed queen who is big or the three boobs that are big?

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You'll have to go to Zarrr'yu'juk to find out.

seun said:

You'll have to go to Zarrr'yu'juk to find out.

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Cool. Road trip.

I couldn't give a damn which genre is hot. I write what I feel passionate about and make it hot.

You could hit all the buttons with a book about a Vampire (sparkles optional) and a Wizard (glasses required) investigating renaissance art symbols that will upset the applecart of current religious dogma.

Corn-detasseling.

I thought everyone knew that.

Irysangel said:

I'm already hearing word that a lot of people have angel manuscripts and are hearing "Sorry, already got one."

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Yep, me too.

And I think it's too late for demons--demons are probably the Next Big Thing, but unless you can finish a demon book in a month or so, you'll miss the window.

So you could either try to think of what's coming after demons, or write what you really care about and maybe you'll get lucky.

Market timing is as impossible in writing as it is in the stock market.

As for corn-detasseling, I've got you all beat. My next book, SHUCKS!, is going to be huge, and let me confide that there's some interest from Keanu Reeves's production company already. He'd be perfect for Joe, the Angry Earworm.

Mermaids, sea monsters and water nymphs.

There, you got a serious answer which wasn't "No clue." But keep in mind that if everyone is writing a mermaid book, yours has to compete with some established names. But I've heard more than once now that mermaids are "the next big thing." Vampires are over saturated, and demons and zombies are running their course.

Of course what you really want to do is write a book that will be the next big thing just at the moment when everyone realizes what the next big thing is. Kind of hard to do.

This was last weeks road trip wednesday. Take a look.

Western Spy Alien Abduction Erotica.

Get to it.