Musings: TBR Piles and Market Research
What’s in my TBR (to-be-read) Pile? It’s probably easier to list the books that aren’t on my list, to be honest. But that’s the hallmark of a good writer: you have to first be a good reader.
There are several categories of books I always look to for developing my style and my craft as a writer. The most obvious? I read the kind of stories I want to write.
Reading within my Genre
As a contemporary fiction writer, it's important to stay up to date on the latest trends and preferences of my target audience. One way I do this is by using my reading habits to conduct market research. Analyzing the books I read, the ones that resonate with me, and novels that are popular shed light on valuable insights into the type of fiction that readers are looking for.
The next time you pick up a book because it looks or sounds intriguing, take a moment to consider why you're drawn to it. Is it the setting, the characters, or the themes that resonate with you? By analyzing your own reading habits, you can gain valuable insights into the type of fiction that readers like you are looking for, and use that knowledge to craft compelling stories of your own.
My next Contemporary Fiction read?
Aside from comp titles, which we’ll cover below, I’m looking forward to digging into Gabrielle Zevin’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow. For starters, the book trailer was super cute. But there’s also something to be said for how intimate the book gets with gamer culture—while I haven’t read it yet, I understand from reviews that some people couldn’t get into it because the references were so rich and intense. While this immersion tactic may be a bummer for people who don’t know anything about gamer culture and don’t care enough to learn, I find deep dive books like this fascinating to study.
Comp Titles
Once you have a finished novel and a plan to publish, you’ll need to understand how to situate it in the current market. I start this process by analyzing my own writing. I take a close look at the themes and motifs that are naturally present in my work, and then look for books with similar energy.
As I read through similar titles to The Great Quiet, I try to answer the following questions:
Which motifs are resonating with the broader market?
What do the readers of these similar novels like about them?
What criticism has this book received?
What in these comp titles might appeal to my own target audience?
By paying attention to these trends, I’m better informed for decisions I’ll need to make about the direction of my writing. I’ll also gain a better understanding of which aspects of my book are most marketable.
My most recent comp title read
Just a few weeks ago, I finished reading the novel L.A. Weather by María Amparo Escandón. This book explores the dynamics of family relationships, family tragedies, and the striking, drought-ravaged environment of Los Angeles County.
I loved the complexity of each character and how anchored the novel was in its setting. It would be impossible for this book to take place anywhere else because the area is a character all its own—living, breathing, and adding all sorts of conflict and tension to the narrative. I also enjoyed how it subverted the unspoken expectation of contemporary readers: here is a book set in 2016 that centers the Latin American community in Southern California, but instead of revolving around the US/Mexico border, the focus is on the rain.
The comp title I’m working through now is The Furrows by Namwali Serpell. I find it interesting how this particular novel requires more energy from me as a reader than L.A. Weather did—the experience is giving me a fresh perspective on how grief and other heavy emotions work in my own writing to slow down the pace. Novels about loss and grief are like onions, with so many layers to unravel that you simply can’t rush through them.
Identifying and reading books in this manner has helped me gain a better understanding of the themes and motifs that interest readers who are interested in family dramas and stories that are anchored in a specific setting, as well as unique ways tropes and expectations can be flipped on their heads to create more interesting fiction. It’s also shown me how novels that take darker turns are experienced by the reader, allowing me to be more intentional with how I craft my writing now and in the future.
Classics
The classics have stood the test of time for a reason; they’re good. There really isn’t a better way to improve your writing than to study the best of the best. I select which classics and how many I read very carefully though.
Reading too much work from a different timeframe can have a negative impact on your style, giving your writing outdated tics and mannerisms that no readers would put up with from contemporary works. Imagine how thrown off readers would be if the newest CoHo novel blanked out names and dates the way Jane Austen and her ilk used to do, or if a novel used (gasp) single quotes instead of double quotes for character dialogue.
The other reason I’m cautious about “the classics”? While they are decidedly important, as a whole they are also reflective of the values of their time. That means women and minority writers were often glossed over or their work was appropriated by spouses and rival writers, regardless of how timeless their voices may have turned out to be. I swore off of F. Scott Fitzgerald after learning about Fitzgerald’s appalling plagiarism of his incredibly talented wife, Zelda.
So which classic is on my TBR right now?
The next open slot for a classic book is going to what is widely recognized as the world’s first novel. My favorite part? The world’s first novelist was not a white man, or a European at all. Instead, the genre was defined by a Japanese woman in the year 1008.
Set in 11th century Japan, The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu was such an incredible work that it demanded to be taken seriously. As a noblewoman, Shikibu wrote what she knew: the novel covers the culture of aristocratic Japanese families and covers many controversial themes in a way that allows or even encourages multiple interpretations from what I understand. A feminist reading of the novel will come away with a much different perspective than looking at it through the lens of satire—a challenge for modern translators and readers alike. It’s this textual ambiguity which intrigues me the most, and I’m eager to dig in.
Potpourri
The best writing has a flavor all its own. For me, that means taking a look at all the ways different genres and different types of writers are telling their stories. An amazing memoir has as much to say about plot and pacing as any good work of contemporary fiction.
Plus, I always try to put a new craft book on my TBR for each novel I write. Being intentional about the development of my craft helps ensure my writing continues improving and evolving. There’s no room for stagnation in such a crowded market.
That said, I also have a special love for poetry in translation. Yi Lu’s poems in Sea Summit speak to me on a spiritual level, helping me appreciate the beauty of our world in new ways, from new angles. And I’ll never forget the image of a bee flitting through a meadow full of mines from Garous Abdolmalekian’s Lean Against this Late Hour, or his insight that no soldier ever comes home from war.
My latest random read?
I spotted this book of poetry when it was still on pre-order, so to say it’s been highly anticipated is an understatement. You can be the Last Leaf by Palestinian writer Maya Abu Al-Hayyat is a thin but culturally intimate volume. It’s been difficult for me to connect with so far—unlike the gaming references I’m looking forward to in Zevin’s Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, I am on the outside of Palestinian culture, so there are many inferences and cultural moments I’m still working to parse. A sad observation that has struck me in reading it is how Al-Hayyat discusses how Arabic is her home, not Arabia—her language instead of the place where it is spoken. Her people are stateless, their homeland in a constant state of colonization and flux that prevents the kind of comfort people normally draw from home; while it’s interesting to see how language can fill that gap, it’s also a reminder of how broken our world can be.
Final Thoughts
There are so many ways reading strategically can benefit writers. From constantly expanding worldviews and perspectives to direct market research and intentional development of your craft, reading widely and thoughtfully is the foundation on which every author’s work must rest.
So, what’s next on your TBR?