From The Heart

I visited the Purple Hearts blog a few days ago, and Nancy Haddock was their special guest. Nancy’s post was about the road she’s traveled to become published. BTW - Nancy’s new release La Vida Vampire looks like a fun read.

The last part of her post made me think about writing the book of your heart and following the market. There’s no doubt about it - the road to publication and the subsequent hard work to stay published isn’t an easy one. We, as writers, need to write the very best book we can, yet it must be marketable. Sometimes the market is difficult to read. The books that editors are buying now won’t hit the shops for a while, and by the time they do, often the market is saturated with that particular genre of romance. Historicals are becoming more popular now, and I’ve heard murmuring that sci-fi is the new paranormal. Other people are saying erotic romance has done its dash.

I have an idea. I know it’s probably not a marketable story because it’s sci-fi, it’s light rather than the currently popular darker paranormals, and I have a yearning to write this story in first person. Three strikes, and I’m out. But the thing is - this story is calling me. I’ve been thinking about this story for three years, and after all that time, I still love the idea.

So my question to you is: do you write the book of your heart, even though you know it might not be your breakout book, or do you play it safe and write the story you know you have a good chance of selling?