The Word Cloud

do crime writers besides the ones who have their books turned into film, actually make a living from their writeing?. which is the most profitable genre market? and which is the least

The crime genre is the most lucrative. Just check out 'Writers & Artists' yearbook'. It's also pretty crowded. Ireland has a population roughly the size of Manchester yet our crime writers run into double figures. Can't remember which is the least profitable.

It certainly sells by the truckload, but it does need a lot of research, which reduces the profitability if you cost your time. And I don't think advances are any higher: the chief profitability lies in being able to turn out one a year, fulfilling your readers' expectations of something familiar without boring yourself to death or going stale. I think most people in the industry would say that crime and romance are the biggest and most reliable markets.

But there's no point in trying to write for a genre until you've read at least 200 books of it: there's no other way to find that magical balance between ticking all the boxes for the genre's fans and finding something new and fresh inside the formula which will mean agents and then publishers will think they can sell it.

Emma

Emma's right. And I reckon it's applicable right across the board: you have to produce original work within the constraints of the particular genre you've chosen to work in. Therein lies the rub. In crime, it seems to revolve around your central character. Ideally, he should be male, middle-aged, a recovering alcaholic and single - although he may have been married at some time. Try sticking to that criteria and coming up with an original character.

some good pointers there, i thought crime would have been the least wealthly market, turns out its one of the wealthlyest. emma your a quicker reader than me. i never thought i'd come from bad mouthing rouges behind their back to writeing about them :)
i agree it probably does need a hell of alot of reasearch though

i seem to be able to come up with my own ideas and i've only once looked for inspiration for one idea which is quite handy being though i'm writing a crime book

Lee, don't even think about chasing the money. Write what you love writing. Most manuscripts that are written are never published. Those that are published normally sell for peanuts. Those that do sell for real money don't usually sell in the bookstores and careers come to an end. If you do something you love, then none of this much matters. If you're doing it for money - then go out and stack shelves or rob a bank or mug a publisher. Those ways are all more reliably lucrative than any branch of writing.

ha ha har mr hazza

i like and i am interested in crime books, there is this fascination about the unknown, because the life of a don for example could be very intreageing, because one doesnt know anything about how they live or what they do, unless they are involved in the mafia. it is a writers job to make it up and try and give a false insite which would be fascnateing enough for the average bewildered joe to find heart pounding, the rush of adrelalin as the don does his daily activitys. they screwed the goodfather up but still a little interesting, because it showed another world, but still a world in which we live in if you get my drift.

i love writeing i dont know if i'd still do it if there wasnt any money at all though, yes it is peanuts so i surpose i do it out of like more than the money, but who knows i bet j k rowling said this more than once