Monday, June 20, 2011

What Sells.

So I found that I’m an expert (in nothing). So I’m going to share my knowledge (in something I know nothing about).


What Sells.

Girls with red hair (who has fins) she falls in love with a prince (who doesn’t have fins). Somewhere in there she combs her hair with a fork (silly mermaid).

A boy with natural disaster/storm scars (like lightning bolts) and manages to stay alive. Make sure to add weird names for everything and make it in a new world (an amusement park will be named after it – trust me, you want that).

A girl who has vampire babies and isn’t even old enough to know how to parent. Oh, she also dates the worst kind of bad guy (the vampire).

Kids fighting for their lives – literally. No matter how you put a spin these children are being chosen to die by leaders. Yeah, they’re going make a movie about it. I’m going watch it. Cause the books rocked. (side note: name them weird names that gets you brownie points).

I should note that every book I mentioned I loved. You just know haters are gonna hate and this is probably what they’d say (or not) like I said at the beginning, I am not an expert.

Write what you feel. Your voice will carry you through to fun times.

So can you guess the stories? Care to give your own a shout-out?

39 comments:

Sarah Tokeley said...

Ok so it's The Little Mermaid and Harry Potter. I'm pretty sure the 3rd one is Twilight and the last one is the awesome Hunger Games.

Mine would say something like: a boy's parents dies, then he has to find his best friend who runs away. Turns out the two things are connected. Hmm...think I'm going to have to work on my hook a bit :)

Susan Fields said...

I loved all those books/movies, too! I'm so excited for the Hunger Games movie I can't hardly wait!

S.A. Larsenッ said...

Yeah, Twilight is in there and Hunger Games. :)

How about a girl who's brought back from the dead only to return to the down-under after falling in love with Death.

Karen Baldwin said...

Love your sum-ups. I'm making my daughters read The Hunger Games so I'll have someone to go with when the movie comes out.

Stina said...

Oh, wow, I must be still asleep. I didn't get any of them (even though I've read all the books the others mentioned). I'll blame it on my cold. :D

I did get The Little Mermaid and Twilight, but man, how did I miss HP (though I thought you were still talking about TLM) and Hunger Games?????

*goes back to bed*

Bidisha said...

Ha! This is the easiest - Little Mermaid, Harry Potter, Twilight, The Hunger Games.
See?
This is called love.
:)

Anne Gallagher said...

I don't think you have to be an expert to know what you love. And obviously all these are so decidedly different, we don't even know what we love until we finish it. Like mocha almond ice cream. Who knew?

Creepy Query Girl said...

Yes, I could totally tell what books you were talking about- this is the reason I don't usually share my premise right away. Can you imagine how crazy some of those authors felt the first time they had to 'explain' their ideas? LOL But like you said, you can never know what will sell.

Renae said...

Love all of those right along with this post Jen!

Lindsay said...

Yep, I knew all the books you are talking about there. And i bet they all had rejections before someone loved their work :)

Jennifer Shirk said...

Maybe I'm not buying enough. I only got The Little Mermaid and Twilight. LOL
(I didn't read The Hunger Games) *gasp*

Nicole Zoltack said...

I'm reading The Hunger Games right now. :)

Beth said...

The Little Mermaid, I Am Number Four, Twilight, The Hunger Games
bethfred.com

Christina Lee said...

hahaha--yes I loved all of them too (and haters are bred from jealousy lots of the time)! xo

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

I've not read any (except the classic first one) but still know them from the descriptions. That says something, doesn't it?

Dianne K. Salerni said...

Lovely summaries of all those hits! I guess you never know what will sell, huh? Rowling and Meyers had lots of rejections from editors who thought those works would not sell before somebody took a chance on them.

As for The Hunger Games, I received an advance copy through Amazon Vine. I loved it, but most of the other advance readers posted scathing reviews of it.

Of course, Amazon Vine reviewers are mostly scathing and mean, which is why I quit that program ... :(

Talei said...

Definitely Twilight, but did you forgot the stuttering? ;P
HP, yup. And I'm only saying Little Mermaid because everyone else has.

I LOVED this post. x

Alex Mullarky said...

Hehe. Loved the summaries. It's true, they sell and sell well.

Bethany Elizabeth said...

:) Cute post. Maybe I should change my heroine's hair color to red... hmm

Jai Joshi said...

I thought you were talking about Hunger Games with that last one but wasn't sure until I read the other comments left here. I guessed the others except Twilight because I didn't know she had vampire babies, haven't read the books. So I thought it must be some other vampire series.

Jai

Tracey Neithercott said...

Note to self: Add fork-as-hairbrush scene in WIP.

I'm the kind of excited about the Hunger Games movie that many psychologists would classify as obsessive or fanatical. That's okay, right?

kah said...

*giggles*

You already know I love the first one. Well, okay I loved all of them. :)

Myne said...

I haven't read the Hunger Games, might wait for the movie. Loved Mermaid and Harry, the third not so much.

Talli Roland said...

Books are so subjective! You have to go with what makes you happy!

Aubree said...

hmm i know all of em. i haven't read the hunger games though but i know what it's about, i think i will give that one a try. my brother actually has the series i think. not sure if that's weird or not.

Golden Eagle said...

Wow. It sounds like my WIP is due for some changes . . .

Jennifer Hillier said...

I recognize Harry Potter, Breaking Dawn, and the Hunger Games! This is a very, very interesting way to spin it, Jen. Every one of these authors stayed true to writing what was in their hearts, even if it seemed crazy at the time. Because you're right, haters are gonna hate.

Johanna Garth said...

Dying to see Hunger Games but I have to read the book first. It's my rule for the kids so I thought I should probably follow it too!

Shannon O'Donnell said...

ALL good choices! You seem like an expert to me. :-)

Melanie said...

love this post! you know how they have those 30 sec bunny films? you should do the 30 word book summary :-)

Nicki Elson said...

Hehe, they all sound kinda silly when you put it that way. Must read Hunger Games - no time this summer so I'm trying to get my son to...and he won't! First mistake: Letting 13 year old boy know mommy wanted him to do it.

Janet Johnson said...

You are hilarious! I loved this. So interesting when you really boil it down. It's all in how you spin it. :)

Stephanie said...

The Little Mermaid used to be my favorite Disney movie!!!!! Still is, but now it's tied with Cars. :)

Meredith said...

Haha, love it! I want them to make a theme park out of my books--I'll aim for that. :)

Suze said...

'Your voice will carry you through ...'

That's it, right there.

Lisa Gail Green said...

He he! I love those. I got every single one, and they made me smile. :D <-- see? You're right. When you put it like that, they weren't following trends, they set them by following their muse.

Lacey Devlin said...

LOL! I love every one of those books too.

Colene Murphy said...

Lol! Can I moosh all those ideas together? One ultra-mega-movie-theme park- monster novel? Will that sell? Great choices! And funny as always!

Erin Kane Spock said...

How about young non-Luke Skywalker finds a dragon egg and is trained by non-Obiwon. Then non-Obi won dies, and young Luke uses the non-force to save the day before going to non-Yoda for training. Oh, and he finds out the super villain is his father. And that he has an equally powerful non-sister.
Can you guess the ya fantasy?