Ever run into this?
Traditional publishing is notorious for wanting “new, fresh” ideas — but also wanting it packaged in ways that they can recognize.
Especially in ways that are currently selling.
This is how you wind up with a publishing cycle in traditionally published commercial fiction. Something hits seemingly out of the blue, something whose success wasn’t anticipated.
Publishers then scramble frantically for books that are similar to that breakout success. While there are a number of books that are genuinely fresh and fun (and were just waiting for their shot), too soon they just scoop up copycats… books whose only difference from current blockbusters are superficial, just enough to get around copyright.
The market gets glutted. Readers who slavered for a particular kind of book are suddenly sick of it. Sales start to drop.
In the distance… a new title, a new subgenre. A new cycle.
Rinse and repeat.
Self-publishing changes the landscape (with a different set of obstacles.)
With the rise of self-publishing, writers are no longer at the mercy of the mercurial natural of publishing. Just because their (frontlist, bookstores, etc.) demands a quick hit of sales during release month doesn’t mean that the readers who were interested in, say, dystopian YA suddenly vanish when the trend ends. There are still plenty of those readers. There just isn’t the big, sexy sales boom.
That said: with the rise of self-pub, largely because of ebook, you now have a very low barrier to entry. You can publish your book in whatever genre, sub-genre, or cross-genre you like.
So can, literally, a million other authors.
And guess what?
A large population of the reading population wants what the traditional publishers are looking for: the same, but different.
Don’t worry, though. This is not a bad thing. You just need to reframe.
THE SAME = Audience Expectation
When publishers, or even readers, say that they want the “same” (or at least heavily imply it), what they mean is they want the same experience.
Romance readers want the experience of falling in love.
Horror readers want the experience of feeling afraid.
Mystery readers want the experience of solving a riddle.
Sci fi and fantasy readers want the experience of being transported/immersed.
There is a spectrum within each particular genre/subgenre. There is some overlap. There is a whole lot of nuance.
But if you don’t nail the underlying experience — provide them with THE SAME — then you’re not going to make a sale.
Do the research.
If you’re writing commercial, genre fiction, especially if you’re planning on self-publishing, I highly recommend getting a K-lytics report on the genre you’re planning on writing. If you’re not familiar, K-lytics provides regular reports on various genres and subgenres, highlighting popular categories, showing bestsellers, and even showing a large number of examples of the covers of bestsellers in that genre. (Which is important!)
You can buy just one report, if you’re targeting one genre and want to get your feet wet You’ll get a PDF that is very comprehensive, as well as a video that details everything as well as explains their data collection method.
If you just want to check it out, you here’s a basic link:
https://k-lytics.com/free-report
(Full disclosure: I am an affiliate. But I am only an affiliate because I’ve bought reports and I believe in it.)
BUT DIFFERENT = Your Uniqueness
Once you know you can nail the reader experience, you can — and should — let your freak flag fly. Because what you want to do is provide that fresh experience within the context of that experience.
More than that: you’re going to want to lean in.
It’s not enough to write something “a little” different. Reading audiences are inundated. You’re going to need to go all in to stand out
Something memorably odd. Something that hooks into their psyche, stands out from the crowd… but again, still fulfills the underlying experience.
Your unique take, your voice, your approach, all of that is what’s going to set you apart.
That doesn’t mean force originality.
You don’t want to push being different just to be different.
You do want to push yourself into a deep dive.
Look at what you love about the genre you want to write in, then look at what you love.
What are micro-tropes you enjoy? What are the kind of scenes that you squirm and scream and sigh over? I’m a sucker for a good justice-is-meted-out scene for example.
Look especially at what you feel like you want to read, that still fulfills the genre’s needs… but that no one seems to be writing. (Note: in self-publishing, odds are good somebody’s writing it. They’re just not getting the visibility they need, because it’s damned hard to be found.)
To be the same but different, be more you.
Want a case study?
I try not to talk about my fiction writing work in this realm — good fences, good neighbors, all that, and frankly, it’s not what you’re here for. That said, I am still a working writer, and what I see, do, and experience on that side of the fence influences what I share on this side.
I have a new release out right now that is, quite frankly, doing better than any book I’ve released previously, and while it’s early days, I have some theories as to why it is hitting so measurably hard, right out of the gate.
I can’t provide numbers — it’s traditional publishing, and I signed contracts not to — but I can give you outside markers and discuss strategy. If enough people are interested, I can write something up for a future newsletter perhaps, or add it to the downloads library. Just email me and let me know.
Until then… hang in there, and keep going!