Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
Location: Books & Such Main Office, Santa Rosa, Calif.
Having recently returned from a writers conference, I’m struck again by how often writers don’t know where their books would fit on a bookstore’s shelves. Yeah, yeah, I know that you don’t care which shelf, just so it’s on a shelf.
But it does matter where it would go. Sometimes a writer creates a book that’s neither beast nor fowl. It’s not exactly a memoir that centers on grief yet it’s not exactly a prescriptive book on grief. Hello! It needs to be true to its “kind,” to be one thing or the other so that the agent who reads it knows what it is; the editor who receives it from the agent knows what it is; the editor can explain what it is to marketing/sales/management; so the marketing folks can explain in the catalog, back cover copy and press releases what it is; so the sales staff can tell the bookstore buyer what it is…so it reaches the appropriate reader. If the cycle breaks down at the writer’s stage, it’s unlikely to make it to the end of cycle.
How do you know where your book would fit in a bookstore? Might I suggest you mozy down to your local bookstore? Wander around and look for books similar to yours. Where are they shelved? And take a peek at the back cover. Publishers have standard categories that tell bookstores where to shelve the book. The answer to your question is printed on the backs of other books; how easy could this get?
My point is simple but important: Choose a category and make sure your book stays true to the qualities necessary to neatly fit–smackdab in the center–of a category.
What category does your present work fit into? How did you decide?
My present work, Four Letter Words, fits into the “apologetics” category. It is a conversational approach to the touchy issues that get Christians in trouble. I’m writing to buttress the faith of Christians, and to probe the unbelief of skeptics.
[Some of the four letter words are: TRUE, EVIL, WAIT, HOMO, DAMN, OUCH, PORN… etc.]
I think my challenge will be choosing my audience. As I write, I’m thinking of the 20-somethings in my church… they’re the ones who really bring up these questions. I’m writing as “cool professor dude” but don’t want to limit the audience to students.
I guess that’s a discussion to have w/the editor, right?
Bill
Bill, I’d say the approach you’re taking with your project pretty much places it as a book a younger (20- to 40-year-old reader) would be drawn to. So the editor would see the audience as pretty much falling into that age-span and would buy it based on reaching that age group. If the editor were looking for a project to connect with a broader readership, he would be unlikely to ask you to adjust the project but would be more likely just to turn it down.
Thanks. That makes life much easier.
Janet, great advice. Love your blog! : )
Thank you for this information.
You know, I’ve been struggling to aptly label my book. I keep saying it is a devotional prayer journal of sorts. Now I’m going to hit the stores and find something out there that has a similar build and see if I can’t get this thing a category! Thanks for the tip…sometimes it is the obvious that gets lost along the way!
Great thoughts, Janet. But when “your” genre is at the bottom of the market cycle and no one is interested in it, is it better to call it something else that is being acquired? Rewrite the project to fit the current market? Or wait for the cycle to gorge itself on the current hot thing and come back to me, hungry and thirsty for what I offer? 😉