A Short Discourse on Competitive Works
9 Mar
Eaton's Santa Claus Parade, Toronto, 1926/Archives of Ontario
The other day I was e-mailing with one of our readers about a book proposal she’s working on, when all of a sudden she said she was dropping the project.
The reason: a similar-sounding documentary film that was already in production.
Whoa, whoa, whoa.
First, I understand her concern. I don’t have any evidence to support this other than my own experience, but I agree that your work competes across genres. Some books/films/shows/websites cast a very long shadow.
That said, you don’t want to drop a project at the first sign of trouble for the following reasons:
1. Your perspective can be skewed
When I was in the middle of writing HEAD CASE all I saw were brain books. I was hyper-aware of how other pop neuroscience books compared to mine.
But were my potential readers as minutely attuned to every single similarity and difference? I hope not, because that would mean they were clinically insane.
2. No one gets a clean shot
I challenge you to find subject matter that hasn’t been covered in a book, film, television show, YouTube video, blog post, tweet, etc. Not only is our culture a free-for-all, but the internet makes it a free-for-all seeped in redundancy.
You’re going to have to fight for attention no matter what, so you might as well make your peace with that.
3. Audiences are fragmented
You think that the world doesn’t need another book about the Civil War, but then someone writes a YA novel set in the aftermath of Gettysburg and suddenly teens everywhere have Civil War fever. (I’m making this up . . . I think.)
Your competition may have you beat when it comes to divorced Boomers living in California, but married Xers who blog about publishing and live in Minneapolis are there for the taking. (So take them!)
4. Quality trumps all
Just when you think a category is exhausted a writer will come along and make it all new again.
Personally, I’m sick to death of zombies (you’re probably a little late to the party, zombie Jane Austen) but then again . . . .
5. You may have no choice
I wouldn’t dare compete with Dan Savage in the explicit, sarcastic, tell-it-like-it-is sex advice category. Unless that’s what I really wanted to do with my life.
Your dreams are your dreams. You’re stuck with them. Act accordingly.
