I Want To Sellout

>>1431179
>I usually write Literary fiction (fiction full of themes and allegories and artsy shit
Yeah, I doubt it.

For a start, if you did write "artsy shit," you'd realise that schoolteachers invent most themes so that they have something to spoonfeed to children.

An idea sometimes runs through a work, but it's not the "moral of the story" that a utilitarian education system requires it to be. Square peg, round hole.

You, on the other hand, seem to think that writing Aesop's fables counts as literature. That's thinking like a student or thinking like a schoolteacher, miles away from an artistic mentality.

In short, you are graduating from middlebrow moral fables for others to middlebrow entertainment for others.

Now, if you found a way to entertain yourself, you'd begin, for the very first time, not to be a sellout.

I have a nose for this kind of thing.

Lets see...


Just write, you can't expect us to spoonfeed you the interesting material.

Promote your book in various places, if you're lucky a bigshot might catch wind of your book.

>>1431190
I literally wrote a book, got it published and made money off of it, ontop of working a full-time job. So im probably ahead of you on both the /biz/ and /lit/ side of things. And yes i used the word "artsy" to define literary fiction, because i know none of you Suit types would want to read through the definition of Literary Fiction.

I came here for advice on buisness shit, so shut the fuck up, put your phone down and politely shove it up your own ass.

>>1431179

shit plan mate, to truly sellout you need a big enough and loyal fanbase to buy your shitty sellout product

>1 million guys buying 1 book that end with a big enough cliff hanger
>you have 1-2$ profit on each book

then you can truly milk those people with a crappy sequel

You sound like a huge faggot desu, and it sounds like you know next to nothing about literature.

To sell out, you cater to a far-reaching demographic, and you play on people's shallowest wants and desires.

The best way it to tell your publisher your plan, or find another one.

>>1431191
Im not asking you to spoonfeed material. This is gonna sound pretty cocky, but assume that i can write any sort of fiction to a slightly above average degree. What would i write to get the most money out of my book. (I'm sort of thinking of it like a buisness venture)

Like what demographic should i aim for?
>setting?
>tropes/character types that are going to sell well.

Also i don't need to promote my book anywhere. I have a publisher. When i said my first book was "moderately successful" i mean like enough money that could theoretically quit my job for some time.

>>1431218
Hm... so maybe my buisness plan should go like this:

>succesfully write a book and get book published
Done

>have a dedicated fanbase
Done

>write book that increases fanbase by x amount (with x being the amount of people needed so that i can sellout by the next book)
I guess this is where i am now. So i guess it should be a book that is not too dumbed down, so i don't lose the current fans. But wide-reaching enough that i can attract new fans.

>write shit sequel so that people will buy anyway.

>>1431224
If you want the 2016 tropes...
>sassy black/latina/asian woman
>gay character or black guy for comic relief
>dudebros and numales who get emasculated at every situation

File: retro-sas-airline-3-1000x1007.jpg (182KB, 1000x1007px) Image search: [Google]

182KB, 1000x1007px

>>1431217
Mainstream or Commercial success does not a fine artist make.

Sometimes the real sign of talent is the ability to make a low-brow form high-brow. Make a work that superficially appeals to the lowest common denominator, but it's really complicated, multi-layered, psychologically perceptive and beautifully written.

If you're looking for a concept, just flick through the twitter feeds of Slate or Huffington Post. See how they make their headlines and apply the same concept to a novel.

The perfect story of 2015 was when that Indian Uber driver raped a woman. It was the perfect storm of the fear of the paradigm changing corporation (Uber), a salacious plot (Rape and Murder), and a hot-button political issue: the status and treatment of women in India.

Apply that same formula to your novel and you'll it it big. Like don't go too ephemeral of course. Pokemon GO won't be such a meme when your novel is published, but think about Augmented Reality, think about Facebook. Think about the European migrant crises... think about what laymen read about.
Oh, and add lots of sex, and jet-setting for garnish.

>>1431235
Thank you... though i was looking for advice more on the buisness side. Maybe selling out is just easier than i thought.

>>1431179
sellout brah its only a shirt whule before xmas is cancelled

^space cadet^

>>1431240
Your readers will pick it up and meme it if they find it good.

>>1431238
I know full well that success doesn't make the artist, and that literary fiction isn't somehow more artistic or important than a piece of genre fiction. I just thought that for a thread on /biz/ i needed to focus more on the buisness and monetary aspect of writing a genre piece versus a literary piece.

I understand what you're saying in your second paragraph and i honestly think i can create a work that will check off all those boxes.

Good call on making it about a hot-button issue. I find that augmented reality and cybernetic enhancements are very overdine in a scifi setting... but now you got me thinking about making some sort of story where the driving force of the story has very clear parallels to the european migrant crisis.

>>1431238
Yes OP be the next Pynchon.

>>1431251
You're not posing a real question there mate. This feels like an opportunity for you to stroke your ego.

What do you want then? You're saying "should I sell out". People give you topics. You say 'yeah nah, I know that'.
What do you want then? "how does a person go about it?"

>Do you want an investment strategy to put the process?
>Do you have niggling doubts about the fact that you'd be making something insincerely for capital gain and struggling to justify that for yourself?
>Are you wondering if the whole venture of a commercial book is more economically profitable than writing in your normal style.

Just feels like you're stroking your ego.

>>1431217
>I literally wrote a book
So you didn't metaphorically write a book?

Like going into the bathroom, having a big shit, and saying, "whoo, I wrote a really big book just now," that was not something you did?

Thanks for clarifying.

>>1431265
I dont mean to be bragging. I mean like... i understand i need to combine the best parts of a Genre Piece (the action, fast pace, plot) with the best parts of a Literary Piece (allegories, social shit etc.) But what i guess i want to know is, what is the most economical way to do so? From a purely buisness standpoint how should i write my book so that when published it will reach the widest audience? So i guess a bit of #1 and a bit of #3.

I want to write this book, not as a way to express myself artistically or even to bring light to a social/political issue that i find important, but to just sell as many copies as possible. I am willing to write about things that i don't even believe in or care about.

>>1431288
You know, for being such a moderately successful artsy shit writer, you're pretty fucking bad at expressing yourself through writing.

>>1431288

Make the book and make people want to buy a a sequal that took you a few days to make.

That's income off of two new books. Just finish the story and lead it to another story people REALLY want to read.

Selling out would mean ur old fans think it's shit but it's aight because u sold to them and made a couple thousand bandwagon new fans who prob only read the sequal to ur new book.

>>1431288

Literally you are looking for WRITING advice from the BUSINESS board. YOU are the WRITER. If you are already published/successful, you already know what it takes to make a successful book, and should be able to identify the elements to give you book mass appeal.

The business is NOT up to you. Thats on your publisher. Marketing, how best to convey that your book is hot shit - that's all on your PUBLISHER. You're a writer, you probably dont a have a clue on the front, so stop trying to act like you need advice for it, cause its not your fucking job. Pitch your idea well, listen to your editor when they tell you how to make your hot garbage more marketable, and that's it.