One of the fun things about being an agent is that I get to work with all kinds of books, fiction and nonfiction. I love words, and I’m excited about working with others who love them. I’m passionate about working with books that I believe will have a real impact, both in the here and now and in the eternal sense. Books that encourage, strengthen, and challenge people, and books that share deep, spiritual truths from a Christian worldview. But we all know how hard it is to figure out what topics will resonate with readers. That is the holy grail of publishing. Finding that topic, that angle, that hot spot that will mobilize readers to not just buy our books, but to pass them along and encourage others to do the same.
So how do we, as agents and writers, accomplish that?
First, let me say I’m not talking about predicting trends. I’ve spoken at a lot of writers’ conferences over the years, and been on countless panels as an editor or agent. The one question I’ve heard almost every time? “What trends do you see?” But friends, it’s not about what I see. If you want to write a book that will strike to the core of your readers, it’s about what you see.
So rather than looking ahead for trends, I encourage you to look back. What are the timeless issues, the things—both internal and external–that people have struggled with across the ages and changes and trends? Ecclesiastes says it best: “There is nothing new under the sun.” Indeed, regardless of the current state of the world, certain things never change. Think about it. Were Adam and Eve’s struggles all that different from what we wrestle with today?
Let me ask you, then, as you consider the people around you: What do you see? What do you think are their most pressing struggles right now?
Good topic, Karen. Since I started writing YA and middle-grade, I learned to listen to that age group. Their concerns are vastly different than ours. They worry about being accepted by their peers, wearing the right things, listening to the right music. On a less superficial level, they worry about the hatred and anger they see in the world around them. When we were kids, we caught the news in thirty-minute segments, if we watched at all. Kids today are constantly bombarded with bad news. They’re easily drawn to a pessimistic outlook. They wonder if their will be a life for them after high-school. While we all probably wondered that when we were young, it’s much harder for a kid to have a bright outlook in the 21st century.
Thanks for the post. Always good to read your thoughts.
Great topic! I see a current trend that is nothing new, just wrapped in the latest fancy packaging. People long to be more than who they are, to realize a purpose, to overcome societal and economic restraints, to achieve something greater. New York Times Bestsellers (and pretty much every top box office production) depicts this theme–regular people tapping into secret powers, traveling to far away lands, discovering hidden mysteries etc. etc. But, what separates these works from Christian Fiction is the real key. Christians know we don’t have to search very far from home to live an abundant life. (The sound of Dorothy clicking her red heels.) We already have everything we need. Thank you, Jesus, for that!
I use my blogs to measure reader ‘temperature’. Some topics really resonate and draw a lot of views, shares, and comments, while others get decent readership, but little interaction (I blog about Christian marriage).
Topics that got a lot of attention are:
PTSD – how to welcome a combat veteran home
The spouse who acts like an expert in everything
Criticism in marriage
Sex is not a big draw, even though I’ve written about it in the Christian marriage context.
But far and away the most hits came to this:
“How To Be A Vulcan.”
Timeless issues? How about forgiveness…or not. Broken relationships. Reconciliation. Sibling rivalry (Cain and Abel; Jacob and Esau; Joseph and his brothers). Jealousy. Trust.
Marriage. Divorce. Ongoing struggles over issues which were never resolved.
Faith. Where was God when I needed Him? Where is He now? IS he?
I can’t open my eyes without seeing those same issues/struggles all around me today.
Many people today are looking for HOPE. (That is nothing new.) They want to read the stories that will encourage and inspire them. People want to hear how others stood up and held on to overcome the seemingly impossible. Sometimes those stories are in unexpected places. That’s where I find them.
I agree with hope and forgiveness and add grace. All are there in a moving novel I just finished “Grace” by Anthony Doerr. There truly is nothing new; simply new ways of framing what we all need to see.
My son and I were talking about this last night while we were shopping for new tennis shoes for him. As bad as things might seem in our world, there isn’t anything that God hasn’t seen before–and hasn’t been through before. There’s nothing new going on in our day and age; God’s not caught off guard.
Along with that, what I see is how our American society is leaving God behind, embracing a satisfy-yourself lifestyle. Yet God is still saving people out of this and bringing them to Him. And that’s what I write about–real-life scenarios that readers can relate to, all the while showing that God is still relevant and still has all the answers. That’s my passion.
A thoughtful post, Karen. One issue I have seen in media and literature is about identity. Maybe I see it because it’s an issue I’ve been working through.
People try to identify themselves by what they do, how they dress, how others think of them, belief systems. But where is our identity really rooted?
This is something I’m exploring and meditating on for myself and my writing.
I feel like the word is fear. I am glad it is a part of the ongoing struggle of my heroine because there are so many out there who even know God and succumb to fear.
On the other hand it is the LACK of fear—the righteous FEAR OF GOD.