Genre Fiction = Demographic Interest
Want to know a secret that’s common knowledge among sales writers, copywriters and other silver-tongued snakes, but falls on deaf ears when it comes to the traditional writer?
Do you want to understand how to construct a novel that’s perfect for your audience using a single, simple idea?
By those two things, you’ll be able to write fiction that sells, meaning more happiness in your life, more success and possibly a swimming pool full of gold coins like Scrooge McDuck.
Obviously that sounds awesome, and I’m giving it away today free in this article.
Before We Start: What To Write?
Welcome back to nerd-school, folks.
If you want to make a lot of money writing fiction, then you should study genre fiction. Forget trying to be John Steinbeck or Charles Dickens. Instead, try to be the next Stephen King or Nora Roberts. (Or both, if you’re willing to live the Pulp Life.)
Gary Halbert, legendary copywriter, wrote that really good copywriters don’t care about awards because they’re too busy making money. I’d argue the same is true for fiction writers – but I love making money and don’t care about awards. It’s always your choice.
Anyway, to that end, I recommend learning about and writing genre fiction. That is, concentrate on a particular genre, learn what that genre wants and write exactly that in a formulaic but not-boring manner.
It’s not entirely necessary, but I’d suggest you start with a genre you actually enjoy. It’ll make the hundreds of hours you’re going to spend writing easier, and if you want to move on to greener pastures later, those hours of practice and success will pay dividends.
So, you’ve picked a genre and you’re willing to write some books. What’s the great secret? One more stop before we get there.
People Overcomplicate Research Because The Truth Is So Obvious It’s See-Through
Go and find an author forum and watch all the people spinning around and around complicating things:
- “What do readers want?”
- “How do I market horror to teen girls?”
- “Is it possible to create a protagonist murderer?”
- “Does anyone else’s characters not do what they say?” (Yeah… I’ve never got this one.)
- “Why don’t female superhero movies ever sell well?”
Those sorts of questions go on ad nauseam and achieve very little. Does it remind you of anything?
It reminds me of every single entrepreneurship forum on the internet.
People overcomplicate matters because the truth stares them right in the face. Writing ficion isn’t rocket science and it’s certainly not alchemy. Go to your local bookstore and look at the romance covers.
They all look the same. Similar font. Similar titles. A stock photo with a muscled hunk staring at an attractive young maiden while she stares wistfully into the distance.
Then go and look at the horror section. Jagged fonts, dark and grimy backgrounds with a shadow or knife or something that looks like the girl from The Ring on the front cover.
There’s a reason the covers all look the same and it’s the reason the contents are all variations on a theme: that’s what sells.
Really, if you’re trying to write commercial fiction, that’s the only question you need ask yourself.
…In fact, you don’t even need to ask that. I’m going to tell you.
Here’s The Secret Formula.
Here’s the secret formula for writing genre fiction that sells.
Major Target Demographics Driving Emotion = Genre Norms
With any vast-selling genre, you’re going to overwhelmingly find there’s a target demographic. Even with the superhero sellers; J.K. Rowling, Agatha Christie and the like, there’s a majority demographic that buys most of the books.
For this formula, you concentrate on them. Forget the outliers – the guys who read romance fiction or the women that love Andy McNab. They’re not your market and if you try and target them you’ll sell less copies.
Stick with the big demographic. Once you’ve found that, you want to work out the chief emotion that governs their spending decisions. This is Copywriting 101, but most authors don’t care about business. Don’t be like them.
So, you think, “Crime is a big seller.” You find out that for modern detective fiction, the average reader is a housewife, bizarrely. The governing emotion when it comes to purchases for that gender/age group is security. It’s no surprise that they’re into crime.
Once you’ve worked that out, you realise the beats for that type of fiction make perfect sense. Everything you write in this genre ties back to that. If you look at the Top 100 lists on amazon and read the blurbs, you’ll see this basic fact reflected back on you.
In fact, let’s take a look. Here are the top three best sellers in the genre:
What if the person you love most in the world was in terrible danger … because of you?
Three years ago, Toni’s five-year-old daughter Evie disappeared after leaving school. The police have never been able to find her. There were no witnesses, no CCTV, no trace.
—
Clare thinks Alice is a manipulative liar who is trying to steal her life.
Alice thinks Clare is jealous of her long-lost return and place in their family.
One of them is telling the truth. The other is a maniac.
Two sisters. One truth.
—
In the summer of 2006, Emma Price watched helplessly as her six-year-old son’s red coat was fished out of the River Ouse. It was the tragic story of the year – a little boy, Aiden, wandered away from school during a terrible flood, fell into the river, and drowned.
His body was never recovered.
—
God damn it, I love when my inane ramblings are backed up by 100% fact when I pull out the examples.
You can see there that this genre completely and utterly conforms to the stereotype I’ve just outlined: Stuff that middle-aged women fear. Loss of children. Loss of identity. A complete failing of the system to protect them.
Making The Whole Book
Alright, so the above should show you exactly what to do for your main plots. Target your customer’s major emotional trigger and work it into a fictional example. If you’re really lazy then just read a tabloid newspaper website and you’ll find what you’re looking for.
How do you turn this into a whole book though?
It’s not enough that you have one mum who’s looking for her lost daughter or whatever. You need more than that.
Luckily… that’s simple too. Just like with copywriting, you’ll have a major angle for selling a product. You’ll also have ancillary benefits. Coincidentally, these will also just be emotional buying triggers for your audience.
Take police drama stuff like above. I guarantee without reading a single one, almost all of the top 100 books in the genre will have:
- Some dangerous sexual interest that stays in the background until the happy ending
- A happy ending
- The main female character being underestimated in every way
- Female intuition playing a major role (if the main protagonist is female – sometimes if they’re not)
- A social betrayal
- Characters working out personal issues affecting the plot in a major way
The list goes on. I’m not using a crystal ball to guess those things; they’re things that are major buying triggers for the audience.
Now, some of you might be tempted to say, “Yeah… but those are present in every story because of the Hero’s Journey or the 3-Act Structure.” To those people, I’d say, “Read Conan The Barbarian or Casino Royale and see if any of those things apply.”
They don’t, because teenage boy’s emotional triggers are completely different from thirty year old women’s.
Final Thoughts
You can save hundreds of hours researching fiction opportunities if you understand these basic ideas about buying triggers and apply them to fiction writing.
Note that none of these things pigeon-hole you into a particular plot. If you’re a n early-twenties guy looking to write crime fiction, then you’re probably not interested in writing a psychological thriller about one girl who dresses like another girl and tries to steal her boyfriend. You don’t have to.
You can use this same general theme to write about almost anything; a stalker that murders people ala Jack The Ripper or a vigilante who is tired of gangsters causing strife in his neighbourhood. But you have to bear in mind the audience and what they’re looking for.
… Or you can ignore this advice, go and write a coming-of-age tale about a 14 year old transgender kid on a pirate ship in the 1720’s coming to terms with their pansexuality. You won’t sell any copies, but you might wrangle your way into being a creative writing lecturer.