The importance of identifying your writing niche
© sxc.hu
Short story and horror novel writer Andy Kirby explains how crucial it is to pinpoint your writing niche if you want to see your words in print. Your niche is less about your genre than your outlet and for many unpublished writers that may not be the mainstream press.
So, I thought I had the Great Novel all written and ready to go. I just knew that a major publisher would pick it up and say, ‘wow’ and turn it into the overnight sensation I so wanted to be. My only problem was how to get it to them…
As I’m sure many others have done, I scoured the Writers’ and Artists’ Yearbook and sent out lots and lots of letters to agents. I held my breath, and then the responses started to trickle in. Most of them were standard, form letters of the ‘thanks but no thanks’ variety, although there were a few from whom I received encouraging comments.
It was a time of endless false starts, false hopes and disappointment where I may have simply thrown in the towel if I wasn’t so bone-headed.
Talk to people in publishing industry
I started to take the time to get to know people in the industry, other writers, reviewers and so on. I spent a lot of time in bookshops and visiting discussion forums. I attended events, classes and entered competitions. I began learning the basics and honing my craft by writing short stories.
Friends and writing-buddies suggested publications for me to send my work to, and to my surprise, I’d hardly heard of any of them. You see, many of them were magazines and websites run by small and independent presses.
Look beyond the mainstream presses
And I suppose this was my greatest discovery, the biggest help in my career so far: the realisation that sometimes my writing best fits with magazines and journals that aren’t particularly mainstream, but which are well respected and constructed with love.
Many of these operations get by on a shoestring budget, but in most cases have high production values and quality control measures. And best of all, they were prepared to take a chance on first-time writers, something that much of the mainstream press shies away from.
Get your name as a writer out there
Publication in the small presses is a great way to get your name out there, and opens a lot of doors. I found that a lot of fellow writers and publishers were prepared to offer the advice and comment on my work and suggest potential avenues for my work that I might not have otherwise discovered.
Gradually I built an audience for my writing, and eventually this became large enough to justify the publication of my two novels, which are published by independent publishing houses Wild Wolf Publishing and Legend Press.
If I hadn’t identified my writing niche, that might never have happened.
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Thanks for your interesting post, Andy
That’s really good advice. It’s the same for poetry, if not even more important to contribute to the small press poetry magazines.
As well as writing fiction (see my own ‘author interview with Judy, August 26th)I also write poetry,and was lucky enough to find a publisher for my first small collection. I’m sure that having several poems already published in reputable magazines was a great help.
Thanks for the comment Christine. I read that interview and thought your comment ‘don’t try to be a writer, just write’ hit the proverbial nail square on the head. I also see you teach creative writing, which is something I’d be keen to do. How did you get into that?