We all know about the success of 50 Shades of G. I'm not going to jump on the bandwagon and bash the series. To each their own. We, however, know that it was a Twilight Fan-fic. I read somewhere that the author has earned 7.3 million (since April) and has become UK Amazon bestselling book of all time and outsold the latest Harry Potter. Good for her.
Now another Twilight Fan Fic has been picked up by Penguin Imprint for seven figures... As a writer, it makes you wonder. Is it better to stay true to you and write your story or jump on the bandwagon and go with the trend?
Readers don't seem to care. Publishers want to make money and don't care.
Personally, I try not to follow trends. Why? I want to wake up in the morning and feel good about myself as a person and a writer. Maybe that's why I'm not a millionaire, hehehe.
When I started writing the Guardian Legacy series, there were no books on children of the fallen angels. But I had an idea and went with it. Then my agent started subbing it to editors and all she heard was "we've just signed up an author writing angel books...blah blah this and blah blah that."
I didn't care. I had a story to tell and will continue to write until I finish my GL series.
On a different note, it's been a mad dash to the finish, Olympic style, on my WIP. I'm totally wiped out, but what a ride. I think I'll start another WIP after I revise my present one and send it to my editor. This is where I'm at as of this morning...will start writing at 10:30.
Go, Ednah!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Catherine. So close, 3 chapters to go.
DeleteI don't write to trends. I write the stories I need to tell and hope for the best. I think if you have a great book, it will sell, regardless of trends.
ReplyDeleteGood luck writing today. You're getting close to your goal.
happy I call authors like you as friends. and you are right about a great book.
DeleteI don't write to trends either. I find it exhausting, trying to catch up on those trends. I'll echo Kelly's thoughts: I write I need to tell and hope for the best. Who knows? one might start the trend.. :)
ReplyDeleteYeah, catching up on the trends is so counter-productive. Usually by the time your book is done, the trend's changed anyway.
DeleteI find it odd that even though I haven't read the original Twilight series, (at least not yet), I have read both 50 Shades of Grey and Sherri Hayes's Finding Anna series which were both based on Twilight fanfic. I don't write to trend, either. Not because I don't think it's a marketable idea, but because I have always had difficulty coloring between the lines. My characters don't follow a given pattern or trend. They don't even follow the plot outline I give them, so how could I ever get them to fit into the mold of someone else's characters? Nope, not gonna happen.
ReplyDeleteLOL, Kathryn, I'm one of those whose character don't follow my plot. They keep throwing me a curve ball. I haven't read 50 SOG or Hayes. I did read Twilight, the first book, and that wasn't bad. I couldn't get into book 2 though.
Deletehmmm, I wonder if my twilight fanfic will be the next pickup! Better go finish it! LOL
ReplyDeleteI don't write for the trends, BUT, if I have more than one story idea, I might focus on the one that will be more marketable--doing that now. The thing with trends is that unless you're one of those writers that can bang out a book in 3 months, you'll most likely be behind the trends when your book is being shopped around.
Hmm I wonder too, LOL. Good luck with your story. I'll be starting one in a few weeks and we'll see how it goes.
DeleteI write the kind of book I would like to read. It might not be on trend, but at the end of the day I'll have something I'm proud of.
ReplyDeleteAnd the sense of accomplishment may not be bankable but it it priceless
DeleteI think the characters in my head would attack me if I tried to make them Twilight/Harry Potter/Hunger Games knockoffs. I just write what they tell me to. :)
ReplyDeleteI will say, I loved the twilight series, and am a fan, BUT that horrible 50 shades book, I did a review, I would have given 0 if i could, got one star, it was HORRIBLE, I mean, the worst writing I think I have ever seen. It makes me cringe that it has been compared to Twilight, and yes, i hear it was a fan fic, if you take the time and see the thousands of horrible honest reviews of it at Amazon, you will see. I am pretty sure the positives are paid reviews. Anyway, i do not like books that are close to copy cat, it bugs me more than anything as a reader. To me it feels as if these fan-fic turned to books are ripping off the originals, and in the case of 50 shades gives it a bad name. To me that book is like badly written immature porn.
ReplyDeleteWhat i read of your books so far, are amazing, keep with what your doing. Much better to have your own original idea and story than following trends. And the thing with trends, like as you said angel books, there is many out there, but they all have their own story to tell, are uniquely different, at least the many that I have read.
I would hate to see you or any other good authors change their writing to fit the trends, especially if your using that horrid book 50 shades as an example. I think its a shame that so many people were ripped off with that book. You can go read the original fan-fic for free, the names were changed is all, and the original was a porn version, make fun of twilight, type fan-fic. Reminds me of that horrid movie, called Vampires suck , that made fun of Twilight, I hate that people can make money off someone else's fame, even when making fun of it. Just is wrong, and so sad.
Hope authors do not start doing that more, it would ruin my love of reading, if all I could find is copy cat work.
Keep up the good work Ednah
I know you asked Authors this questions, but as a avid reader, I felt I should give my 2 cents worth. If you don't want this here, that's fine, you can remove it, just wanted to tell you this. :)