Can You Write To The Market? Should You? 

Would love to hear a video on pivots in marketing dead tropes and saturated genres, sub-genres and literary trends. Also your personal market predictions.

Yay, fantasy never dies! That warms my heart.

Love how you addressed this subject, especially as someone who is traditionally published and may have a different POV as a self-published or small press author.

I haven't even watched the video yet, just wanted to say that I really love your videos and I always get excited when you post a new one.

Woah I was just asking about this on a recent video of yours. This was exactly what I needed to hear. I have stories that I want to write, but I'm always afraid no one will want to read them. Thanks for all the great info as always Alexa

Hi Alexa!! I can't thank you enough for making so many helpful videos; I'm always so happy whenever you post new ones, and as you can probably tell since I'm commenting on this video, I rewatch your older ones pretty frequently as well. I especially appreciate your insight into the industry, and as someone who is in the revision stages and hoping to start querying soon, I wanted to look back at your market and agent videos. I really love that you're encouraging writers to research the market trends, especially in specific categories in genres that you write in, but I was wondering if you might consider making a video on where we can find good, reliable resources for the traditional publishing market. I love hearing you talk about the trends yourself, but I mostly write adult fiction (and on top of that, typically adult horror fiction), so not all of the trends are the same for the market I would be trying to publish in. The tip to follow agents on social media and see what they're signing was a really great one, but I was just wondering if you know of any other good, reliable resources for that kind of research. Again, thank you so much for everything you already do! I know you're incredibly busy, so I don't expect you to be able to make a video just because of my one suggestion, but I figured it was worth a shot. Your videos have helped me tremendously and are also just enjoyable to watch, and you convinced me to order your books even though it's been a couple years since I've been reading any large amounts of YA. I'm sorry for how long-winded this comment is, but I just wanted to make sure I expressed my gratitude and admiration for you as well, because I find you very inspiring! Thanks so much for everything!

I never knew Urban Fantasy was coming back in. It's funny too because i'm currently writing a Urban Fantasy book series

please more videos on dead tropes and reading the market please if you have time that is

This was a really helpful and interesting video! I would love to see a video about trends that notoriously do well or poorly and why!

Yes! Would love a video on how to pivot :)

Yes pls do the pivots!

I create my own market, my own trends, my own style.

I knowwwww superhero stories are hard to sell. Like I know, I’ve known since I’ve started writing, but I still can’t quit mine. I have so much of my heart in it and I don’t know if that’s a good thing or not. >_< If it’s not too personal, do you have any experience going out on sub with a superhero book? I could use any advice that’ll help me get my hopes in check.

Where do we go to find what sells and how fast and such? That would be super helpful.

Can you do a video on how to adjust when an agent or editor tells you to change something about a story that is precious to you? I know I'm going to run into a wall here when I publish, and I want to be flexible, but I don't think I have the tools to be. If you have any advice you could give me or put into a video, that would be great. Anybody who agrees with me, comment below so we can encourage Alexa.

I'm tired of reading books that just do the bare minimum to meet "tropes" or whatever the authors are looking for. I want to read books that are unique yet still fit the genre. Grimm, Legacies, and The Order got me into urban fantasy. Haven't read any good ones yet though. Characters had way too much emotion and plots never moved forward.

Even if my book turns out to be 'dead for publishing', there is a small chance that it might revive before I finish it.

Obviously there are always exceptions and certainly self-published authors (for instance) can always build a modest base, but-- what's YOUR definition of "dead" or "to the market"/"live"? Is there a hard percentage? A describable advantage to getting published? E.g. ..a dead genre will generally only account for %10 of books on shelves/%20 of sales ...a "to the market" genre will account for %40 of books on shelves ...a "dead genre" will be 3x harder to get an interested agent ...etc. As a casual reader of YA, I'm not in a position to gauge...so just curious what you think.

Do you write short stories, too? If so, I'd love a video on writing and submitting short stories.

My novel is a YA Paranormal and as I was thinking about newly released YA Paranormal to compare my book to for query purposes, I realized there really aren't that many. It wasn't till you said it in the beginning of this video that it really hit me, I'm writing for a dead genre. I wonder, what are your thoughts on resubmitting an old manuscript when you see the trend coming back around?

Looks to me like Publishers Marketplace is the best source of timely data, but that service is $25 per month, or $275 a year. Besides mining blogs and social media pages of individual agents and publishers, does anyone know of a source similar to Publishers Marketplace, but a bit more reasonable in cost? Thanks.

I think trying to predict market trends is indeed maddening. I guess I'll wait until I see my genre coming back around before I do anything with my series. Great video as always. Very interesting and thought-provoking. =)

I'm kinda desperate after this video. :P I'm writing for two years now a YA, Sci-fi, a bit dystopian story, to the likes of Legend, Divergent and Shatter Me. I have planned a whole trilogy about it! :D What should I do?

I don’t think you should because to me that seems incredibly stifling

If chicklit is dead I will resurrect it!