Serious questions on writing a book?

Question

I'm thinking of writing a book. I've always been good at Erotica and Mystery short stories, having only my friends read them though. However, I'm thinking about branching out and here's where my question comes. Does anyone know how to find out the highest selling genre of books? If I'm going to go out on a limb and actually try to publish something, I think I should start with the most popular genre's. I believe mystery ranks highly but don't know for sure. If anyone knows of a site where I can find that out, OR if you know the actual answer either would be great.

*** Serious answers only here please, Greatly Appreciated***

Answer 1

You wanted to know sites and actual answers, so I came up with this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genre_fiction
"Romance is currently the largest and best-selling fiction genre in North America."

https://www.rwanational.org/eweb/dynamicpage.aspx?webcode=StatisticsIndustry
"Romance fiction comprises a 26.4% share of the consumer market revenue. Romance is the highest market category."

http://www.bookbuffet.com/index.cfm/fuseaction/news.article/article_ID/2B203B1D-97E1-440B-9B7E7F779EA2C325/index.html
"Romance novels don’t get much respect, but without them, the publishing world would fall to pieces.  It’s a funny fact that the sales of mass market fiction, especially romance novels, allow most publishers to stay in business and help finance less profitable, but more visible, literary fiction."

A further breakdown of sales by genre only appears to be available in trade publications that are only available for purchase, such as this one:
http://www.bisg.org/publications/trends2006.html

P.S. This site might interest you:
http://www.bookstatistics.com/sites/para/resources/statistics.cfm

Answer 2

Check out the bestsellers lists.
Mystery and Thrillers seem to be the best sellers, or that's my impression. I'd definitely stay away from erotica as it has this stigma attached to it. (Do you really want to sell to an audience who's only interest is to flip to the horny scenes while skipping over the plot?)
Hey, have you considered combining the two things you say your good at? How about a mystery with a few hot scenes in it? If it's good literature, it could be a bestseller.

Answer 3

I would try self publishing since most of the big conglomerates like Dell, Random House, Simon and Schuster, Hearst Publishing, and others are constantly getting submissions and if you're not a proficient or even an experienced writer you may not even get considered. I would look into self publishing because there's no agent taking out commission fees since many of the top writers like Danielle Steel and James Patterson their literary agents are making ugly bank from the sales of their books since they take a percentage of the writer's earnings from every copy sold.

Go on Google and hit up Self Publishing and you will come to a few sites one called Author House and others who will assist you in self publishing your work, but make sure that you work out a draft and then a final copy since it could take a while since you want to write stuff people are going to want to buy and read.

Answer 4

I would try mystery or fantasy. They tend to be the highest sellers out there. I'm writing a fantasy novel now, and if you want good advice, then go to NewNovelist.com and subscribe to the free email service. They'll send you info on characters, plot, and publishing.

Answer 5

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