Monday 3 September 2012

Concept, concept, concept – A publisher’s dream, a writer’s minefield

by Jo Wyton 

Over the weekend, I wrote and posted a piece on my own blog about High Concept books from a reader’s perspective.

But I’m not just a reader, I’m also a writer, so of course I spent the rest of the weekend tormented, sleepless and getting through an enormous amount of cake as a result. 



Lunch on Saturday...


As a writer, one of the phrases you hear knocking around an awful lot is High Concept. High Concept books are easy to sell. They offer something unique before you’ve even opened the cover.




High Concept sounds like it should be something complicated and wonderful, but in reality, it really just means Sounds Awesome. That’s it. Something that, summed up in a few words, makes you want to read

Girl who can read characters out of books.
          Boy who goes to secret wizard school. 
                    Girl who can see death-dates in people’s eyes. 
                              Boy who wakes up in someone else’s body. 

Flip, Inkheart, Harry Potter and Numbers - 
all brilliant High Concept books!

These are concepts that all sound great, and in these cases, they all resulted in great books. High Concept sells well. It gets people talking. As a result, publishers are always keeping an eye out for the next great High Concept book. So how much pressure should writers feel under to make sure their book is High Concept?

When I first started writing, I didn’t care about High Concept, mostly because I wasn’t aware of it. Ah, those blissful days when I wrote anything and everything and didn’t realise how bad and how unsellable it all was. But eventually, you have to start learning how to do it properly. You talk to writers, join online forums, go to conferences and workshops.


And you start to think: is my idea strong enough? 

This is a great point to reach, and one I have learned to ignore immediately! There’s always a reason I'm writing the story I am, however ordinary it might sound on the surface. I know that there are certainly things I can (and will) do to make the story bigger, better, more interesting and important, but unless the story is born hand-in-hand with a High Concept idea, I’m not going there. If it isn’t born with it, then it doesn’t need it.

Why? Because it will stick out like an extremely sore thumb.

With all of the book concepts I listed at the top of this post, the concept gets left behind on page one, because it isn’t important anymore. The story, the characters, the setting and language – that’s what keeps a reader reading, not the concept.

A concept will sell a book, but a good story will keep you reading it, and a great story will have you going back for more.
Slushpile note: The counterpart to this post can be found at Let's Get Serious

31 comments :

  1. Thanks for the mention, Jo. Naive as I was, I'd never even heard of 'high concept' before my publisher explained it to me. (And yes, he was rubbing his hands and dancing a little gleeful jig at the time.) To be honest, I've had my fair share of reviews saying, 'Nice concept, shame about the book' but having a concept like seeing death dates makes it so damn easy to tell people what the book's about, and gives you a good head start when trying to sell rights, etc. I don't think my next book is high concept. At least I'm finding it much more difficult to tell people what it's about. But as you say, you can't force a concept into a book - you tell the story you've got inside you at the time. That's all you can do...

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    1. I loved your Numbers books and yes it had a fantastic concept but it also had a strong story which carried the concept. Don't know what books those reviewers are reading but hey each to their own. But I think it is vital as you both say, you can't force a concept into a book. The story has to be there first. Good luck with the new book Rachel

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    2. I think 'Numbers' is a perfect example of High Concept, because the characters and writing are so captivating that you forget that it isn't real. I LOVE those books, and can't wait to see what you come up with next!

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    3. Aw, thanks, Vanessa and Jo. I wish I could tell you what the next one's about, but I haven't got a sufficiently pithy pitch yet. I love Teri Terry's reference to 'Die Hard with Fairies' for Artemis Fowl (see comment below). That's priceless.

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  2. Great and very honest post Jo. I know too many who get hooked up on finding a 'High Concept' idea but forget totally that the story has to match.

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    1. Thanks! It can be a struggle to stick to your guns I think, especially when you're watching High Concept stuff sweep the bestseller lists.

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  3. My current WIP is high concept and it's *very* hard to write - I might even give up. At every turn I find I'm thinking 'is this up to the concept?' and usually the answer is 'no'. It's tricky. People don't behave in a high concept way - people act and speak as they do all the time and that's why we lose sight of the concept as soon as the book gets going. But while writing, it feels like a failure to stick to the idea. Aaargh.

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    1. I know exactly what you mean! I have also tried to write High Concept books, and I find I run out of steam very quickly, because it isn't the characters or the writing that is exciting me, it's the idea, and I find I just can't write books that way. I don't think sticking to the idea is a failure, though. I guess you just have to be careful that the idea doesn't rule the roost.

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  4. Excellent discussion, and 'aaargh' is exactly how I feel when this phrase is used by agents or editors. And good point, Jo, about there always being a reason why we are writing the particular story we are. I do wonder, where does this leave those of us who are probably competent writers who have good books inside of us, which may not be 'high concept' enough to ring the right bells?

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    1. Thanks, Donna! Thing is, books that aren't 'High Concept' are published all the time, so if it's well written and a good story, I hold out hope that it will ring *somebody's* bell!

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  5. Fascinating, Jo, and also the earlier piece. I think the point about High Concept is that it makes it so much easier to market - both for an agent to market to a publisher, then for a publisher's sales force to market to shops etc. But if it's Concept alone, without an emotional core to the story plus characters you care about, it's not going to be a satisfying read.

    As a reader, I do want to read something I haven't read before - not necessarily a far out concept, but certainly something fresh and original (another agent/publisher cliche but one that means something too).

    Maybe a better way to think about it, if we have to think in marketing terms at all (which certainly shouldn't dominate the writing process but can be helpful when planning and pitching), is of Unique Selling Points. So what makes the book stand out from the crowd - might be the concept or then again it might be the intensity of a love story, the viewpoint of the story-telling (the alien not the human) or the subject it looks at. I'm more comfortable with USP because what makes the book stand out can be as simple as wonderful writing that can be sign-posted, say, in the blurb on the back. So as writers we can think: THIS is what made me want to tell this story, and it's my particular interests and passions that makes it different.

    Slightly rambling, hope that makes some sense.

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    1. 'What Kate said': pretty much exactly what I was thinking.

      And I'll add.... as a reader, as soon as I heard 'Die Hard with fairies' I HAD to read Artemis Fowl. And no doubt if I'd written it (in my dreams...!) and someone had asked me what it was about, I'd have rambled on and on - it needed Die Hard with Fairies for me to want to read it.

      I personally think any novel that is GOOD (for whatever reason it is good) - there will be a way to say why, in a line or two, like that, that sums up its USP.

      For my part I'm getting better at summing things up (though I still ramble), but this is marketing-speak to me, no matter how brilliant and essential it eventually is, and not something I want or need to worry about much (if at all) when I'm writing.

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    2. I agree with you both, but I think there's a difference between a USP and a High Concept idea. You're right, Teri - all books can have a USP, because it can be anything from writing style to characters to plot to setting to anything else you can think of. But High Concept is different - a High Concept idea is capable of selling on the idea alone, because it's plot-driven, and not about the execution. At least that's what it seems to me, anyway!

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    3. ...though I would say what is 'high concept' is subjective.

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    4. Well that's certainly very true!! I think everyone has a slightly different definition. "Slated" could be the definition all by itself! Should have put that in the blog really, shouldn't I? I blame early morning blogging...

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  7. Having been through high concept and out the other side, I agree that it can be a case of the tail wagging the dog as the concept takes centre-stage to the expense of the story. But it can also be kind-of cool to write and to read.

    Alternatively, I'd argue that you can boil down any story to a pitch AFTER you've written it and come up with a concept that marketing can latch onto. I think most coherent stories can be summarised in a couple of sentences and if they can't, then perhaps what you've done is too complicated anyway? But I guess I'm the kind of writer who strives for simplicity and others' results may vary.

    Nick.

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    1. Yes, most of your ideas are High Concept, Nick! And I love them all!

      But that's different to the pitch I guess. For example, "girl with cancer falls in love with boy who also has cancer" is nothing in itself, and yet The Fault In Our Stars is a perfect book, and sold big worldwide. It could never have been sold on concept alone - the brilliance is in the writing.

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    2. I take your point there, that a high concept idea is able to exist entirely separately to the story that's written around it. I'd also argue that a high concept has to be (relatively) unique to grab attention. This is much like conceptual art - the first person to execute an idea wins, almost regardless of how well they execute it.

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    3. That's a really good way of thinking about it! Conceptual art - like it.

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  8. I think I'm yet to have one of these! LOL! Oh dear! Take care
    x

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  9. It took me ages to understand 'High Concept'. Probably because my ideas weren't! But now it's such a fundamental component in my ideas antenna I find that my new projects are naturally high concept. Haven't sold any of them yet though.

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    1. I have to say that I've found that high concept is great for pitching and getting agents to ask for a submission, but then you're down to whether they like the writing. So you only really jump one hurdle, although I guess it would make life easier if you finally get to the acquisitions stage.

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  10. I loved Numbers! To be honest, I think you should write your book, then think of the high concept - along with a great one line pitch. Anything that'll get it noticed really! Then, as Jo says, it's down to the writing.

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  11. I loved 'Flip' but bought it because I thought the character sounded really interesting. The concept didn't really filter through to me as something separate and astonishing, just a part of the brilliantly told story. This trumps everything.

    Thanks, Jo!

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    1. Plus, it has an awesome cover. Not that I'm superficial or anything. Nope. *pretty*

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  12. Doesn't high concept just mean the protagonist might die a dreadful death?
    Girl falls in love with a vampire - oh no she might die!
    Boy wizard faces 'he who shall not be named' - oh no he might die!
    Mouse fools Gruffalo - oh no, he might die!

    I attended a screenwriting course a few years ago and it was suggested that you think about the actor who would play your protagonist - if it was Will Smith or Bruce Willis then it was high concept. If it was David Jason, (who is brilliant) then it wasn't.

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  13. Interesting post Jo, I still have very little knowledge on what all the publishing booky jargon actually means or what it implies. But I think your right concept on not its the strength of the characters and the writing that keeps you reading.

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  14. I love that tip about Will Smith / David Jason, Maureen, :-). I'm writing a High Concept commission at the moment, aimed at 6-8s. It's a terrific idea and I'm sure the shops will swoop. All I can do is hope that my writing has enough about it to keep the ball rolling as the excitement of publication day fades. It must make commercial sense or the publishers wouldn't do it. Would they...? I like to hope that fast sell-in High Concept ideas are bankrolling the slow burners and keeping that flame of 'original but tough to sell' alive.

    PS My main character is definitely a Bruce Willis, despite being trapped in the body of an amusing animal much loved by 6-8s...

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  15. I have been musing over your post for days Jo! I agree with SO MUCH (actually everything) of what you have to say. I think the difficulty is that in an extremely crowded market a debut author with a lovely/heart-warming/bitter-sweet/thoughtful/whatever book stands little chance of being a) picked up by an agent b) book being picked up by a publisher c) published book receiving any marketing/reviews/attention whatsoever.
    See this post
    http://childrenspublishing.blogspot.com/2012/09/wow-wednesday-nikki-loftin-on-writing.html
    Of course I really, really hope I'm wrong about all of the above...

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    1. Yeah, it starts to hurt if you spend too long thinking about it...!

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