Supernatural Writer

One common complaint that paranormal writers say they have is that they struggle with coming up with new book concepts. Others mistakenly believe all the good titles are taken.

Here’s one way to brainstorm book project ideas by taking a trip to the bookstore. Your book store is a veritable treasure chamber of marketing information.

Strategy One: check out the paranormal section–or whatever section you want to approach. Get a look at the titles in the current section and see if there are any obvious holes. Do you see any obvious holes–a title that just seems like it should belong there? Also, make note of the publishers. (You’ll want to pitch them later.)

Strategy Two: Swing around to the front of the store. Are there books in your category on tables in front of the store. Book stores position their best sellers up front. It could be a sign that those titles have a sizable market. Do you see any titles like yours in these premium positions? Or, do the titles inspire other book concepts?

One more strategy. Try combining titles from other categories. For instance, do books on trains seem popular? How about a book on railroad ghost stories? Haunted bridges? The list is infinite.

How To Make Money Writing About The Supernatural is your eGuide to brainstorming, writing, publishing, and selling your supernatural best seller. You can read more about the guide here. To order, just go here.

Vampires continue to be hot in the publishing world.

Publishers Weekly reports that Heather Brewer has signed a five-book deal with Dutton Children’s Books for a new vampire series. No info on how big of a deal it is.

The new series is called the Slayer Journals. It’s a spinoff from her popular books, the Chronicles of Vladmir Tod series. The basic plot: a boy decides to become a vampire slayer after watching his sister get killed by vampires.

It’s not just fiction writers who can benefit from this trend.

Popularity in the fiction world often translates to increased interest in the non-fiction world.

If you’re still wondering what type of paranormal book you can write, look out your window.

Jason Offutt, a paranormal writer, is completing a couple of new books on the paranormal, according to this article from the Richmond Daily News.

One is a look at the strange things that happened in a 100-mile radius of his front porch.
(In the eGuide How To Make Money Writing About The Supernatural, I talk about writing what you know. This a great example.)
Jason previously wrote Haunted Missouri. He has another book planned called, Paranormal Missouri, which will cover paranormal topics more generally.

You can read his blog, too, at  Jason Offutt Blogspot (jasonoffutt.blogspot.com/).