Wednesday, February 8, 2006

Is Your Book a Golden Retriever or a Chihuahua?

Really neat blog post from Tess Gerritsen I read this morning which really makes you think.

We write what spirs us to write, but are we writing books that are golden retrievers or chihuahuas?

Here's the link if you want to check it out but come right back because there's going to be a pop quiz. ;o)

http://www.tessgerritsen.com/blogs.cfm

Take your book(s) either published or not and classify them...this could really tell you why your books are a success or not and the ones you haven't published, whether they will be or not.

Here's mine:

No More Gooseberry Pie - chihuahua (no one buys children's ebooks)
Romancing the Soul - golden retriever (widespread appeal of soul mates and relationships)
Sisterhood book - this is tricky. Is there a middle ground? It would appeal to boomers, older women...so I guess it's a cocker...but how to turn it into a golden retriever?
Sisterhood prequel - again same
Sisterhood sequel - again same
Are You My Soul Mate - Demystifying and Identifying the Soul Mate Relationship - golden retriever (again, widespread appeal to both men and women)

I've got more but they're the ones I wanted to show you how one could be a chihuahua and another a golden retriever. When you write your books, make sure you have a widespread audience; that is, if you want to become a bestseller.

Of course, opinions vary. Some of the books that made the bestseller lists I couldn't give a toot about, but there was a huge audience that did give a toot enough to buy them. And even if they weren't bought for their substance and other factors came into play like word of mouth for instance...subject matter...then think about this when writing your books.

So, is your book a golden retriever or chihuahua and why do you think so?

3 comments:

  1. Yikes! This is a bit to the point ;o)

    After due thought, I'm going to have to admit both my books are chihuahuas. They're both fantasy/futuristic chic-lit, and between that and my relucance to show them to anyone, they come out as drowning puppies!

    Never mind, they were only ever meant for me anyways :o)

    And thanks for visiting me yesterday!

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  2. Thanks for the link. I'll check it out. I love Tess G's blog. She's always got something interesting there.

    Tanya

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