As both a writer and avid reader, I have paid close attention to the marketing of books. This was a class in my college courses, especially highlighted for those indicating they want to go the self-publishing route.
It’s also something that is present every day in my life. No matter what app I use, I come across some form of marketing. Admittedly, it gets annoying, which is why a part of me cringes at the thought of having to market my book at the rate that is suggested by the experts.
I don’t even like having books marketed to me, an enthusiastic reader, at the rate that so many do it. To be very honest, when I follow authors and their content becomes a constant stream of advertisements for their book, I scroll by without pausing. Sometimes I check back in, and sometimes the marketing is so constant I end up unfollowing.
I know this isn’t just a me thing. I think we’re all exhausted of the continual barrage of marketing campaigns and Ads and just consumerism in general. Which is why when a book is marketed with tropes that gives the plot away, it really grinds my gears.
What Are Tropes?
Tropes are not just for literature. Tropes are throughout all storytelling, including movies, TV shows, and short form pieces. Both writers and readers have become familiar with the language of tropes and use it frequently.
Robert Lee Brewer of Writer’s Digest gives a simple definition:
While some resources say tropes can be basically any form of figurative language, including metaphors and oxymorons, I think most people use the term to refer to common plot devices within various genres of writing. For instance, a popular trope in romance fiction is bringing together two people who despise each other and making them fall in love. - Writer’s Digest
The trope he used as an example is often called “enemies to lovers”. Variations of this trope can look like “enemies to brothers” or “enemies to besties” and so on. It’s a common trope that’s also a plot device in many genres.
The Innumerable Variations
One of my favorite pop culture websites is TV Tropes, a great resource for anyone wanting to explore plot, tropes, and pop culture. While it says “TV”, the tropes can just as easily be used in fiction.
Tropes can also be intertwined with other tropes. “Enemies to lovers” and “grumpyxsunshine”. “Found Family” and “band of misfits”, etc. Just those two examples probably brought a number of TV shows, books, and movies to mind.
Where Tropes Become a Problem
There is, of course, the problem of writing towards a trope, where the plot and the characterization suffer in service to a single aspect of a novel. Many readers, especially readers who review in a public space, note the obviousness of novels written toward a trope and often discuss it in negative terms. Stories suffer when their purpose is a gimmick.
But in terms of marketing, the issue is more subtle. First, we are dealing with two (or three) different groups using the same language to define something.
Group A: Readers
Group B: Writers
Group C: Marketers
The use of tropes for readers is often for categorization in order to recommend a specific type of book, even within a certain genre. Romance readers who enjoy “enemies to lovers” will often look for this term.
Sci-fi enthusiasts who also enjoy “found family” may look for this term in association with “space” or “alien found family”. Mystery fans may look for specific terms like “amateur sleuth” or if they prefer a mystery with a heist or that has a spy thriller vibes may look for terms with “heist” specified, such as the example below.
There are incredibly specific tropes, created to describe specific events or situations in a story that have become common or popular. There are also tropes that can describe themes, give an idea of the overall plot, and give a brief label to describe characters.
Readers use these terms to find books they want to read or to discuss the book in forums and in comments sections of every social media app in existence. It’s a language of terms that summarizes large ideas for ease of communication.
I first came across tropes used in fanfiction. Not only were tropes used to indicate what kind of story was being told, they were used as a form of categorization with hashtags, a way to find even more stories with this same trope.
To me, this is the original use. Specifically for readers of fanfiction and trad/self published works.
When I began to see writers and marketers using these terms in their marketing, I didn’t at first see a problem with it. Until I realized, that in many cases, the tropes started to become SEO buzzwords, that in some cases, also gave away the plot or characters arcs before the first page was even read.
A Brief Note on The Different Perspectives
I have nothing against marketers, but most marketers are not writers in the sense they are not the author of the book they are writing. They are coming from a marketing standpoint, which emphasizes sales, SEO, branding, social media content, and a business perspective.
There’s nothing wrong with this, unless you start to see books marketed as one type of book that’s popular, when they are nothing of the kind. This isn’t a problem, until you see authors turning away readers because their speaking to readers in the language of a marketer, and not a fellow reader or writer. The reader feels like the author is a salesperson, whose only desire is to get them to buy the book. Whether the book fits their needs or wants, whether the book is of good quality, whether the book tells a dynamic story, is almost secondary.
Also, in some respects, the marketing advice is geared toward marketing something to the largest audience possible. When, in reality, a writer should want to market their writing to their audience - the readers who would want to read their work. Which is often, not all readers.
I’m Just Using Buzz Words
It’s like a science-fiction author trying to market their book to readers who enjoy mostly historical fiction and romance. An author may say, “Well, in this book there’s enemies to lovers romance and the plot is largely driven by historical themes,” etc. and it turns out the romance is secondary to the plot and the historical themes are more subtle than not, to which the reader will probably reply, “So? It’s sci-fi. Sounds interesting, but not my cup of tea.”
If this hypothetical author instead focused on their audience, which as a science-fiction author would be those who enjoy sci-fi, then they could say, “It’s an epic science-fiction with romantic undertones and references to historical events that still have an impact on this futuristic society. Space battles, intergalactic intrigue, and a brush with an alien species propel these characters into a battle for their lives.” And a sci-fi fan would eat that up.
So, in one respect, the language of tropes has been used to market to any and all audiences, when in reality those often looking for those tropes are looking for specific genre or even for that trope to be the main plot of the story.
Then, there is the spoiler aspect.
You Just Spoiled Your Whole Book
I’m a romance author (I’m not, I’m cosplaying here). I have written a romantic thriller. There’s spies, action, intrigue, and adventure. The main characters are not on the same side in the beginning of the story. The romance is intense. There’s a love triangle.
So, I the romance author, plan my marketing strategy and use tropes to draw readers.
#lovetriangle #romanticthriller #onebed #enemiestolovers #grumpyxsunshine #femaleBond
(I’m making some of these up, but you get the idea)
But here’s the problem.
I’m the reader. I see this marketing campaign and glance at the tropes. And sigh.
Why?
Here’s the summary of this pretend romantic thriller:
Emily Kane thrives in her career as an agent of the CIA. She is favored by her superiors due to her record of successful missions, her team is one of the best, and her current house is a luxurious sanctuary designed entirely to please her, and no one else. The only thing that could make her life better would be if the hot computer tech on her team that she is in love with and not allowed to even look at, Ryan Stillson, would agree to a clandestine date.
Then enters Dane Rook. His allegiances are murky. His methods are insane. And his purpose for invading Emily Kane’s life diabolical. In almost no time at all, Emily finds herself on the run, with Dane and Ryan as her only allies, against a group of shadowy figures whose sole purpose - oddly enough - seem to be to destroy her life. Racing against the clock, Dane, Ryan, and Emily find themselves seeking help from unlikely sources, dodging both the CIA and their enemies, and forging a bond that might make them a team that could be a real threat to the enemies around them - if they survive.
Ignoring that this summary has just been spit out of my brain, and that I am not a romance or thriller author, let’s look at the clues in the summary. We have a previous romantic entanglement with Emily and Ryan, who are on the same side from the beginning. Dane is a maverick, clearly not on Emily’s side, and she is not in love with him when the story starts.
The three of them end up being a team, but what kind? Are they all friends? Or is Dane still an outlier? Will there be a betrayal? Who will Emily end up with? There’s intrigue for Dane, but Ryan’s not a slouch when it comes to the romance department - perhaps. Who are Emily’s enemies? Why does the CIA start to come after her?
All of these are questions that would pique (potentially, I’m not saying it’s good) a reader’s interest.
Then you get to the tropes: #lovetriangle #romanticthriller #onebed #enemiestolovers #grumpyxsunshine #femaleBond
#lovetriangle - makes sense. There’s going to be some decisions Emily makes. Doesn’t tell us who and how. Builds intrigue.
#romanticthriller - Obviously a good choice. Really nailing down the audience: readers who like thrillers and romance.
#onebed - I feel like the one bed scenario is better as a surprise, but that’s a personal opinion. Also, if it was me really writing this novel, I would make the one bed trope, but with all three of them on the run, and make it funny, not sexy. Which could still make it surprising to your reader, who may be expecting a different kind of scenario.
#enemiestolovers - here’s the real kicker. You just gave away the ending. Because it’s obvious that Ryan isn’t her enemy, and unless there’s a surprise third guy that comes out of the blue, everyone is going to know she ends up with Dane.
#grumpyxsunshine - Unless Ryan and Dane have similar personalities, it’s going to be obvious who Emily ends up with again, because early in the novel, the reader is going to know whether Emily is the #grumpy or the #sunshine, and then it just depends on which guy is which.
#femaleBond - Again, really nailing down your audience, but this is where not knowing the genre comes in. A female Bond isn’t bad, but James Bond is notorious for being a womanizer. Unless you want to imply that Emily has a string of lovers, too, I mean, sure, but if that’s not her character, then readers may react to the misrepresentation. Or they may understand you meant #femaleBond as a spy, but that’s what I mean about using the language of tropes in a way that makes sense.
As a reader, I know enough about this story from the tropes, that I would feel like the ending was given away, and then, honestly, I wouldn’t feel like reading it.
But, if it wasn’t spoiled in the marketing, I would be intrigued about why Emily was on the run with Ryan and Dane, and how that dynamic worked. I would want to know how Emily’s relationship with Ryan goes, and what Dane has to do with that.
If Emily ends up with Ryan, that would be a surprise. If she ends up with Dane, and at the beginning of their story they are real enemies, that would also be a surprise and hopefully the story to their romance would be intriguing and dynamic.
What’s interesting about this summary without the tropes, too, is that readers may assume a lot of things about the novel because it is a romantic thriller and they would know it was a love triangle. And I, as the pretend romance author, could subvert all of those assumptions, or I could lean into some of them, with a twist, or really anything. The reader doesn’t know for sure, and that intrigue may get them to pick up the book.
But with the tropes, the ending is spoiled, and even a hard-core enemies to lovers enthusiast may not feel like picking up a book where they already kind of know the ending.
Not All Tropes In Marketing Are Spoilers
Some tropes are useful in marketing. Perhaps they’re referencing the premise of your novel, which is clearly stated in the summary. Or, they’re referencing the genre your novel is placed in.
Here are some illuminating questions to ask yourself:
Does this trope give away a part of the plot? Will it be a spoiler to someone who hasn’t read the book? Will it spoil the entire story, or just a part of it? Is it important that the reader is surprised by this part of the story?
Does this trope tell future readers important information about character arcs, the plot, or the ending?
There Could Be A Dozen More Examples
There are so many ways that tropes used in marketing could spoil a book for it’s readers. I could go on with a dozen more examples, but I don’t feel like I need to. Enemies to lovers, to me, is the most obvious example of this, and I am aware that some readers are totally okay with this level of marketing.
But I wanted to highlight the potential for completely spoiling a novel in an attempt to attract the same audience that would have enjoyed the novel otherwise, except it was spoiled.
This touches something else that has been bothering me for quite some time.
Telling Your Audience That You Think They’re Dumb
I believe there’s been a trend in recent years to hold audiences hands through a story. And I think it needs to stop.
It seems to be part snobbery, part very misguided marketing tactic, and part misguided attempt to educate and increase reading comprehension and media literacy, and I am not here for it.
At a certain point, if you have to explain every damn thing about your novel to the point where you’re feeding the audience the story through the explanations instead of them reading it, then they are not your audience.
I’m not saying to be rude or ignore someone who may genuinely not be understanding something. But I am saying that assuming a misunderstanding is not only insulting to the audience, but also progressively detrimental to the writing process, the marketing of novels, and to story as a whole.
I think it’s completely okay for an author to trust their audience. For an author to say, “I’m writing what they’re looking for, I think they’re gonna understand it.”
And yes, there is something to be said about media literacy (so many things have been said) and reading comprehension, and frankly, again, the people who lack those are not your audience.
To specifically get back to tropes, there is an unspoken assumption that if a book is not marketed with these certain tropes, with these labels that clearly give away large parts of the novel, that readers won’t be able to find it or want to read it. And I think that is the same crap that is leading not just authors, but also filmmakers, musicians, and televisions writers and producers to write toward an audience that they are assuming is not going to understand. And as a result, their stories and their music is less than it could have been. It’s watered down, dumbed down, and manufactured for mass consumption, and even the audience that is consuming this content is getting tired of the dull taste.
I say: trust your audience. And also realize, that hey, if you can’t trust your audience, then at least trust yourself. Maybe now writing the book you want to read is less about the plot, or the genre, or the characters, and more about giving the story and your writing the effort and intelligence and passion it deserves, no matter the reaction.
What do you think about tropes being used in marketing? Have you been spoiled by a marketing tactic before? If so, did you end up still reading the book? What do think about the concept of trusting an audience?
Let me know in the comments!