Chasing Trends
I have a bit of a strange writing method in that I write according to my moods. It means that I only commit to starting a novel once I’ve spent hours or days obsessing over one image or idea, and then I have to start writing right there – if it means using a notebook, my phone app, or a laptop, anywhere between three to five thousand words will be banged out in one session. More chronically, I have a fear of running out of time and being prevented from finishing a project in some way – whether it be illness, accident, or death – so I won’t stop until the writing bug has left me, and by that point, I’d have exhausted the early hours of the morning, but a finished novel would emerge after a month or so.
These are terrible conditions for an industry that wants authors to write to their passions and also write to market. Publishing is a business (blah blah blah), so if you want to have commercial success and make some meaningful living from it, you have to follow what’s currently selling, what deals are being made, which genres generate sales, what stories receive the industry buzz. Your book needs to be in conversation with the work that’s currently being published, but it’s hard when you know how easily these trends can fall, how oversaturated they become, and how publishing timelines are incongruent to keeping up to date with current hype.
If I was to sell a book to a publisher today, it wouldn’t get published until 2027 at least. Perhaps it’s a romantasy. That genre is still booming, despite editors’ complaints about oversaturation. But what if, in 2027, everyone pivots to mecha space operas? It means my romantasy won’t get as much attention, and perhaps the industry won’t be as excited for my book because they need to make money off the trend of the day. But then, if I try selling a mecha space opera today, it will be hard to get an agent let alone a publisher, because it’s not what’s hot right now. I had abandoned my racial dystopia because in 2020, no one wanted to publish dystopia. Now, it’s all the rage, and I’m sitting here with a finished dystopia manuscript (that needs a huge re-write) and wondering if I should cash in before it’s too late, even if my heart isn’t totally in it, and I might be pressured to lean into its romance elements to make it commercially viable. This is a creative mindfuck, and the reason why publishing professionals discourage new writers from chasing trends, because trends will always change. But publishers, as risk-averse as they are, will be reluctant to acquire a book that’s too off-trend also. What is a writer supposed to do?
It's no secret that I’ve got a few books on the go. A horror duology of two standalone books set in alternate Londons, dealing with hell, death, and strange, offbeat protagonists. One leans more horror than the other, the other is more horror-mance. Horror-mance is growing at the moment, with a lot of industry heads speculating it might be the next big thing after romantasy, or be a joint trender with dystopian romance. I sent both novels to my agent, more out of anxiety than anything else, because I didn’t want to lose out on the trend. Whilst I’m so proud of THE REAPER and the GETHSEMANE series, it’s not the most commercial story, and I’ve seen some of the other debuts in my group soar into authorship with the whole industry fully behind them. They became instant New York and Sunday Times bestsellers with multiple special editions, PR boxes sent to huge influencers, national tours, book crates, chosen as books of the month and selected in yearly “best book” roundups. I don’t think it’s wrong to want some of that for myself. And whilst I know there are racial and structural barriers that make it less likely a Black-led story will get the whole package, I do think being commercially minded makes a huge difference into the kind of support a book will get. I’m trying to be savvy instead of bitter.
Alongside these stories are two partial drafts I wrote in the spur of the moment. One is contemporary, but is cross genre (a dark fantasy comedy for fans of Yellowface). The other, which I started over the weekend, is an epic fantasy for fans of Berserk, Between Two Fires and Grave Empire. Now only one of those books has been published recently, and unless they’re into grimdark manga, it’s unlikely most trad publishers would’ve heard of Berserk. Between Two Fires is like, almost a canon text with how prestigious it is, so I wonder if it’s right for me to bring it up in conversation with my own work. Ultimately, this book isn’t trendy. I don’t think it’s commercial. But eight thousand words in and I’m thrilled.
I’m calling it Deadlands for now but I doubt the name will remain. It’s the first time, probably since I was seventeen, that I’m starting a book just to start it, not having a clue what’s happening in the next chapter, only partly aware of what the story is and where it’s going. I’m not rushing to try and get it out to my agent before any particular book fair. I’m not desperate to put it on sub before I miss out on a trend. I’m just writing it because I can, because I want to stretch my writing muscles, because I’ve read a tonne of fantastic books this year and I feel inspired, because my vocabulary has expanded, because my life has been tumultuous and I have things to say. Truly, I don’t know what will come of it, I might not ever give it to Molly to read, but I’m excited to write it.
I think there’s meaning in that. Sometimes, the madness of this industry will lead you back to your first love. It’s important for writers to write because they love it. Catching a trend should be secondary to that.