Tuesday, January 17, 2012

What's HOT?

So, for most of us, it's pretty cold out there right now. But today I'm bringing the heat.

Okay, not really. Not that type of heat anyway.

I'm talking about what's HOT in publishing. I read this post by agent Rachelle Gardner and it got me thinking: what is hot right now? And should you try and chase down that ellusive heat?

I don't have any answers, I'm actually wondering what you think the answers are. The market is a different place right now than it was two or three years ago. It's even different than just one year ago.

All I know is that you have to write what you love. Because even if you think you're writing something "hot," agents and editors might disagree with you. Or you could be writing something just for fun and have it get snatched up. I honestly don't think it's possible to predict what will be hot or not. Not easily, and not very often, anyway. Right now, I keep hearing what isn't selling, what isn't hot. I'm not sure if there is any one HOT genre/topic right now, in YA at least.

So, tell me--what do you think the future of publishing holds (particularly for those of you in YA)? Is anything HOT right now in your opinion or from your experience? And even more importantly, does it matter to you?

3 comments:

Nicole Zoltack said...

I always write stories I want to read, not for trends or what's hot right now.

As for the future of publishing in YA, I've seen a lot of agents asking for darker stories, especially horror. And I just read that an agent said cyborgs are the new vampires.

Colene Murphy said...

Lately I haven't been able to peg down what EXACTLY is hot right now. There are still faerie novels coming out, which I thought was done. Still mermaids, steam punk is still pretty big and all that coming out. It's all a mixed bag lately, I think. But I haven't got a clue what's next!

Carolyn V said...

I wish I knew, but it changes too quickly.