Tropes are shallow.
“There’s only one bed!”
Great! I love that! But that doesn’t tell me what your story is about. It tells me about a scene and that there’s some sexual tension.
“Morally gray love interests” are a dime a dozen. Let me guess, he also has dark hair and broods a lot?
I. Love. A. Broody. Grumpy. Man. I do!
But tell me what makes him morally gray. Tell me about what makes him appealing despite that moral grayness.
Readers don’t only want to hear about tropes.
Read MorePicture this: You’re in your favorite bookstore. You’re sipping coffee and looking for a new fantasy book to add to your collection.
Are you going to:
A) spend $18 on a hardcover version of A Court of Thorns and Roses (a book you’ve heard of with over 100,000 reviews), or
B) spend more than that on a really long paperback from an author you’ve never heard of whose book has less than 100 reviews?
Most people are going to say A, right?
That hypothetical is the reality that self-publishing authors face—and I think it’s especially an issue for fantasy authors and debut authors.
