Selecting a genre to write for?

[I, Brian]

One of my concerns is that I've started serial works in both fantasy and science fiction, and both need a lot of work to get them to the required standard.

The question is, which genre to focus on first...

I've tried to consider this in market terms, and from earlier questions and answers with John Jarrold, I've been given the following impression of each:

1. Fantasy appears to have the larger reader market - but the genre is potentially waning

2. Science fiction appears to on the rise in the UK - but has a more limited reader market


I guess it almost looks like fantasy has the biggest audience but maybe harder to break through into due to "Tolkien overload"...

...whereas science fiction may be comparatively easier to sell into, but at the cost of being in a much smaller marketplace.


I guess the question is - should I try and address which genre to move into from a business perspective, by trying to second-guess the markets...

...or shall I answer myself and simply try and focus on the work and genre that sems most meaningfull to me?

[iansales]

Hi Brian,

We met at alt.fiction. My own feeling on this matter is that you should write what you want to write. If the book is good enough, you'll sell it. There's little point in second-guessing the market: a) public taste is fickle, and b) it can take several years from signing a contract with a publisher to actually having the novel appear in book shops... by which point the boat might well have long since sailed...

- ian

[I, Brian]

Hi Ian - nice to meet you on the boards at last and welcome to chronicles.

The problem is when you can go one of two ways, and looking at different options for which route may work out better overall.

[iansales]

How about... science fantasy? :-)

[Teresa Edgerton]

Originally Posted by iansales

There's little point in second-guessing the market: a) public taste is fickle, and b) it can take several years from signing a contract with a publisher to actually having the novel appear in book shops... by which point the boat might well have long since sailed...

I have to agree with this. You can't even predict what editors will be buying by the time you're ready to submit, much less what the public will be buying by the time a book could find its way into print.

Write whichever series you feel the most passionate about. Let the genre choose you.

[John Jarrold]

Yes, I absolutely agree with Teresa. If you choose your genre with the market in mind, your writing will show less belief - which publishers will pick up on.

[I, Brian]

No problem, and thanks for the replies.

[An8el]

Just write - let them do the categorizing.

You can always toss the I Ching about a prediction of what will happen in the future. I wouldn't imagine that it would do you any good to accept that "fantasy is waning." That's just a market prediction - and, they probably didn't use the I Ching.