I’m Behind on the Trends and I Might Never Get Published
Hollywood has led the charge determining what is socially acceptable and what is not for years. For example: Hollywood was, I guess, okay with sexual abuse against women while Harvey Weinstein was a prominent producer, and then they were against it once they realized there was potential profit in promoting women empowerment. Hollywood was allegedly against gay people when Adam Lambert kissed a man on stage, now they are the leaders of LGBT+ equality and inclusion.
The truth is none of the large media production companies actually care about social issues, but they do care about being ahead on the trends to be the biggest profiteers. (Did she just cite her own article? Yes. She. Did.)
But what if us humble folk don’t know what the next trend is? What is our fate?
Authors are part of media. Books are really just movies for the mind, right? Most authors hope that they get a massive publishing deal that results in a movie or TV adaptation. Books are part of entertainment. Our stories have to keep up with the trends that our audiences are seeking.
I’ve been writing a manuscript since 2015. It’s finally almost done (3rd draft). I’m really excited about sharing it with my friends to see if it’s worth fixing up more to send to publishers. But I’m thinking about the premise and wondering if I should bother any more.
The plot is about a bunch of beauty pageant contestants, where one by one, they are brutally murdered. The story is about women empowerment and the relation between old female stereotypes with a feminist world.
But this story is old news now. I mean Miss America isn’t even Miss America anymore, it’s actually Miss America 2.0!
Beauty pageants used to be an opportunity for women to compete and win an award without male competition, but now a biological male and trans woman won a title in the Miss New Jersey-Miss America Organization.
My book is already out of touch.
Regardless of whether I think it’s wrong or right that beauty pageants still exist; regardless of whether I think it’s okay for a trans person to be given a title against a woman; it doesn’t matter.
Authors aren’t expected to comment on what’s fair. Readers aren’t really looking to authors to give a political stump speech.
But, the problem is, authors must keep up with social issue trends, otherwise they risk a very good novel being rejected by a publishing company because that book is not aligning with the present social trends.
Book Publishers are Panderers.
Vampires or supernatural romance novels were the hot thing from the late 2000's. . . Until it wasn’t.
Post-apocalyptic novels were the hot thing from the late 2010's. . . (Hunger Games, Maze Runner, Divergent) until it wasn’t.
Writers have to know what the next big thing will be before anyone else. Publishers have to believe the writer is correct in guessing what the next trend will be.
If they don’t, they probably won’t publish the story.
To stay on the trends, publishers are leaning towards following social/political trends instead of genres.
Publishers follow Marketers and Corporations.
Most corporations do not have a soul. But they try to act like they do.
They do not actually care about LGBT+ rights. They don’t care about women’s rights. They don’t care about Christian values, either. . . They just change their marketing to incite a public reaction. The reaction brings more attention to their product. More attention makes more sales.
It’s a tried and true model, but it easily makes anyone who disagrees or simply doesn’t pander to that subject seem wrong or out of touch.
The Bud Light controversy is the perfect example.
According to mainstream headlines, right-wingers are angry at Bud Light because they are panderers towards Trans People. But if they are mad about pandering, they should not buy Bud Light beer.
In fact, they should never have purchased Bud Light products ever, because at one time or another, Bud Light pandered to them, the self-proclaimed, “Alpha-male” type.
Pandering is the very foundation of advertisement. The trends control what kind of books get accepted by publishers.
Marketing is basically synonymous with pandering, as the purpose is to identify what an audience wants and using what they want to convince them to focus their attention on the product.
But the problem is, the trends of “what people want” are always changing. Right now, there is a trend of supporting women or supporting the LGBT+ community. But, just a few years ago, the trends were not in favor of those social issues. Similarly, the markets, the trends, and the interests of book publishers is subject to change at the blink of an eye.
Authors want to be on the right side of history.
Basically, everybody does. The problem is you better guess what the right side of history is correctly. You definitely cannot approach issues with an Independent political stance. People are expected to pick a side. Go ham on it then pray that the trends will be in your favor. Otherwise, face cancellation.
Cancel Culture and Social Trends are a good thing.
Honestly, I’m not opposed to cancel culture. It is the perfect example of the free market. Either people like a company’s product/what they stand for or they don’t and people in masses will either patronize them or not. It actually makes perfect sense, and even if right-wingers are against it, they have historically been in favor of it, because they state they are in favor of the free-market.
But publishers must recognize that there is a different standard for authors.
As much as most books must be entertaining and marketable ultimately, they must also provide an interesting story that will stand the test of time.
Movies and TV shows might get a pass. They are meant to be watched within a short period of time surrounding their release. As long as enough people watch it, it makes money. No one cares whether it makes a lasting impression.
I like to believe that books are different, though. Books have fallen out of favor in recent decades when visual media became popular. Why work so hard to read the words and process the message of a story when one can just view it in TV or movie form and make a snap judgment?
I hope that books are meant to stand the test of time. Not all of them, obviously, but many.
Publishers shouldn’t only publish based on trends. Trends are fickle and fleeting.
While writing my manuscript one of the main characters is Pro-Life and one of the villains is Pro-Choice. In the scheme of things, it’s a minor part of the story line, but it was implemented not as social commentary, but to reflect the location which the story takes place. The setting of my story is a small town with “Christian” or “old-school” values. I wrote this to give more context of the area that the story takes place, not as social commentary.
But, while editing and revising, my palms got sweaty. I thought to myself, I might never get published, because that isn’t following the trend that publishers are directing their projects towards. It doesn’t matter who is right or wrong. Both sides have fair arguments. But publishing companies certainly are picking a side. Just like every other form of marketing, they don’t actually care about the issue, they care about turning out an audience. They consider pro-choice media as the most likely to turn out the audience, therefore my story might never stand a chance because it offends the other side.
Stories aren’t politics.
Despite it all, I decided that my story will maintain the same pro-life/pro-choice issue. It doesn’t conclude on who is right or wrong, it just addresses the issue. My job as a prospective author is not to guess what will be the popular social trend when or if it ever gets published. My job is to tell the story and to give the proper context to explain the motives of the characters.
I’m behind.
I may very well have been the last person to start watching YouTube videos in 6th grade early 2000s, because before that, my parents wouldn’t let me. I was still wearing a feather in my hair and owl or mustache paraphernalia late 2010s. Right now, I’m just realizing 90s and early 2000s retro style is in. I’ll probably jump on that in a month or so and hold on to it for a few years long after the style is dead.
I’ll never be on trend. I’ll never pander with my writing to the trends. I try to let the story stand on its own. If that prevents me from getting published, so be it.
