Deciding on Genre

A common question on submission guidelines or in pitches is: 'Whose work is similar to yours?' or 'Whose work would yours sit next to on a book shelf?'. As a fantasy writer, it is tempting to respond with some mega-selling author such as Stephenie Meyer but in truth, my work is not like hers ... or like anyone else's I've read for that matter.

So the challenge becomes to show why your work, that is, your product, is going to be commercially viable, when it is in fact new. Publishers will often say they want fresh new ideas, but the reality of any business is that new things, are by definition, untried.