What are people talking about? What types of books do people read? What kinds of books are people searching for online? For anyone looking to publish a book, whether through self-publishing or not, it’s important to know the answer to these types of questions.
The book market influences and is influenced by popular culture. If someone likes a show like The Walking Dead, which is incredibly popular even after more than five years on the air, they will likely seek out other forms of entertainment related to zombies. This can and does explain the success of zombie video games, films, television shows, and books.
The important thing to take away from this is that we’re not suggesting you drop whatever you’re working on right now to write a novel about zombies; there are already plenty of great books available filled with hoards of the living dead. But we are suggesting that you pay attention to what is trending and try to meet the demand for it.
1. Know What’s Popular
People want to read books about what is popular and trending. This means that you need to know what is popular and trending. This can be as simple as paying attention to genres and topics that get a lot of attention in the media and online.
2. Learn About It
Once you’ve figured out what is hot and decide to write about it, you need to research it. This means watching, reading, and playing anything related to that topic so that you know what people expect from that genre and, more importantly, what has already been done.
3. Write About a Trend in a New Way
As we said earlier, the zombie genre has already been covered by hundreds of fantastic authors. You would have to have something new and different from what’s already been done to get noticed. Readers may like rotten zombies, but they prefer their stories to be fresh
4. Don’t Wait Too Long
If you already have an idea for a book that is on trend, make sure to get it out there while that trend is still getting attention. Take advantage of the popularity and high numbers of Google searches before everyone moves on to the next big thing.
Image courtesy of hyena reality at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
