
These responses make me think that I have a very different idea about what writing to market it means than a lot of other people.
To me, writing to market means writing a book with future marketing in mind.
Let me explain. Usually the process goes a writer puts down whatever their muse tells them to, then once the book is finished they look towards the market to sell it.
When writing to market, you look at the market first, then decide out of the many things that interest you, which to write about based on your research. And your muse is guided by your knowledge of what performs well and what doesn’t.
I don’t consider that selling out or writing poorly. I consider that caring about what the people giving me money want for that money. What if restaurants didn’t care how people liked their food and the chef salted the crap out of everything because he loved salt. We wouldn’t praise him for his individuality and refusal to bend to the will of the masses. We’d want out money back.
I think my desire to write to market has improved my writing as I’ve delved deeper and deeper into writing a satisfying story. Something I hope is proven true when Bearly Rivals re-releases on July 25th and proven true again when The Collaborator comes out.