I don’t write in a popular genre. Is it still possible for me to succeed as an author?
That’s a popular question. You’re fortunate if your favorite genres happen to align with whatever’s popular, but for most authors, that isn’t the case. When you want to see your books flying off the shelves, or if you’re looking to quit your day job to write full time, you can’t risk releasing your books to readers who aren’t there or who have no way to find you.
The good news is that it is possible—even best—to write in a less known area. Overly popular genres, such as paranormal romance (as of this writing) can easily become swamped if too many authors try to tackle them at once. If you step into a market that’s already too crowded, readers will have so many other new books to choose from that it will be easy for your titles to get lost. In cases like that, it’s better to set your eyes on something less well-known with less competition.
If niche genre writing sounds like a good solution for you, here are a couple of things to keep in mind:
1. Make sure you’re still writing in a genre.
If you like experimenting with your writing and have a strong drive for everything you write to be fresh and new, it’s easy to slide between genres or avoid genres altogether. Experiments are great—but if you’re looking to turn a profit, try to fit your book into a recognizable genre. You’ll get an audience as soon as someone types that genre into their search.
2. Find the niche genres with heavy readerships.
The most lucrative genres will be the ones that everyone wants to read but not many have started to write. A skimming session on the Kindle store can show you the basic volume of books being sold—or you can skip the wait and number knowledge with a tool like Publisher Rocket, which can give you the facts up front.
An easy way to go about this is to start by listing your favorite genres, regardless how rare or specific they are, and see which of those has the strongest draw. That will give you an easy entry to a genre where you can also have fun.
What if your genres are too niche?
Or, what if you can't find any genres you want to write in that are selling well? You don’t need to sell your soul to popular genres. Even if nothing you want to write is selling well in the moment, you can work around it. Many writers start off writing something in a more popular genre, even if it isn’t a genre they especially like. After you’ve built a crowd of fans, you’ll have built-in readers for when you do want to go big. People who like your casual books will also be more likely to get excited when you release something serious than people who have never heard of you before.
How do you settle on a good genre to write? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments section below, or click on the blue button to join my Facebook group for self-published fiction writers.