Location: Santa Rosa’s main office

Conventional wisdom tells us that during the Great Depression (1929-1939), Americans flocked to the movie theaters to escape their drab lives through the music and dancing magic of Shirley Temple, Fred Astaire, and Ginger Rogers.

True, but those films weren’t exactly happy tales void of difficulties. When my family and I watched all the Shirley Temple films one summer, we joked at the start of each one, “How do you think her parents will die this time?” She may have had a happy ending, but Shirley usually had tragedy in her past. And Ginger? Always a broke store clerk or a woman down on her luck. Things turned around when Ginger found Fred and twirled away on her very high heels. And they all lived happily ever after.

But while moviegoers sought escape in song and dance, what types of books did the readers buy? The best-selling novel of 1931 and 1932 was Pearl Buck’s The Good Earth, the story of a poor Chinese farmer during turbulent times. The 1931 nonfiction list included books about games, biographies and several political and/or current event books. (These best-selling book lists come from a 2006 class taught by Professor John Unsworth at the University of Illinois’s Graduate School of Library and Information Services,  ”20th Century American Best-Sellers.”)

One of the best selling writers during the Depression and World War II era was the Lutheran pastor, Lloyd C. Douglas. Among his novels written during this time period were Magnificent Obsession, Green Light, White Banners and The Robe. The Robe, which examines events connected to the cloth Jesus wore at his crucifixion, was on the best-seller list for three straight years during World War II.

On the nonfiction list, one of the big sellers in 1933 and 1934 was 100,000,000 Guinea Pigs: Dangers in Everyday Foods, Drugs and Cosmetics by Arthur Kallet and F. J. Schlink. See? There’s nothing new under the sun. Biographies and narrative nonfiction-type stories fill the ranks, with books about war clouds growing in Europe appearing with greater regularity toward the end of the decade.

Another big fiction seller during the Depression was Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind–an historical novel set during the Civil War, which emphasizes Scarlett O’Hara’s pluck and opportunity-grabbing ability. Plenty of escapist literature appeared on the list: Anthony Adverse, a swashbuckling story that topped the list in 1933 and 1934; Anne Morrow Lindbergh’s true tale of adventure:  North to the Orient; and Clarence Day’s domestic comedy: Life with Father. A.J. Cronin medical dramas appear almost yearly.

The fiction lists generally hold at least one mystery (often by Mary Roberts Rinehart), romantic suspense novels, tearjerkers, American historical fiction and usually one humorous book.

What sort of conclusions, if any, can we take from lists like these? Is it possible to take historical information and apply it to today?

During times in my life when things aren’t going well, when death or fear drags me down, I don’t want to read heavy stories. I read to escape from my turbulent life into a place that may also be unruly, but at least is guaranteeing me a happy ending. That may be why I always read the last chapter of the murder mystery . . . before I should.

Which brings us to today.

In a time of pressing financial need, chaos around the world, frustration with government and sagging moral institutions, what type of book do you want to read? What would be the felt need for a large enough component of the reading public to make book sales soar?

Or, what type of book do you NOT want to read during trying times?

Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.

New financial/sales reports are just coming in for publishing for 2010 and the first half of 2011. Now, for those of you who are yawning, I promise to only discuss what’s likely to show important trends that every writer should be aware of. So read up!

Here are the newsworthy items:

• Fiction remains the leading sales driver of e-books. But the chart below illustrates just how dominant fiction is. The chart on the left is for unit sales; the chart on the right is for revenue generation. What does this add up to? Fiction brings in more than half of e-book revenue, while all other categories are like saplings shaded by a redwood. Why should you care? Because this tells you that, if you’re writing nonfiction and aiming your personal marketing plans toward selling e-books, that might not be the best plan unless you have a special “in” to your market. But if you write fiction, many readers await your e-book.

• Of the various fiction genres, literary/classics take the lead in unit sales, with science fiction close behind. Holding third place is Christian fiction. We can guess that the classics have the lead position because so many of them are being offered for free or 99 cents for an author’s oeuvre. I own all of Jane Austen’s work and paid 99 cents for the package. Sci-fi makes sense because those who read this genre tend to be purchase technological toys; e-books and sci-fi readers are a perfect fit. But look at Christian fiction, beating out romance, mystery and general fiction.

• Buyers who purchase e-books online tend to purchase print books from the same source.
• e-books constituted 4 percent of units sold in 2010.

I’ve suggested one application for the first graphs–where you would place your marketing energy based on what you write. Now, let’s talk about other implications of the study’s results.

1. Does this information give you pause or renewed energy for the category you write?
2. In what ways might these numbers help you to direct your marketing energy/dollars? What do the numbers tell you about where your buyers are?
3. How do you balance this study with the reality that, while e-books are gaining strength very fast, most buyers are hugging their books to their chests rather than clicking “buy” on e-readers?
4. Unfortunately this study didn’t look at the price paid per unit for e-books. What’s your best guess as to what that might be? What do you base your opinion on? And what are the implications of the unit price for writers?

I know these questions don’t necessarily lend themselves to off-the-top-of-your-head answers, but I believe it’s worth the time for each of us to consider what these numbers mean. They predict the way ahead for all of us.

We’re done. Another ICRS under our belts. What a great show it turned out to be. I’m writing my blog on an iPad, typing slowly with one finger. (Why couldn’t I have learned to text as a teen–I’m so jealous of teen textability.) So you are the winner– I’ll keep this short and to the point.

When anyone offers to speculate on the state of an industry, your response should be to roll your eyes. It’s an exercise not unlike the blind men describing the elephant. We only know what we’ve observed. But I thought I’d share ten observations with you.

1. We sensed a whole new energy. Publishers are definitely buying books.

2. Since Christmas 2010 the velocity of eBook sales has been breathtaking.

3. In fiction, historical is still strong but we saw the beginnings of a renewed interest in contemporary. We did see that editors are looking for very specific genres or time periods or settings to fill holes.

4. In fiction, editors seem to be somewhat more open to the unusual. One editor gave us percentages– a small percentage of her line can be used to introduce debut novelists, another small percentage can be experimental, while the bulk of the line is for excellent, but tried-and-true fiction.

5. In fiction, genre is still king. Publishers have not been able to develop any significant market for literary fiction.

6. In Christian nonfiction, basic is back. We talked to editors who are actively looking for books addressing things like simple Bible literacy.

7. In nonfiction platform is more important than ever. We had an editor tell us that if they take a project to committee they are asked to give specific details about the author’s social network platform. Another editor said it takes so long to get a writer up to speed on effective social networking that if it comes down to someone who is already well-networked and someone with a limited network, there’s no question who will get the nod.

8. Brick and mortar bookstores are still struggling. Some of the challenges are:

• Discount price competition from the big box stores (Walmart, Costco, etc.) and from Amazon and CBD.
• The ease of direct eBook sales, effectively cutting the store out of the equation.
• The tough economy–unemployment and underemployment resulting in less disposable income.
• The high price of gas, meaning people think twice before getting into their cars to go to a bookstore rather than to buy online. It’s created a perfect storm of trouble for the independent bookstore.

9.  We observed a proliferation of innovative new media ideas– the fusion of books with digitally delivered sound, video, extra content and interactive content.

10.  It was exciting to see the birth of several new publishing houses. We had meetings with three of them– Worthy Publishing, whose inaugural list featured a breathtaking offering of potential bestsellers; eChristian who look to be a major player not only in audio and eBooks but are also doing traditional books; and Jericho books, a division of Hachette, focusing on thought-provoking books for the church’s disillusioned, disassociated and disgruntled. Here’s how they put it, “The mission of Jericho Books is to seek new, innovative authors who reflect a growing change in the church. These non-traditional voices will appeal to the fresh perspectives in today’s culture and provide an avenue for those exploring political and social issues as they relate to faith.”

There was so much more, but these ten give you a sense of what we observed. We’re gearing up to meet the challenges.

Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.

Everyone gets discouraged at some point, but publishing is an industry full of emotional roller coasters. It’s easy to fall into the pit of discouragement as a writer, publisher, editor or agent. A book that comes to mind for me during discouraging times is The Hiding Place by Corrie ten Boom. This book is the true story of Corrie’s internment in a concentration camp during WWII. She and her family were Christians hiding Jews from the Germans in Amsterdam. She was caught and tortured, but ultimately survived, and her story has touched millions of people. (The movie is good as well! I cry every time I watch it.)

The most amazing thing to me about Corrie’s story is that, even though the circumstances she faced were awful, her attitude,  faith, and optimism are what carried her through.

Here are some quotes taken from the book that encourage me:

“Perhaps only when human effort had done it’s best and failed, would God’s power alone be free to work.”

“This is what the past is for! Every experience God gives us, every person He puts in our lives is the perfect preparation for the future that only He can see.”

“Even as the angry vengeful thoughts boiled through me, I saw the sin of them. Jesus Christ had died for this man; was I going to ask for more? Lord Jesus, I prayed, forgive me and help me to forgive him….Jesus, I cannot forgive him. Give me your forgiveness….And so I discovered that it is not on our forgiveness any more than on our goodness that the world’s healing hinges, but on His. When He tells us to love our enemies, He gives along with the command, the love itself.”

“There are no ‘if’s’ in God’s world. And no places that are safer than other places. The center of His will is our only safety–let us pray that we may always know it!”

I figure that if Corrie can have such a faith during that horrible war, I can strive to have faith like that in my day-to-day life. God knows the future. He has a plan, and I don’t need to worry. The discouragement comes when I don’t let go of the worries. If I trust God, I don’t experience that discouragement; instead I’m excited to see what God has in store.

I’m not so good at letting go of the worry, but I keep trying. It helps to think about The Hiding Place.

As a matter of fact, it’s time for me to read that book again!

What books have helped encourage you?

Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.

We’ve been looking this week at the elements that make a book successful. And we’d be remiss if we didn’t talk about the importance of the author’s brand. Today we’re going to take a look at how that brand drives sales by checking out the author Sarah Vowell.

But first, what do I mean by the “author’s brand”? An author develops a brand when the reader expects a certain, distinct experience each time that person reads an author’s book. John Grisham has an author brand, as does Stephen King, as does Karen Kingsbury. And as does Sarah Vowell.I first “met” Sarah Vowell when I saw a couple of interviews with her on Jon Stewart’s “The Daily Show.” I had a hard time figuring out what her books were about (but then, Jon Stewart isn’t noted for drawing out the details of an author’s book; it’s all about being entertaining). Still, I came away with the impression that Vowell was intelligent, insightful and quirky in how she saw topics.

So, when my book club decided to read Sarah Vowell’s Assassination Vacation, I was pleased to take a look at her work. You might well ask what a book entitled Assassination Vacation would be about. Vowell visited the sites of all three of our presidents’ assassinations, as well as examining who the assassin was and who the  president was, the affect the assassination had on the country, etc. It’s a downright macabre subject. But in Vowell’s hands, its told in a droll style that entertains and instructs. Even reading about Lincoln’s assassination was fascinating. I learned tons–and smiled a lot as I visited the sites with this history expert.

But the real surprise of reading Vowell’s book is that I unearthed a community of Vowell fans. Sarah has managed to create a significant cadre of loyal followers who have come to expect an unusual look at history, an intelligent and subtle humor, and a reading experience that gives insight into Americans’ responses to their country’s history.

My first encounter with how well Vowell had become branded was when I boarded a plane and settled in to read more Assassination Vacation. I observed a passenger make her way to the restroom and then wander back to her seat, but she stopped along the way to talk to a stranger who happened to be reading a Vowell book. Both were Vowell fans. They chatted at some length about how much they adored her books, each recounting their favorite aspects of her writing. I knew that I could join their “club” just by showing my Sarah Vowell novel, sort of like a password to a secret club.  Hmm, I’d never seen anything like that happen before.

I might have dismissed that as happenstance except one week later I was getting my hair cut. My stylist and I love to talk about books since we’re both avid readers. I started to tell her about Assassination Vacation when the woman in the chair next to me interrupted our conversation with, “Oh, my gosh, don’t you love Sarah Vowell?!” Then she riffed on how fabulous every one of Vowell’s books were–she’d read all of them.

I mentioned that Vowell had a book that had released within the month, and the partially-coiffed woman was out of her chair and scrounging for a piece of paper to write down the title.

My conclusion, based totally on subjective observation, is that Sarah Vowell has so consistently written in a certain style about American history as to become a brand with a loyal following.

How does a writer develop such a following?

• Consistency. You can’t develop a brand by being all over the map. Choose a place to “live” and settle in. I mean, really settle in. Work to develop a consistent, strong voice and write in the same genre time after time.
• Give yourself time. Few writers build a brand with one book. If often takes many books before enough readers find you and form expectations of what you’ll write.
• Don’t disappoint your readers. It doesn’t matter how bored you might be with your brand, find ways to go deeper within it rather than looking for other ways to write that would surprise and disappoint your readers.

Who is one of your favorite authors? What do you expect to experience when you read one of that person’s books? Do you think he or she was intentional about developing a brand, or was he or she branded by what the readers wanted and responded to?

Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.

What makes a book a success? Today I’d like to examine with you a book that, I believe, took everyone by surprise at its success. A Top Ten bestseller on Amazon, a USA Today bestseller, and a New York Times bestseller, this nonfiction book released in January; it hit best-seller lists almost immediately.

Perhaps most surprising of all is that it is written for the core Christian market. As a matter of fact, that’s part of the secret of its success. Often we Christians believe we need to sneak the Gospel into a fetching story or make almost subliminal comments about God and faith to subtly woo readers to the Lord. But, if you’ll take note, the vast majority of Christian books that have popped up on general market best-seller lists are blatantly Christian: the Left Behind Series, The Purpose-Driven Life, Crazy Love and…

One Thousand Gifts: A Dare to Live Fully Right Where You Are by Ann Voskamp. One Thousand Gifts appeals to readers of every stripe, I believe, for the following instructive reasons:

• It speaks to a significant–and recognized–need. A lot of people today are struggling through hard times. You know the list: lost their home, lost their job,  lost their security, lost their American dream. Ann takes that sense of loss and turns it on its head: What if we learned to find beauty, grace and reasons to be thankful right where we are? How do we live fully where we are?
• It’s positive rather than a diatribe. I don’t know about you, but I don’t need anyone to beat me over the head about the decisions I’ve made in the past; I need someone to help me to learn to live with those  decisions.
• It’s a highly personal exploration of how the author has dared herself to live fully despite a devastating accident in her childhood family; despite self-image problems; despite a suicide attempt; despite agoraphobia. And the book is a record of what happened when she took up that dare. We want to hear someone else’s story–story, I think, is key to a book being successful today–that is told in a way we can relate to it, glean hope from it, and gain instruction on how to think about our own lives. Today, we long to hear someone confess to their struggles, not to purge their consciences, but to benefit the reader. Ann doesn’t make the reader feel sullied for learning about the author’s troubled past but uplifted because of the transformation in Ann’s own life. This come-along-side approach causes the reader to feel connected to the writer. I know not only what Ann’s  life consists of but also how she responds to it emotionally, mentally and spiritually. I feel that I’ve lived with Ann, that I know her past, her present, and her future hopes. She never directly addressed me, the reader. Yet she instructed me through her own discoveries.
• The writing is superb, although I think it appeals to women more than it would to men. I picked up the book while at a friend’s house. My friend was still getting ready for us to venture out for dinner; so I decided to pass the time by glancing at the one book in the living room: One Thousand Gifts, which I knew had been on best-seller lists for months. What made this book so great? I read the first page and found it breathtakingly, achingly wonderfully written. Soon I was several pages into the book and wanted to keep going. Who cared about dinner? Fortunately for my friendship with my dining companion, I had my Kindle with me and downloaded the book right then, knowing I could take a break from my reading to concentrate on my very present friend. Here’s the book’s first few lines:
  “A glowing sun-orb fills an August sky the day this story begins, the day I am born, the day I begin to live. And I fill my mother’s tearing ring of fire with my body emerging, my virgin lungs searing with air of this earth and I enter the world like every person born enters this world: with clenched fists.”

From there Ann goes on to explain why those hands remained clenched for much of her young life and how, through counting God’s gifts, she opened her hands, gradually, to receive grace and to learn to life fully.

• The cover is inviting, simple, and a strong reflection of the book’s content and tone. We do judge books by their covers, all the time. And this one is a winner. Simple concept, simple lines, quick communication of the tone of the book.

Try this experiment and tell us how it goes: Examine a nonfiction book you’re currently reading (or have read recently) to see how it matches up to these five elements. It might help to rank from 1-5 which of these elements is strongest (#1) down to which is weakest (#5). And don’t worry, all you fiction fans, we’ll look at a novel tomorrow. (But it  might be instructive to test that novel you’re reading with these five elements to see how it stands up.)

Location: Books & Such Midwest office, IL

The “Changing World of Publishing” panel discussion at Colorado Christian Writers Conference reinforced what we’ve been observing in the industry and highlighted developments with a fresh perspective. Several of us have blogged in the past that editors are looking for two kinds of authors: the sure-fire best- selling (celebrity) author and the debut author with a fresh idea. This was confirmed by the panel, and although tough for mid-list authors, it shouts opportunity for aspiring authors. Further discussion involved the following:

1. Here’s the author-publisher relationship succinctly described: editors don’t look at you as merely a potential author. They evaluate you from the perspective of a potential business partner. (Publishing is a business, after all.) You must convince an editor that you have more than one great book in you, that you have the passion, time, and commitment to market and promote your books and that you will be cooperative and pleasant to work with. They also want to see your commitment to the quality of your work and to the publishing house. In short, editors are looking for a long-term, successful relationship with an author that blesses their bottomline.

2. A fairly new group of publishers on the scene could be considered an exception to the long-term trend. Houses in this group operate primarily the same way traditional publishers do, but they don’t give advances, opting instead to offer higher royalty rates. Print runs are smaller and overall sales might be lower with these publishers. But they create greater opportunity for new authors and continuing opportunity for published authors. The co-founder and editorial director of one of them told me her company published more than two hundred titles in the first three years and has been successful adopting this new model. Having been published by one of these houses, authors are free to pursue publication with one of the larger houses if you so choose.

3. Editors and agents agreed that, even with a great platform, marketing plan and an impressively professional proposal, “content is still king.” This is good news for you authors who have poured yourselves into creating a fresh, rich story with well-developed plot and characters or a well-defined solid, compelling work of nonfiction. It could mean you need to employ the help of a freelance editor to help you to identify and fix weaknesses and to proof your work, but the results could make all the difference.

Do these points encourage you? Energize you? Spark a new action plan?

Location: Books & Such Central Valley, California Office

First Published: August 11,2009

Did I give you new things to worry about yesterday? I hope not. But if forewarned is forearmed, I want to be the one to give you a heads-up where it may be helpful. Last week Janet blogged about the trouble with the new “free” business experiment. I’ve begun to notice another possible effect from what I call “free” fallout.

I’m finding it harder and harder to sell nonfiction. A normal person might chalk that up to a tough economy, publishers trimming their lists and more competition for available reading time. But as I began to consider the whys, I remembered what someone once said to me about another writing friend. “His motto is, let no word go unpublished.”

Those were the days.

Nowadays, we still publish every thought but we do it via the web and the many social sites instead of creating a product that can be sold. Words and ideas are everywhere. For free. Just ten years ago, if your child received a diagnosis of, say, juvenile diabetes, you’d leave the doctors office and head for the bookstore. You’d probably buy a book on the disease, one that dealt with helping your child live a normal life with a chronic disease, a cookbook and, perhaps, a picture book about the disease that you could read to your child. Four books.

Now you only need log onto the juvenile diabetes association website and voila! It’s all there with the latest findings, best recipes and perhaps even a coloring book for your child. Up-to-date. Succinct. Convenient. Free. But what happened to those four authors who would have written the books you would have previously purchased?

I’m not saying blogs, websites and the like can’t be used for promotional purposes and to introduce people to you and your message, but with the plethora of online resources, including the new free online novels, a reader could go a lifetime without having to purchase a book, magazine or newspaper and still be well-informed, well-read, and entertained.

So back to the sluggishness of nonfiction acquisitions. Too many publishers are no longer willing to take a risk unless the book is an obvious standout. So how do we get around this aversion to risk? You know the stock answer– write a book to which they simply can’t say no. Okay, that doesn’t help a whole bunch. Let me try to break it down some. Here is a partial list of the books that stand a better chance of making it through the gauntlet of naysayers:

• The author with  ”platform.” Also called the go-to person. The book on a popular subject written by the very person who is the poster child for that issue/idea. The author only speaks to this one issue, and if a talk show booking agent were booking a show on this subject, the author is the first person who would come to mind.
• The person who has paid his dues and invested time and energy in his audience. A book written by the person who knows and is known by the particular niche at which the book is aimed. Often successful regional authors fit this category.
• The trusted author. A book written by a person we’ve come to trust or appreciate. For example, when Philip Yancey writes a book, we trust it will be rich. Or take Malcolm Gladwell. We want to see how he’s looking at the world these days.
• The unique book. A unique book that either tackles an old subject in an altogether fresh and engaging way or opens up a whole new subject or idea.  Caveat: Most authors would put their nonfiction book in this category, but editors and agents look at hundreds of potential books each month, making it easy to spot the ones that make you pause.

Of course, those categories don’t address books like memoir (all about voice), biographies and popular history (all about scholarship mixed with style), and the myriad other nonfiction books from cookbooks to true crime. But when we talk about mainstream nonfiction, there’s a growing resistance born of caution. Each potential book is not only evaluated on its own merits but publishers also are asking, “Is there a need for this book? Can the reader find similar information for free on the web? Is this author able to make the book stand out?”

It’s a lot to think about. But don’t forget, there are miracles and anomalies that happen every day. (Enough of them to keep those of us who share our opinions ever so humble.)

How do you buy nonfiction books? What kinds of books and authors do you look for?

Location: Books & Such main office, Santa Rosa, Calif.

This week I would like to focus on the Who, What, When, Where, Why (and How) questions you should answer for each project before creating a book proposal.

Naturally, today I will start with Who.

The first Who question to ask is: Who is my audience?

Knowing your audience is one of the most important parts of writing a book. If you write a book that’s not focused on an audience, you write a book that will end up in “no man’s land.” To find your audience, I suggest you take a look at similar books either online or in your local bookstore.You should also test your book with the audience you suspect is the correct one.

The next Who question is: Who are you to write this book?

What do you uniquely bring to the market through your project? Is this topic something God has laid on your heart? The motivations behind writing the book need to be clear to you. If you are writing just to make money, I suggest you take a step back and reevaluate your motivations. Perhaps you aren’t the person to write this project. A good book comes out of a passion for a topic, and if the only thing you are passionate about is a big payoff, it’s unlikely that you will write a good book.

The third question you will want to ask is: Who might publish this book?

You may have an audience and a passion for your topic, but are publishing houses out there looking for a book like yours? Before you start in on developing an idea, be sure that you’re writing something that will appeal to many publishers. The more publishers looking for the type of story you are writing, the better. If you do a little research, online and with the Christian Writers’ Market Guide, and discover that there’s only one possible publisher for your book, you probably need to reevaluate your audience.

Can you answer these questions about the current book you’re working on? I know that the second and third questions might not be something you want to share with everyone, but can you share your audience with us?

Location: Books & Such Central Valley Office, CA

I imagine a few purists are cringing at my blog title. Publishing a fashion industry? From the hallowed halls of academia, to the much-revered classics, how can I say such a thing?

Because it’s true. The fashion industry is based on taste and style. It changes every season. That’s how it stays alive financially. If we all wore the same shapeless piece of clothing we’d only have to replace it when it wore out. But that’s not how it is. Fashion is about creativity. Styles become outdated. Color, with its infinite number of shades, tints and hues, goes in and out of fashion. You’ve heard the term “built-in obsolescence.” That’s the fashion industry.

Publishing is not so very different.

Remember back in the seventies when housewives were discovering romance novels en masse? A sub-genre of pirate books rose to popularity. The books featured innocent maidens kidnapped by dashing, swashbuckling pirate captains who ravished them page after graphic page during the whole of their captivity. All ended well, however, because the heroines fell in love with their misunderstood captors and ended up marrying them and living happily ever after.  Seriously! Can you imagine such a book being published today? A book that elevates capture and rape to an acceptable relationship builder? Happily, that ship has sailed, but it was all the rage then. Like bell-bottom trousers, some book fashions cannot fade fast-enough.

Or how about relationship books in the Christian market about the same time? Anyone remember The Total Woman? *Wendy blushes furiously* How about the spate of Y2K books? Okay, some things are better left to history. But the point I am making is that the publishing industry is a fashion industry and tastes change.

So how is that good news? If you are a writer who’s been told by an editor or agent that they just can’t sell fantasy, for instance, hold on. Your time is coming.

Readers seem to go for total immersion. When I was in an English historical fiction phase of my reading life, I read everything I could get my hands on. Total immersion. I knew everything about every monarch that ever sat on the throne of England. And then it was over. (Except for a revival caused by the advent of Philippa Gregory.) But when I was done, I was done and I moved on to a different favorite kind of book. In the early nineties I read only nonfiction and devoured all the Christian classics, ancient and modern. Then I immersed myself in the Inklings, especially C. S. Lewis. I read everything by him and everything about him. Then Chesterton, Belloc and Bellair. My whole reading life has been marked by epochs. I’m guessing this is true of most readers.

So, again, how is that good news? The styles feel like they are about to change again. As I talk with my colleagues we see genre fatigue in a number of different segments. I’m sensing it’s about to be publishing’s version of fruit basket turnover. I’m guessing that if we head to an editorial pitching session later this year with the same kind of books that have been staples of the industry, we’ll see yawns and hear, “Have you got anything new?”

I’m just saying. . .

When that happens, we go looking for new. New ideas, new authors, new writing. If you are waiting in the wings you might get called onstage. If you’re someone who’s been successful in a long-running category you may become the classic author in that field with much of the come-lately competition vanished. And if you are one of the authors dabbling in several subjects, it’s time to stake your claim.

The nice thing about being in a fashion industry is that when the styles change it leaves an opening for fresh new talent. Same with the publishing industry. If you’re a fresh new writer, that’s good news indeed.

Your turn: Agree? Disagree? What kind of genre/ subject phases mark your reading life?  If I’m right and things are changing are you brave enough to predict any new trends? Do you know how to spot trends?