Market Awareness
for Genre Fiction Authors
Nat 'Nose' Connors
<nat@kindletrends.com>
Book In a Month April 2025
Tools and techniques for your author neighborhood
This talk is going to be a bit more nerdy than usual
although not in a data science/tech sense
But it's not going to be very sales-y
Me (v. briefly)
A technical writer
IT project management
Cancer research
...now, mostly, I just write about lurve
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Follow along!
This is a web-based slide presentation. To go forward, press the space bar, use the arrow keys, or swipe if you're on a touchscreen.
This talk
Some waffly conceptual stuff
Step-by-step procedures using free resources
Some waffly conceptual stuff
Why I keep saying 'market awareness'
Your author 'neighborhood'
How 'trendy' are genre fiction markets?
Trends over 2024/2025
I got the Top 400 books
and looked at the most common elements each month
The point
...at a macro level, markets aren't as 'trendy' as we tend to think
There are some caveats, but overall I think this is a pretty solid result
but if so...
why bother studying the market at all?
Market awareness
vs market research
An ongoing process...
that informs and is connected to your craft
and includes different activities, but is part of a whole
For experienced authors
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Understand how popular story elements can fit with your brand
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Stay connected with your readers as they change
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Avoid feeling stale or creatively unchallenged
For new authors
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Discover core elements that resonate with readers over time
- Find your distinctive voice, and from it build your brand
Market awareness in your neighborhood
Your 'neighborhood'
Your 'neighborhood'
isn't just your comps
or your (sub)genre
Your 'neighborhood'
Popular tropes, yes, but also:
The visual language of covers
Words and actions used to describe books
Other media your readers enjoy
Why is the concept of a neighborhood useful?
-
It helps reduce the sense of being overwhelmed by research
-
It reinforces the idea that it's made up of different parts with different natures
Finding your neighborhood
Tool #1:
Kindle Power Search
(I'll include all the links in the show notes so don't feel you need to copy them down)
Tool #2:
Categories List
Exploring your neighborhood
Tool #3:
Also Boughts & Top 100s Downloader
Tool #4:
Infographics
Fantasy: https://kindletrends.com/fantasyMystery: https://kindletrends.com/mysterySome worked examples
Keep in mind
Covers make a promise to the reader
That promise is developed in the blurb
Then delivered in the story itself
"Will she marry him?"
"Reader, I married him."
Blurbs
or, what's on the buying page of a book
Tropes, yes - but also plot beats and character voice
Examples (1): Romance
Tropes
Character voice
Plot beats
Examples (2): Mystery
Tropes
Plot beats
Examples (3): Fantasy
Tropes
Plot beats
Character voice
Summary: Blurbs
Drawing relationships between blurbs and content
Content
Blurbs
Covers
or, what's on the front of a book
Covers make a specific set of promises to the reader
About content
About branding
We can see this clearly with a cover montage
Styles
Look at books in your neighborhood
e.g: Medium shot, no faces shown Long shot, couple with faces shown Object relevant to story
People: how many? Shot choice: face, full/half, medium, long (whole body) Objects: what and why?
Dominant colours and shades Typography Other recurring visual elements (branding)
Examples (1): Romance
Examples (2): Mystery
Examples (3): Fantasy
Summary: Covers
What does each element say about the content?
Eventually
Content
Blurbs
Covers
Ultimately this comes down to branding
but not just visual branding - atmosphere too
Freida McFadden
The Widow's Husband's Secret Lie is an utterly addictive, unputdownable, nail-biting, absolutely gripping psychological thriller novella with a shocking, breathtaking, heartstopping, spine-chilling twist that you won't see coming, will leave you stunned, and will literally have you picking your jaw up off the floor and bringing it to the nearest hospital for major facial reconstructive surgery.
Conclusions
(1) Markets aren't as trendy as we think
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But in your neighborhood things are definitely changing, little by little, even if you don't read about it on the news. -
Awareness of your neighborhood helps you decide how your work fits into what readers are excited by right now
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Instead of asking 'what's the next big thing?', we should maybe frame the question as 'how are classic things going to be re-interpreted next?'
(2) Tools for your neighborhood
Kindle Power Search
https://kpowersearch.com/
Also Boughts and Top 100s Downloader
https://kindletrends.com/download-also-boughts-chrome-extension/
List of all Kindle Store categories
https://kindletrends.com/categories/
Infographics
https://kindletrends.com/infographics
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Acknowledgements
Lana Love
Becca Syme
AJ Lancaster
TK Eldridge
Lizzie Dunlap from Pixie Covers
Elizabeth Brady
Thank you to all the authors and artists who helped with this talk
Lynn and Nicole giving me a chance to speak
All of you for your time and attention
Thank you for watching!
For more free resources, check out:
For the slides for this talk:
https://kindletrends.com/biam