Most non-writers assume that to be a successful author one must write New York Times bestsellers, or contemporary novels that appeal to all readers. Of course, we know this isn’t the case. Certainly, best selling authors can count copies sold by the millions or tens of millions, but many writers are achieving recognition and a decent income by only appealing to tens of thousands of readers. That’s a tiny population of the US, let alone the world.
On the purely mercenary side, receiving $1-2 net per copy (either traditional or Indie publishing) brings the author an average of $15,000 per 10,000 readers. That’s selling less than 1,000 copies per month. Now if you can repeat those sales year after year (which is possible if your book remains in print or ebook, and we figure that readership audience expands each year, worldwide), even simple, non-compounding math brings the author $15,000 per year per book. You have 5 books? That’s $75,000/year. Ten books? Now we’re talking! I’m not suggesting that every author achieves those sales figures out the gate. Some surveys suggest the average Indie author sells 500 copies a year. But it’s not impossible either – remember this is a long tail game.
But I’m not in it for the money, you cry! Fair enough. I would argue that an audience of 10,000 happy readers is enough to justify one’s passion and goal as a writer. These days an author is more connected to his readers than ever before via social media. I would be very happy to chat and interact with even 1,000 readers, rather than have a million readers that I never hear from.
The conventional genres are bifurcating like crazy. Cyberpunk begat steampunk, and now biopunk, nanopunk and others. Thrillers come in medical, military, political, terrorism, paranoia, psychological, and other flavors. Romance has always had a multitude of sub-genres, but recently has expanded into planetary romance, gaslamp romance, etc.
Many would argue, and I agree, that it is easier to build a loyal readership in a small, niche genre than write a book to appeal to the masses. I consider it much easier to keep such a readership happy and buying book after book. It’s a win-win. You like writing in your specialist field, and your fans, starved of material, are happy to read (and we hope enjoy) every one of your books.
You can invent your own niche. We all know of a writer whom we just can’t seem to classify. I don’t mean one that writes in multiple genres, but one whose writing is unique enough to defy an accurate label. It’s probably difficult to go about this deliberately; more likely, your writing just stands alone, or blends genres. For example, Suzanne Lazear combines steampunk with faery.
A writing colleague of mine recently expressed concern because she couldn’t classify herself. She worried that fans wouldn’t discover her, or would be confused. This is definitely a risk, and increasingly so when more book sales are the results of Amazon’s classification and recommendation engine. If you can’t easily tag your book, where will it end up? I regard this as a temporary problem for the new author, for once you build a brand and a readership then you may even be able to benefit from writing in a unique field. Many niches straddle conventional genres, allowing you to appeal to both, or several. This happens a lot.
I still think the sound advice is to write what you enjoy, and not try to force yourself into existing labels or trends. Write it and they will come.
Do you write in a niche? Would you like to? Are you trying to appeal to millions or a smaller, perhaps more passionate group of readers? Please share.