To Niche or Not to Niche

It may have crossed my mind that self-publishing just doesn't favor popular genres. At least for a new author. I don't necessarily mean that Sci-Fi/Fantasy itself is more likely to fail, but I have noticed that the niche subgenres do much better than those who opt for general subgenres. For instance, LGBT fantasy is one of those that thrive in self-pub; romance as a whole is also one of those quick and dirty self-pub treasure troves.

That isn't to say I'm going to hop on the temptation to opt for straight smut-- I'm happy writing along where the tide takes me, but it does mean that it might be a route to consider down the line. There are some really odd and interesting combinations that actually make me relieved that I'll never have the most ratchet combinations ever. Sure, I guess self-pub is the reason behind the blown up entry of kooky subgenres, but if you say that bitterly, then you're missing the point for why self-pubbing is a wonderful beast of many heads (and butts! Double butts with heads of their own! This is probably a joke with a niche but it would be comedy gold, or at least silver, with my nephews.).

I'm not beating a dead horse by repeating all the asinine gripes attempting to vilify self-pub and return to the gatekeeping days of creative slavery. Why the hell do critics against change always sound like redneck racists? We don' wunt yer kind aroun' here... All the same, while it's a bit of a gamble, the choices are really exciting to me as a reader and a writer alike. Iffy topics are no longer filtered by prudish editors and publishers, for one. I'm not rubbing my hands together and laughing like a pervert here. I don't immediately mean sexual subjects here, which aren't off-limits anyway, but sometimes you just want to be a dragonkin crazy cat lady who drives a school bus and, while it might be a niche that is a hard sell, no one gets to deprive you of the joy in developing it and owning a copy of it and making it easily available to anyone who does.

Let's be honest, speed has no bearing on quality. Process doesn't assure that either. And no, your writing won't speak for itself because it IS a competitive market that we're virtually invisible in. This is why a lot of people are turning to niche genres to look more popular than they are. Even if you're first in Nonfiction>Insects>Ants>Ant Farms that #1 still looks impressive and makes the algorithm take notice. (Take note: vendors are well aware of the potential for abuse so lying about the genre of your book is a good way to be banned from every using self publishing platforms. If you're going to snatch up an odd subgenre, you'd better be able to defend how it fits.)

So yeah, I'm considering some off-kilter ideas ahead. Right now, I love my complex fantasies. I love the many twists and turns and planned madness of my ambitious passion projects. I'm going to love my most frustrating characters (until I can't stand them!) and I'm going to build worlds like I've done since I was a child. I'm going to draw passable maps and sometimes scribble down some rough idea of what they look like that I'm never that settled on. There will be cover art that doesn't consider trends and quick erotic scenes sandwiched by violent suspense. I'll put characters through hell but give them seven minutes in heaven. 

I think niches will be a fun thing to explore for marketing. There's real potential to draw curious eyes with a little inventive thought. Fantasy, being so naturally flexible, may never be a playground I fully leave. Yet the idea that I just haven't been standing outside the right clubhouses is out there. 

They say you have to write to market to sell. However, I like to think that even the kooks are out there in bigger numbers than we think, loving that markets give them anonymous ways to let those freak flags fly. In this golden age of publishing, readers and writers can have their cake and eat it too.