So often in the past, I have completed a book or short story that I truly thought was going to be a huge hit with readers and critics, perhaps even the one that wins awards and catapult me into stardom, only to have it barely get noticed by readers. Then, I'll whip out something quick and dirty, and it's a mega hit. It happens enough that I have learned to temper my expectations. I have learned that what sells and doesn't sell is often a complex series of accidents and coincidences. That it seldom has much to do with the quality of the story, but more with the zeitgeist of the moment.
Unfortunately, a small mistake can often relegate your magnum opus to obscurity. The wrong cover. The wrong title. Bad editing or, even more frustrating, errors in printing. The wrong publisher. The wrong agent. Bad timing. So many things that are in and out of our control, but can often be impossible to predict. There are books I wrote over a decade ago that I am certain would have been a huge hit had they been written and released today. The success of the rerelease of Voracious through Cemetery Dance Publications is a shining example.
In the past, I have lamented seeing a book I put my heart and soul into fail to connect with more than my loyal base readers. I have agonized over seeing novels I considered unremarkable (and some I considered unreadable) win awards and hit bestsellers lists while my best efforts went unnoticed. I have even tried to tap into the correct marketing formula, tried to time my book releases so they would land at just the right time of year, decided which story, of the half dozen floating around in my head, I would write based on what was hot that year. None of that shit worked. You know what did work? Just writing and being myself. Just saying fuck it and letting the story do what it do. If the readers love it, awesome. If they don't, maybe they'll dig the next one.
We can often get lost trying to chase market trends and follow marketing formulas that have worked for others. The problem is that often the trend you are chasing will be long dead by the time you even finish writing your book. Or, if you write and publish your book lightning fast in an effort to catch that trend, you will have published a ripe stinking turd. Some even go as far as trying to duplicate the precise series of events that led to one author's success. Whether it's true or not (and I don't want to get into it) an author was recently accused of burning his own book under a sock puppet TikTok account to drum up sales, presumably because he saw how the attacks on Aron Beauregard’s Playground and Mique Watson’s Broken Dolls, boosted their sales. Again, I don’t know all the details and don't care to. I don't know if he really did it, but I can see how an obsession with success could lead to that.
Many moons ago, when I was really focused upon winning a Bram Stoker Award, I remember an author reaching out to me and asking me to recommend his short story in exchange for him recommending mine. I declined, and he sent at least three follow up messages trying to guilt and coerce me into it, to the point that I had to rather sternly and rudely rebuff him. That author went on to win that year, and it soured me on the Stoker Awards for many years. Because if he was pressuring me like that and offering me that quid pro quo deal, he was certainly doing it to others. And I will say unequivocally that his book did not deserve to win. Not just because of his actions, but also because of the quality of the stories.
My point is this, don't compromise your integrity trying to be successful. Don't lose who you are. Don't get so focused on chasing trends that you lose yourself as an artist. Write the shit you really want to write. The shit you will be proud of in ten years. Not shit you will have to explain to people because it only makes sense in the context of some long dead trend.
“I know it seems horrible now, but at the time putting lots of child SA and baby torture in books was the hot trend.”
Don't do that. Just do you. You never know when YOU will be exactly what the market is looking for. What you are doing right now, or might do tomorrow, might just be the next big thing. You never know.
Completely agree. It surprises me that people who solely have a desire for fame and money end up trying to force it with writing of all things; there are far more lucrative careers. Write what you want and what brings you joy. Trend-chasing is a rat-race and is futile. And if that's your only motivation it's also an excellent way to end up writing some cookie-cutter, generic bullshit that looks like most other books on the shelf because your heart isn't really in it. Fuck awards.
Ironically, to make a "hit" it seems like you shouldn't even follow trends because you'd be publishing in an already saturated market.
There is so much wisdom here.