This Crazy Business – The Next Big Thing

 

 
Welcome to our feature on the Rock that gives our readers yet even more feed back from the movers and shakers in the publishing industry. Today’s This Crazy Business is a panel of not one, not two, but three industry reps that will answer hot topic questions.


Our guests today are Literary Agents Ella Marie Shupe of the Belcastro Agency, Amanda Luedeke with MacGregor Literary, and Jessica Faust, founder of the Bookends Agency,

CIR: Thanks you for being our guests and enlightening us! The questions for this go-around are:

1) What do you think will be the next hot premise in fiction?

2) J.K. Rowling started her own publishing company…kind of…with Pottermore where she retains the rights to sell electronic versions of the Harry Potter series. Do you think other author giants will do the same?

Ella Marie Shupe:

1) That’s the million dollar question. There are conversations in the industry that lead to steampunk, science fiction, or horror for Young Adults. Beware of the bandwagon. If you’re just starting your story today and you try to run and jump on…well you can guess what you’ll end up on as the bandwagon leaves you behind. Write to your strengths. Write a strong story with a voice that cannot be denied. It’s quite possible that you will start the next trend.

2) Giants in any industry can usually do whatever they want. I’m sure a few will pop up. If it leads to more stories being published then more power to them. A talented writer that develops other talented writers just translates into more books for me to read. Oh, and of course more publishers to read our author’s fantastic manuscripts.

Amanda Luedeke:

1) How about Florence Nightingale: Valkyrie?

2) Nope. Most authors don’t have the desire to run a business. And let’s not forget that Rowling is the only billionaire author, so she has the funds needed to take a risk like this.

Jessica Faust:

1) Hopefully something I have coming out.

I’m not really sure. In romance right now I’m seeing more editors ask for contemporary and shying away from paranormal. And I’m seeing the same in YA. A lot of editors are asking for contemporary. I think I’d like to see suspense start to make a comeback, it’s been a long time since debut suspense or romantic suspense was able to sell.

2) I think some will and some won’t. It goes hand-in-hand with what I said above about Charles Dickens choosing to self epublish. (See our interview exclusively with Jessica from May http://chiseledinrock.blogspot.com/2012/05/agent-editor-visionary-jessica-faust.html) There are those who want complete control and feel they have the business acumen to make it happen while others like and enjoy the team they’ve built between author, agent, and publisher and would like to maintain that. In the end, honestly, I think it will all balance each other out in some way.

Thank you, ladies!