Angela,
I’ve been writing and publishing poetry books for years and I hate to admit it but they aren’t selling. While I love writing poetry, I want and need to earn money writing books. I know now that poetry was a very bad idea. What should I be writing that will give me the greatest chance of actually making money?
Thank you,
M.R.
I agree with you that poetry is not a great genre if you’re wanting to earn a living writing books. Lots of people write poetry for therapy, and even to entertain, but it’s not something a lot of people buy.
If someone can spin a really good yarn, there’s no reason he or she can’t branch out to another genre. However, simply publishing a book in a best-selling genre isn’t going to guarantee sales. You will need to spend even more time promoting your books after they are released.
There are lots of statistics online about best-selling genres and some of them give conflicting information. I found a list on MasterClass.com that I agree with:
1. Romance
2. Mystery
3. Fantasy and Science Fiction
4. Thrillers and Horror
5. Young Adult
6. Children’s Fiction
7. Inspirations, Self-help, Religion
8. Biography, Autobiography, Memoir
There are, of course, sub-genres under those major ones. I encourage you to read the article at the link above, and to do some research into best selling books in those genres to learn what made them popular.
Angela Hoy lives on a mountain in North Georgia. She is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the President and CEO of BookLocker.com and AbuzzPress, and the author of 24 books.
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