Is there still money in books?
Yes...
And no. Yes, if you can tap into a market that has great demand, for
instance ghostwriting celebrity biographies or penning the next big
thing in self help since Deepak Chopra. There's no accounting for
readers' tastes – just look at the runaway success of Twilight, The
Hunger Games or the Fifty Shades books. The problem is, that once a book
is trending in traditional publishing, you're going to see dozens, if
not hundreds of other, similar books in the genre, all trying to cash in
on what's hot.
Some may be more successful
than others. Others will fade into obscurity without making any impact
whatsoever. But the market will be flooded, and reader saturation will
mean that the knock-offs may meet with a lukewarm reception.
Certain
genres are perennial moneymakers, like romance, which will have as many
sub-genres as you can throw a stick at, be it medical romances, LGBTI,
paranormal, erotica, BDSM... The list is endless, and its titles
ephemeral. Just go look at the best-sellers on Amazon. Depending on
readers' whims, different subgenres will do better than others from time
to time. Career-focused authors will push aside their personal
preferences and write to spec, and a good portion of them will see a
decent income. Granted, the ladies I've spoken to treat this like any
nine-to-five job, and they work hard, sometimes releasing a book every
two to three months. They endlessly self-promote on blog tours and
attend conventions. It's hard work.
Nowadays
it's easier than ever before to get your book published, but in many
ways it's never been more difficult to get your voice heard. Book
reviewers are bombarded with daily requests, often from self-published
authors who don't have access to professionals for editing, formatting
and design – and in many instances it shows. That said, some of the
bigger houses are also guilty of letting through mediocre titles purely
because the authors are proven sellers.
Readers
have nearly unlimited choices, but the trick is of course to find the
golden wheat among the chaff. And there's a lot of chaff.
Authors
who can carve out a niche for themselves, and keep at it while
providing a quality product, can make a living wage, but it is a
full-time job – and they are very much in the minority. For most it's a
case of selling anywhere between zero to a dozen copies of a book a
month, and for money to trickle in. The long and short of it is: don't
quit your day job any time soon. If you want to make money, write for
genres that popular, but don't hold your breath that you're going to be
an overnight success. Don't try to copy what the successful authors are
doing, but be aware of the elements of storycraft that strike a mark
with readers. There are no guarantees in this industry, because
sometimes even clearly derivative works end up being a bestseller.
What do you think? What has been your experience?
See the list of books Nerine's had published here including the book Wordsmack Publishers published, The Guardian's Wyrd.
