My book is late to the trend

I recently received a rejection from my dream agent, who after requesting the full manuscript, had only positive things to stay about my writing. She explained that she really wanted to take it on, but as a YA crossover, dystopian set novel, she doesn’t feel confident enough because the market is currently flooded with this genre.

I've received some other positive feedback from agents about my writing, but haven't had any more manuscript requests and I'm wondering where to go from here. I've been told before to never write to the trend, and dystopian/sci-fi is my passion. The agent expressed interest in any other novels I might have in the pipeline, but the one I'm working on now, also happens to be a science-fiction, slightly dystopian piece. Should I wait for the market to change, or switch to small presses and persevere with querying other agents? 

Not writing to trend generally means don't try to write something you think will be popular because today's trends were acquired several years back.

You have a different problem: you like to write what's currently very trendy. And yes, that seems like a good problem to have but it's not.

I'm seeing this with thrillers right now. The market is glutted with terrific writers. Finding what we call "space on the shelf" is increasingly difficult. (It doesn't help that authors who are dead continue to churn out books.)

Your challenge now is to twist the conventions of your category. I have no idea how to do this since I don't read enough dystopian/SF to know the tropes.  This is where your knowledge of the category is essential. If you've read the canon (ie the books that are considered classics of the category) and the books that are selling well, and the books that are winning prizes, you'll be able to see what's NOT there.  And that's what you write.

These are the books that everyone hears about and says "aw damn, why didn't I think of that!" and crawls off to the Tears of Writers Saloon and Synopsis Hall.

Do conservative authors have a harder time getting repped or sold?

Senator Ted Cruz complains when he’s kept off the New York Times bestseller list, accused of bulk sales, and then proves there were no bulk sales.

Bill O’Reilly complains that he can’t get a Publishers Weekly blurb for his latest, Killing Reagan, despite the fact that his Killing Patton was the top nonfiction title of 2014.

From your perch, or shall we say depth, is there an institutionalized bias against conservative authors in the publishing industry? If a lit agent agrees to represent a book by a conservative author, do they risk the disdain of many of their peers? If Donald Trump sought representation for a new book, would many lit agents decline on ideological grounds, even if they stood to make a small fortune on the deal? 

It's interesting that you use the word institutionalized to describe the bias you think you've illustrated. Publishing isn't an institution, it's an industry. Some of us may belong in an institution, but nonetheless this is not some sort of lockstep monolith.

Yes it is true that the people who work in this industry tend to skew left in their politics. Since my politics is more middle of the road, that makes for some interesting bar conversation. I can usually stop everyone dead in their tracks with the bald statement that I am a registered Republican (and I am.)

Ted Cruz may have been unfairly blocked from getting his NYT Bestseller badge but he merely joins a LONG list of authors who have that complaint.  The NYT list is based on orders, not sales, and data is gathered from bookstores of the Times' choosing. That list is not published, nor is it widely known. Thus if Ted Cruz is bulk buying from Powells in Portland, Amazon isn't going to have a clue and Harper (Cruz's publisher) wouldn't know either.

The reason bulk buys are discounted for the list is that indeed, an author DID do this some 25 years ago. I'm iffy on the details but it was quite the scandal at the time.


As to Bill O'Reilly, he's just wrong about this, like he is about a lot of things. I've included the link to the PW piece that explains very calmly why that is so.

And honestly if those two rabblerousers are what you base your argument on, here's the counterargument:

Ann Coulter.
She's been publishing books with a major publisher for years.

And so has Donald Trump.

Let me remind you of one cold hard fact: publishers LOVE to make money. If there is "institutional bias" of any sort in publishing it's for making not losing money.

What Cruz and O'Reilly are complaining about is what EVERY author of every political stripe complains about: they didn't get their props.

I have no idea what anyone else would do if Donald Trump wanted a new agent. I'd say no because I prefer to work with people who are actually interested in being writers, not demagogues.

There is no political litmus test to pass here for becoming a client. I have clients who voted for Mitt Romney. I have clients who pounded the pavement for President Obama. I have clients who'd register as anarchists if such a thing was allowed. What they all have in common is they write REALLY REALLY well...and they were robbed of their spot on the NYT list.

Non-romance tangled sheets

What is your take on including sex scenes in non-Romance genres for adult category?
Most suggest: if it moves the story along and is inherent to the plot, include it.  Some say 50 Shades has opened the door to graphic sex in all genres. The genre I’m striving for is Suspense, not erotic Suspense.
In my current WIP, it is important that the two main characters are sexually involved but not being a Romance I’m not sure how to do this. Implied?  On the page? Half and half?
Writing sex scenes doesn’t bother me but reading them usually does, especially when graphic, I skip over. I find graphic sex boring. This woodland creature also fears a listing in the Bad Sex Scenes archives. Mine may be awful.  And I want to sell my m/s to the widest audience possible.
I’ve noticed agents are looking for steamy pages. What about in the Suspense genre? I’ve thought of writing two versions and querying different agents.
Is there a trend in the industry concerning sex on the page outside the Romance genre?

I'm with you. I skip over the graphic sex parts of novels. I'm not really interested in the five thousand ways one can describe Tab A into Slot B, repeat as needed.


And rather than worry about what agents think, this is the time when you MUST write to please yourself (harumph, get your mind out of the sheets there!)


If you don't want to read it, don't write it.

I'm absolutely not aware of the general taste in the reading public shifting to more steamy. Yes, 50 Shades of Grey did very well, but it doesn't mean there's going to be an outcry for Jack Reacher going graphic when he next arrives in Portland to have lunch with Samantha Kincaid.


And more generally, don't pay any attention to "what's hot" (so to speak.)  Write the novel you want to write. If everyone is telling you dinosaur porn  is the next big thing, don't just leap to make all your werewolves over into dinosaurs.

Write YOUR novel.  That's hard enough without trying to factor in what someone else is sure is the Next Big Thing.