Author as Strategist: How Not to Write to Market
Streamed Apr 6th, 2026
Save up to 80% with a Membership.
12-month access $399
Enjoy 12 months of exclusive access to events with bestselling authors and top publishing professionals from the Reedsy Marketplace.
📚 Overview
Many aspiring writers are told to study the market and give publishers what’s selling. That sounds smart, but it often leads writers in the wrong direction. By the time your book is written, revised, and on shelves, the trend you chased may already be dead — or too crowded to break through. The writers who succeed don't follow the market. They understand it, then position their work to stand apart.
In this masterclass, Noah Charney will show you how to think like a publisher without imitating what’s already on the shelves. You’ll learn what editors mean when they want something “fresh but familiar,” the reality of publishing timelines, and how to use market trends to your advantage without following them blindly.
Schedule
3pm - 4pm EDT
How Not to Write to Market with Noah Charney
In this Monday Masterclass, you’ll learn:
- Why chasing current trends is usually a losing strategy
- Ways to write adjacent to market, and why this appeals to editors
- How to position your work so it feels relevant, not derivative
- Advice for thinking strategically about comp titles
The presentation will be followed by a live Q&A where you can ask Noah questions about understanding what publishers are looking for and how trends actually work within publishing timelines.
Speakers
Noah Charney
Reedsy Professor of Writing
Dr Noah Charney is the best-selling author of more than 30 of his own books, including a Pulitzer finalist. His latest book is The 12-Hour Author: Everything You Need to Know to Get Published and Become a Successful Writer (Bloomsbury). A professor of art history, he teaches online for the Smithsonian, the National Gallery (UK), and Yale. Noah has ghostwritten and edited books for Reedsy clients, and is Professor of Writing at Reedsy Learning.
