Strategy session I. breaking inity of an existing genre. They must build from the ground up, creat-
ing a category where none existed before—their own.
It can be a tough job.
So where do you belong on the publishing map? To decide, iden-
tify that section of bookstores where you are likely to find most of
your appreciative readers. There. You have narrowed it down.
Now look more closely. Within any given category, there are like-
ly to be many subcategories. Mysteries are not just mysteries, they
are cozies (those inspired by British country house crime novels),
private-investigator novels, police procedurals, humorous, region-
al, or whatever. Where does your novel fit within your category? Or,
more to the point, which author's work does your own material
most resemble?
Authors hate to be compared to others. It seems so unfair, and it
is. But once again we are not talking about literary value judgments;
we are talking about efficient distribution. An apt comparison is
useful in making that happen.
Here is an exercise: go to a well-stocked general bookstore and
cruise the section that you have already selected as your base of
operations. Study the novels. Now, which author's work is closest to
what you are writing? Do not cheat. Do not indulge your fantasies.
Try to find the one writer whose work most closely resembles yours
in setting, time period, story type, cast of characters, prose style,
and so on.
If you have done that exercise faithfully, you will have identified
your competition. Believe me, if you do not do it for yourself now,
people up and down the publishing ladder will do it for you later.
You now have the means to give publishing folks an accurate
report of your location on the category map. Further, you have the
chance to draw important distinctions between your work and that
of the competition. Make yourself look good. (Why not?) Tell people
what makes your work different, if not superior.
In thinking about these issues you are probably also identifying
those qualities that your readers value. Fans of literary fiction enjoy,
for example, evocative description. Romance readers, in contrast,
want ardor and care little about beautifully turned prose. (Let's be
honest. Why else would so many poorly written romances still sell?)