I am currently in the process of doing a first pass of self-editing for my debut novel, before I send it off to a developmental/ paid editor. I was talking with someone on Threads who wanted to connect with indie authors and was interested in hearing about our projects.
I made clear to this person that I was still in the very early stages of my author journey, that my current series’ debut novel was undergoing its first editing pass (by me) and was nowhere near ready to have other eyes on it. I explained that I was getting people interested in my writing via blogging in the meantime.
This person then starts talking to me about what they called Marketing Research Analysis (MRA). Am I incorrect in thinking this is not something I will need until way, way later in my author journey, if at all, or would I benefit from looking into it now?
Hey Erin. I wouldn’t listen to that person.
Markets love great story. We really don’t have to make it any more complicated than that.
Most of the breakout books of the past fifty years wouldn’t have happened if the author was following market trends. That’s why they broke out.
There is a pro-author model that just puts out a lot of content. We’re talking 4+ books per year. Those people often just follow the trends and try to provide more of what’s happening in the existing market. That works (it’s not a lot of fun, but it works) if you can publish at a rapid enough pace to hit those trends. Those trends change relatively quickly though, so for most authors identifying a trend and then pushing a book to market 12-24 months later is a dud. You missed the boat.
My advice is don’t let people like that overcomplicate things. You focus on telling a great story. Your developmental editor will help you shape it to best target a particular genre and market, but don’t overthink it before then.
