Heartfelt versus Marketfelt

Okay. Marketfelt is not a word. But it should be. In my dictionary, it means what “the market,” i.e., editors, agents, acquisition teams, feel are stories that will sell. My stories are “heartfelt” but not “marketfelt.”  Recently, an agent critiqued one of my manuscripts and said, “it is the most heartfelt manuscripts of the bunch that I read today. I love it.” My heart leaped with joy until she followed it with, “it’s beautiful, it’s universal, it’s lovely, but it doesn’t necessarily have the standout quality that gets an agent. The competition is very high. We have to temper our expectations a little more this year.”

So, where does that leave me? I certainly don’t want to stop creating heartfelt stories, but how do I also make them “marketfelt”?  My answer is, “I don’t.” If I chased the newest theme/fad/ direction of the market, I would not be true to myself. Or able to time the fit of my story to the market. That is why writing is a mixture of creativity and luck, aka timing. I need to keep writing until my heartfelt stories mesh with the marketfelt ones. This may or may not ever happen. I can only hope and keep on writing.

Update (March 29, 2021): In response to another story, an agent wrote, “I find the premise deeply compelling. Your writing is wonderful at the line level, and you have a strong, engaging voice that immediately pulled me into the story. Unfortunately, this project is not the right fit for my list at this time, and for this reason, I need to step aside.” Not marketfelt despite being heartfelt. I keep going…

Update (March 29, 2021): In response to another story, an agent wrote, “I find the premise deeply compelling. Your writing is wonderful at the line level, and you have a strong, engaging voice that immediately pulled me into the story. Unfortunately, this project is not the right fit for my list at this time, and for this reason, I need to step aside.”

Not marketfelt despite being heartfelt. I keep going…