[Watch the video interview on YouTube here]
Film Courage: Desireé, you said something off camera about trend spotting. Can you clarify what this is?
Desireé Duffy, Founder of Black Château, Books That Make You Podcast, and The BookFest® Adventure: Sure. In the industry, there’s this concept of how does one write to market? In other words, how can I write a book that is going to capture the attention of the publisher or the literary agent?
So I mean trend spotting, like in many industries, it’s just kind of looking ahead to see where the puck is going rather than where it’s been so that you can be ahead and possibly get that book deal.
Now the truth of the matter is I know a lot of literary agents. I’ve rubbed shoulders with them at writer conferences and I’ve asked them:
What are the next trends?
What are you looking for?
You’re here listening to authors pitch their manuscript idea to you.
What is the thing that you’re honestly looking for?
Sometimes agents will say that I’m looking for this type of book and these types of genres, etc.
But a lot of times they give you this really frustrating answer of If I knew what they need now, I wouldn’t be here doing this.
You can’t predict that because it’s so far in the future. I think that’s one of the frustrating things because if everybody is suddenly writing books about wizard schools, the last thing they want to hear is another pitch about a bunch of kids that go to a wizard school.
It’s a matter of trying to figure out what is coming, what’s going to be popular in some cases 18 months to two or 3 years from now. That’s the hard part.
But in the world of trend spotting, I do think that there are some genres and there are some tropes that are very popular and are increasing in popularity.
For example, I think the whole enemies to lovers type of a trope can be really good. And that goes beyond just the romance…(Watch the video interview on YouTube here).
About:
Desireé Duffy is the founder of Black Château, a marketing and public relations agency; Books That Make You, a Webby Award-winning multi-media brand that promotes books and authors through its website, podcast, and radio show; and The BookFest® Adventure, a biannual online event uniting book lovers worldwide.
A passionate advocate for spreading stories, Desireé serves as the executive producer for the Beach-Bound Book Bash, Jingle Books, and the Books That Make You Show. Her memberships and board positions include the International Academy of Digital Arts and Sciences (IADAS) and the Writers and Publishers Network (WPN). She holds degrees in English, communication, art, and marketing. Desireé splits her time between Southern California, Oklahoma, and wherever bookish events happen and booklovers gather.
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