To market, to market to buy a...

A conversation at Readerville on writing to “the market” has brought up some issues I’d like to use to start a diaglog here.

Is it possible to write to the market and write from the heart at the same time? 

I always say that writing is an art and publishing is a business.

So at what point in the process does the artist open her eyes and look at the business? 

With my first four novels I paid no attention to the market or writing to genre or category. My agent was clear with me when she took me on that we would have trouble since my novels were:

A.  Character driven (which took it out of mystery/suspense and put it into what others call "literary" or "contemporary" or at the time “women’s fiction”)

B. Suspenseful with a satisfying conclusion (which took it out of what others call "literary" or "contemporary” or “women’s fiction” and demanded it be called "mystery/suspense)

C. Slightly erotic which suggested it be put in the erotic category where it didn't fit at all because the erotic was not the main focus of the books and was such a small category it would spell disaster.

Through the publishing process of each of those first four novels my publishers did struggle with the marketing issues and labeling issues as you can see when you look at the covers. Very few readers would guess there is any suspense at all in any of these books except fo In Fidelity. As a result there were four books that didn’t visually  translate what was between those covers to readers and the trade or help to develop me as a writer of any specific kind of fiction.
                                 

Not only did they not know what category to put me in – or how to create a cover that identified the “kind of book” each was, they didn't even know what other authors to compare me to.

In fact my PW review for my second novel complimented me with what turned out to be a marketing death sentence:

“Like Lip Service, In Fidelity escapes easy categorization, falling somewhat short of a thriller but with just enough tension to push it out of the general category of women's fiction. But Rose is becoming her own category (and doubtless will prove an enthusiastic and indefatigable booster for the book); her name is well known now, and should attract curious readers.”

When I still hadn’t "broken-out" (don’t you hate that phrase – it makes me think of an embryonic chick pecking away) my agent took me out to lunch to discuss what I was going to write next.

While she didn't want me to be unfaithful to my own visions she did ask me to think about the possibility that I pick one of the three "categories" I fit into and push that one just enough to give my publishers a way to talk about my books and a way for potential readers to find them.

I balked.

Yes, I had spent 12 years in advertising.

Yes, I know the importance of marketing and positioning as well any other creative director on Madison Ave.

But still, being a novelist, I complained, is not being a copywriter. 

Writing is an art, publishing is business. I’m the writer not the publisher.

My agent understood my reaction, and wisely didn’t push. But she did, at the end of that lunch, ask me to please consider what she’d said and mull it over.

Mull I did. For four months I didn’t write a word, I just mulled.

What emerged was a concept that came right out of the conundrum.

A psychological suspense series about a sex therapist.

Since Dr. Morgan Snow is a therapist I get away with slightly more character driven fiction than the genre typically allows and since her specialty is sex therapy I can still explore the sexual issues that I believe drive so many of us to do what we do and live the way we live.

I don’t feel, looking back to 2003 that I’ve compromised but rather that I’ve written to market in the right way -- from my heart. In terms of sales and reviews, Dr. Morgan Snow series has pushed me to the next level. Of course there are still many levels left to climb. But I’m at least on the ladder now instead of trying to find it.

But I think the issues are important to discuss – from both the author’s and the publisher’s perspective.

As an author at what point is it selling out versus being smart?

Can anyone ever ignore the market – meaning - isn’t “literary or contemporary” a market too?

Are the marketing goals of the industry handcuffing authors?

Is it harder than ever for an author to stay focused on her goal of telling a certain truth, of showing a certain beauty, of opening up a certain nightmare, of offering up a story of value?

As always I welcome any essays on this topic and would be happy to post them in between the continuation of the summer reading lists that will continue through the next 8 weeks. Just write me at MJRoseAuthor@aol.com)

Comments

[John]

I am surprised about the comment about a character driven book causing the book to be considered literary. When I look at books such as the JD Rob series and books by Evanovich, I see them as being highly character focused. I certainly would not classify those books as literary. What did your agent mean? Pardon me if I am being thick.

[Douglas Clegg]

John - a book with a character at the center is not necessarily a character-driven book. To me, character-driven in fiction means the entire story unfolds from the inner workings of the character. This is not true with Evanovich or Nora Roberts/J.D. Robb, necessarily. I've read their books, and they're predominately plot-driven -- it's the character added to the plot of murder, detection, etc. At the end, something is solved. In character-driven fiction, I'm not sure there's such a thing as "solved," there is only "aware."

It doesn't mean popular fiction doesn't have character-driven fiction all the time. Gone With the Wind seems character-driven to me -- but the world of that novel has more to do with the inner workings of Scarlett's psyche than with an actual plot. In fact, at the end of Gone With the Wind, has she solved what we have come to think of as her problem? No.

But her inner workings have been revealed -- we know her inside and out by the end of that novel.

One way to see where character-driven and plot-driven fiction differs is: how do you describe the book in one sentence?

If the workings of the plot are in that sentence, if the situation of the story is in that sentence, it's probably plot-driven.

But if you say, "It's about a man who..." or "It's about a woman who..." it's likely character-driven.

It doesn't mean a lovable or fascinating character is NOT at the heart of a plot-driven story, but if someone reads a novel and says, "Is that the one about the killer who drove the Harley?" it's probably plot-driven. If someone asks, "Is that about the strange woman who had to have her father's house at any cost?" it's probably character-driven.

Okay, this is my opinion only, but these are the kinds of things I've been studying in my own individual way since I began writing fiction in the late 1980s.

[Douglas Clegg]

As a side-note, I tend to love plot-driven fiction simply because most plotting novelists I know create amazing characters.

But the character-driven writers I've read have a lot of trouble writing a story that captivates me.

A good novelist must have both -- stories where the character and plot are interwoven seamlessly. It's certainly a difficult thing to do, and one of the challenges of writing fiction.

[M.J.]

Better said than I could have, thanks Doug!

[David Skibbins]

I never thought of it as a choice. I tried a character driven novel and no one would buy it. So I decided to get published, which meant for me, writing mysteries. This is necessarly plot driven, all be it filled with eccentric characters. If you write Haiku, the first line has 5 syllables, the second 7 and the third 5. It is in part the limitations of the form that gives depth to the poem, or the mystery novel. I didn't need to break the mold.

[patry]

I think the best fiction is both character-driven and plot-driven--and thus, eludes easy categorizing.

You're so right about Gone With the Wind, Doug. There are countless Civil
War novels, but there is only one Scarlett. At the same time, it's also a very plot driven novel. Without the war and everything she endures, Scarlett's character would have no means of development.