Tuesday, December 04, 2007

Being different, Yet Remaining the Same

By Darvell Hunt

Publishers say they are looking for the next great idea for a book, yet they are leery about doing something drastically different. What a strange contradiction.

Many of the recent “break out” books have been stories that publishers have gone out on a limb to publish, yet publishers still tend to remain rather conservative in what they will print.

That makes decisions rather difficult for us writers. Do we try to write material like what we see currently out there that is selling well, assuming that there is a market for it, or do we try to create something new and exciting and different, and hope a publisher will take the chance on us?

Today I’m full of questions, but short on answers. What do you think?

2 comments:

Ronda Gibb Hinrichsen said...

I've resorted to writing what I want to read, which right now is what I can't find. But saying that, I also try to keep the current market, traditions, and "rules" in mind as I write. So far, it's worked with my magazine writing. I can only wait and see if it works with novel writing.

Keith N Fisher said...

Good points I agree with Rhonda in that I need to write what I want then I can make the best I can. If I do that, it has a much better chance of being published than if I try to write someone elses book badly.