I IS FOR INNOVATION

art by Jeanne Rhea

Shhh.... here's a secret well-known in the marketing world that is completely applicable in the writing world:

DIFFERENT is more important than BETTER.

Unusual narrators, graphic novels, novels in verse or text-ese, books that include an online component... This is only part of what I'm talking about.

Maybe your book is just a book, more of a tried and true romance/mystery/thriller/whatever. Well, guess what? You can still be different. You just have to think of it in these terms:

What can your book give the reader than no other book can?

Maybe it's an emotional experience, a trip to an unusual time or place, or the situation is different -- boy raised by antelope (instead of wolves or graveyard ghosts) or girl wants more than anything to BE a mermaid (instead of, say, a vampire).

You get the idea. Innovation. Write a book that's different, or at least sell it as such. Then, if you keep working really hard, the "better" will follow.