The sometimes confusing and frightening world of niche fiction

Thanks to Amazon’s delightful Kindle Unlimited service, I’ve been able to read a lot of novellas and short stories by indie writers.  There’s a vast array of fiction- coming of age stories, science fiction, reflective pieces, socially conscious tales, etc.

What I’ve also discovered is that there is a lot of niche fiction out there.  Fiction that would normally stay within fan fiction circles and personal journals are now bourgeoning subgenres that comprise serials and have loyal readers.

I wrote a while back about how the internet and the boom of the e-book have made it easier for people to get their work out there- for better or worse.  I’m sure before the e-book you’d have to search around in small, alternative book stores to get your niche fix. 

With the digital marketplace, you can now anonymously type in a few keywords and you’re 99% likely to find an author who shares your weirdness and wants to make money off of it.

Are you into dinosaur porn?  Covered.  Naughty retellings of classic fairy tales?  Covered.  Taboo teacher-student relationships?  Soooooo covered.  (Oh, is it covered.)  Black women being seduced by their billionaire white bosses?  As I found out today, also covered. 

Did I mention the dinosaur porn?

I’m not one to stomp or negate someone’s fetish or choice of fiction- I ship Sherlock & Dr. Watson so hard that if I had the confidence I’d write stories from here to eternity about it.  But there’s only so much time I can devote to trying to figure out the logistics of dinosaur/human sex. 

Just like any new endeavor, there has to be a pioneer in these niches.  How does one get into such niche fiction?  How does one find out that there are people out there just waiting to ship Sir Triceratops & Madame Lady McHuman?  Do you just write it and toss it out there and see what sticks?  Do you sniff around message boards or fringe sites to see what people are into?  Do you just know that this is what the people want?  If I were to write an erotic story about a society girl whose greatest fantasies occur in the form of weathered New England fishermen in full sea gear complete with sea smells, would I inadvertently stumble upon a group of readers who have been waiting for this connection their entire lives? 

Seriously, would you read that?  Because I’ll write it if you ask nicely.  I sold out a long time ago.

The teacher/student stories are the least weird of the bunch, although perhaps the most taboo as far as real-life is concerned.  The majority of them deal with the barely legal senior high school girl falling for and/or being seduced by the new, mid-twenties-ish, slim, well-dressed English teacher (one or two replace English teachers with math teachers).  These stories also seem to have the biggest readership.  I think it’s safe to say that, unless you went to a school taught completely by trolls, everyone has had a tiny crush on at least one teacher.  At most we mention it to our friends, or write about it in our journals, and forget about it as we continue on with our lives.  The better authors go beyond just the "ZOMG! I want to totally make out with my teacher!” and explore the emotional turmoil that each affected party goes through in the forbidden romance situation.  Digging into the psychology behind such relationships makes these some of the better written stories, despite one’s feelings towards the subject.

I don’t even need to read the dinosaur porn to know that anything else is most likely superior.

However, what a lot of the stories suffer from, as I sort of hinted to above, is that most seems like something straight from a personal diary.  They’re so hastily written and concluded that it’s almost as if the writer was writing more to satisfy a dream they had as opposed to drawing in potential readers (although I did read them anyway, so I’m not sure who wins here).

Regardless, as I mentioned before, I love that people are writing and putting their stuff out there and that there are eager readers giving them an audience.  E-books are breathing new life into authors and potential authors and I love it.  If this seems slightly contradictory to what I spent the last 700 words discussing, I apologize.  I started this post two days ago with zero direction and then started back up today while watching the Royals blow game one of the World Series and I may be four consolatory drinks in, so, sorry about that.

Keep doing your thing, weird niche fiction writers.  Someone out there loves you & your craft.