 Mystery: June 03, 2015 Issue [#7030] |
  Mystery
This week: Finding Your Niche Edited by: Jeff  
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"The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense
of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery."
-- Anaïs Nin
Mystery Trivia of the Week: Most authors who write military thrillers get their inspiration from research and indirect sources. Andy McNab, however, draws from personal life experiences. His real name is Steven Billy Mitchell, and his early career was spent as a covert ops and counter-terrorism specialist for the British Special Air Service (SAS). He's been captured by the enemy and tortured, as well as been awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal and Military Medal for bravery in combat.
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FINDING YOUR NICHE
Within the mystery genre, there are a lot of options. I was browsing Amazon the other day, perusing lists of titles as part of some research I'm currently doing. I was surprised to find that there are not just very specific subsections of the mystery genre itself that go beyond your typical sub-genres like cozies or detective stories, but other genres even have enough titles to warrant their very own mystery niche inside their larger and unrelated genre.
For example, by clicking on "Mystery, Thrillers, and Suspense" in the Kindle ebook store, you have the option of refining the search by specific character type (amateur sleuths, British detectives, gay protagonists, FBI agents, etc.), settings (beaches, islands, mountains, outer space, etc.), or even by mood and theme (action-packed, disturbing, fun, racy & risque, vengeful, etc.).
Similarly you can click on an unrelated genre, and drill down to find a "Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense" subset in many of them. Some examples:
Romance >> Romantic Suspense
Religion & Spirituality >> Religious Fiction >> Mystery
Literature & Fiction >> Historical Fiction >> Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Literature & Fiction >> Women's Fiction >> Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender >> Mystery & Detective
Settling your book into one of these smaller niches can make a substantial difference in both your visibility and the number of copies you sell. It's widely accepted that anything on the first page of an Amazon search results page (or web search for that matter) are by far the most frequently accessed items. If you're on the second page, audience awareness goes way down. And it gets exponentially lower on every page after that. So if you're a new writer trying to get your book out there, chances are it's not going to be on the first page which, as of this writing, has Paula Hawkins' hit The Girl on the Train, as well as books by Stephen King, David Baldacci, James Patterson, and Nelson DeMille. However, there is a better chance of it having higher search return results in a more specific sub-genre. Consider these examples which were current as of the writing of this editorial:
The One That Got Away by Simon Wood
#182 in the Paid Kindle Store (page 7)
#3 in Mystery >> Crime Fiction >> Serial Killers (page 1)
#7 in Mystery >> Women Sleuths (page 1)
Presumption of Guilt by Marti Green
#336 in the Paid Kindle Store (page 13)
#5 in Mystery >> Thrillers >> Legal (page 1)
#6 in Mystery >> Police Procedurals (page 1)
Paris Ransom by Charles Rosenberg
#566 in the Paid Kindle Store (page 22)
#1 in Mystery >> Thrillers & Suspense >> Crime >> Heist (page 1)
#2 in Mystery >> International Mystery & Crime (page 1)
Simply categorizing your work into a more specific niche can literally make your work jump from from being lost somewhere on the tenth or twentieth page of a general search to being on the front page of a specific search for that specific niche, and that (assuming all other factors are equal) usually results in more visibility and more book sales, because people are seeing your cover right away without having to sift through dozens and dozens of other web pages and covers before they even get to yours.
Just as important as sales rank, though, having a niche can help define who you are as a writer. Think about when you're meeting someone for the first time, ask what they do, and they say, "I'm a writer." Okay, that's nice and all, but do we really get a sense of what that means or who that person is? Not really. In most cases we follow up with a polite, "Oh? What do you write?" Now imagine your in that same introductory scenario and the other person says, "I'm a mystery writer." That's a little better, but it still doesn't tell us a lot about who they are because there are so many types of mysteries. It's better than just knowing they're a writer in general, but I'd be willing to bet that most of us would still ask a clarifying question like, "What kind of mysteries do you write?" Now, one final time, imagine that same introduction if the other person were to say, "I'm a post-apocalyptic mystery writer." I bet your first instinct isn't to ask for clarification this time... if you're anything like me, it probably spins you off in an entirely different direction, wondering what it's like to write something that specific, what a post-apocalyptic mystery might look like, etc.
The point is, niches and subgenres can help you create an identity for yourself. John Grisham made a name for himself as the "legal thriller" guy. So did Scott Turow. Robin Cook is a "medical mystery/thriller" guy. Rather than competing against all the other mystery writers out there, they found a niche and capitalized on it. They made a name for themselves by creating audiences that seek out their specific brand of mystery.
While you certainly shouldn't try to force yourself into a niche you don't feel comfortable in, and while there are certainly people who have found success in general literary fields without having to drill down too far into a specialty, I'd encourage you to look at the kinds of things you write and consider whether you can refine and classify your writing in a particular way that makes you stand out from other authors who write in the same general field. It might help you more accurately describe the kinds of things you write... and who knows, it might even knock your book onto the front page of an Amazon subcategory so it's seen by everyone looking to read something in that niche. 
Until next time,
Jeff
If you're interested in checking out my work:
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I encourage you to check out the following mystery items:
EXCERPT: Of course, I knew it was a bad case, but that’s all that I had been getting lately. A run of bad luck, an ever-present thorn in my side nagging me to give this all up. Go to the coast and spend your days watching the tide and the babes. Pounding the pavement, looking for answers, and what did that get me? I do this because it’s what I do; it’s too late for anything else.
EXCERPT: The noise level alone was adequate. At least I had a good canvas to work with. As I moved in heads turned and the air got heavier inside. None would be the wiser in this place. Cigarette smoke and dangerous looks filled the air. I could smell an explosive potential, a lustful energy bleeding from the crowd. Everyone was ready to revel in their sin. Drinking, singing, screwing.
EXCERPT: Marvin Bryan was a quiet man. He was well liked by all who knew him but not known by many at all. He lived in his apartment with his Mother, Doris, sixty-five, and his sister Judy, twenty-six, both of whom were at this moment downtown watching the new James Bond Flick, he was not. Marvin worked in a building downtown which looked like every building downtown. It had 16 floors, which was really fifteen because thirteen, and all the bad luck that goes with it, was missing.
EXCERPT: A painted ebony sky laid splattered with storm clouds. The wind blew gently, just enough to whisper to the trees and gain their rustling reply. Jensen McCalihan gazed up at the copper colored moon peeking at him from behind its shadowy curtain. The light from it reflected silver off of his sandy hair, as his hazel eyes scanned the woods. He knew it was here, he felt it within every inch of his body. He sensed its presence, but it knew he was here long before he acknowledge its existence.
EXCERPT: Enormous brass city gates arched high above the clouds, spirals of intricate curves all lined with silver. Worn, skin-showing jeans and frayed grey jackets, it only took one look to be certain that these runners were far from home. Although it was unknown where they had come from, one thing was clear: they had not arrived this far by accident. Towering buildings bellowed like trees, demanding to be contrasted with the barren fields which stretched beyond them. Cement for soil, bricks for branches - the sole difference between this nation to the next was the darker shade of the sky.
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Feedback from my last newsletter about everyone having one special thing:
Quick-Quill  writes: This is Mother's Day and my novel is about a man looking for his grandmother. I have a detective novel to rewrite and a very timely suspense thriller about a man who must give up his past to gain a new life in the future even though it may cost him everything. Both are timely, but not trendy. Which to work on till its ready to publish? I'm not doing very good at either at the moment. I'm sick of vampires. Did anyone hear me? Shhh!
I don't think you're alone in being sick of vampires! 
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