Last month I subscribed to Reader Service to receive monthly editions of Harlequin Blaze novels.
Why?
I wanted to study the market. Ideally, I'd like to write novels that fit into this genre and needed to find out what the publisher was publishing. Likewise, I subscribed to Harlequin's Kimani line, their African-American genre, months ago. The stories I'm working would definitely fit that market. Call it market research!
Do you study the target market for your manuscripts? If so, how and how often?
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3 comments:
What I do is read what I like to read, and see who is publishing those books. I don't write category romance, but more single-title African-American women's fiction.
So often I've heard authors advise newbies not to write to the market, but rather write the book that's in their heart because the market is constantly changing and what's hot today won't be by the time your manuscript gets out there.
This is my philosophy right now.
I read to see what's out there.
But I'm with Chicki. You need to write what you want and hope it's good enough. After all, every author is an individual with thoughts and feelings and beliefs. The world doesn't need another Nora Roberts or Danielle Steele.
That's my philosophy now.
I love several of the HQ lines and so besides gearing my writing toward them...I love to read the variety of stories within different lines. I've heard so much about the editors and how they listen to their authors.
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