One central aim of this blog is helping writers learn to find readres. You can become one of mine by backing my dark fantasy novel Lord of Fate, now funding on Kickstarter.
Ryukishi07, the creator of hit light novels such as Higurashi and Umineko, has given interviews in which he’s highlighted three categories of writers. Defined along the Profession-Expression axis, these writer categories are the “Business Type,” the “Passion Type,” and the rare “Perfect Type.”
Each type represents a different approach to storytelling, with its own distinct challenges.
Let’s take a look at “Business Type,” “Passion Type,” and “Perfect Type” writers and provide some criteria whereby you can discern which type fits your approach to writing best.
The Business Type
Business Type writers focus on audience expectations and market trends. They craft stories to attract the maximum number of readers with an eye to making sales, often working within specific genres or with themes that are popular at the time. Business Type writers must perform a balancing act of sorts, compromising unbridled creativity to optimize commercial appeal. At the same time, they must strive to keep from losing their authorial voice in the perpetual struggle to meet market demand.
Business Type writers must contend with the following challenges:
- Staying authentic while catering to the market
- Risking burnout due to constant pressure to please the audience.
Related: Writing – The Amateur vs the Professional Path
If you thrive while working within structures, under deadlines, and toward specific readership needs, you may lean toward the Business Type. Embrace your business-minded approach, but leave room for occasional creative risks to keep your passion alive.
The Passion Type
Passion Type authors write from the heart, focusing solely on what they want to express without regard for market success. Passion Types prioritize their creative vision, often exploring unconventional or deeply personal topics. They may savor the thrill of writing without limits but must accept the possibility of not reaching a broad audience.
Passion Type writers face these particular challenges:
- Limited readership due to niche or experimental content
- Potential discouragement from a lack of external validation.
If you write for the love of writing, following your muse of trends, you’re likely a Passion Type. Stay true to your vision, but be prepared to make peace with the possibility that your work may not find a large audience. Consistency, integrity, and resilience will be your best friends.
The first two writer types nicely embody what author David Stewart calls “Expression vs Profession.” But as he has pointed out, it’s a continuum, not a binary.
Ryukishi07 agrees, going on to describe a third writer type that combines aspects Business Type professionalism with the Passion Type’s penchant for expression …
The Perfect Type
Perfect Type writers strike a balance between business savvy and passion. They create works that resonate with their audience while maintaining the integrity and creativity of their personal vision.
This type is rare and difficult to achieve, since it requires blending the structured, market-focused approach of the Business Type with the unfiltered creativity of the Passion Type. But it can be done.
The Perfect Type writer must grapple with these challenges:
- Balancing personal creativity with market demands
- Navigating the pressures of commercial success and artistic integrity.
If you aim realize your creative vision while excelling in business, strive to master the skills required in both areas. Know your audience, but don’t compromise your creative impulse.
Remember: A Perfect Type isn’t born overnight—it’s made through a process of refining your craft through study, experience, and most of all, persistence.
To figure out which type of writer you are, ask yourself:
- Do I write primarily for others or for myself?
- Am I more satisfied when I complete a well-structured, marketable story, or when I weave a deeply personal tale?
- How do I handle feedback, especially if it pushes me toward more commercial appeal?
Related: Hecklers vs Critics
Once you identify your type, embrace its strengths while being mindful of the challenges involved.
Each approach has its own definition of, and thus path to, success. So the key is remaining aware of what drives you. Know your motivation and keep it front and center. That’s how you’ll grow in your writing career, whichever path you take.
Because no matter your author type, writing is a continual learning process. Whether you’re driven by passion, market demand, or a blend of both, every story you create represents incremental improvement.
Never forget: Persistence, like the Perfect Type, is invincible. So keep writing!
I live for my readers. That’s true in more than one sense, because without a big publisher acting as middleman, it’s my audience who decides if I can keep the lights on. You can join my cherished readership by backing my new fantasy novel Arkwright Cycle Book II: Lord of Fate, now funding on Kickstarter.
KS backers have alreaady met our first four goals. And we’re marching toward our next Stretch Goal: brand-new interior map art charting the Fourfold City of Dailij!
And remember, once we unlock the new map, the audiobook of Arkwright Cycle Book I: The Burned Book, is next!
So help us reach our $6.5K milestone. Back Lord of Fate now!
Unrelated to the topic at hand, but Higurashi is my favorite anime to point to when people say “Anime is for kids.”
It’s a good series but its repetitiveness and deep complexity make it difficult to follow. I gave up on it after a long while of consuming it, but I still consider it one of my favorites.
A bit OT, but somewhat related to the recent posts on the business aspects of writing.
What seems like a wise move to me, is to focus your writing around underserved communities adjacent to your interests. For instance, if you like fantasy but you’re also really into trains and actively involved in the community, then when you write a fantasy train novel, you can immediately market it to your fellow enthusiasts with whom you have a pre-existing connection. You’re not starting from scratch, and you’re giving them literature parallel to their hobby. Very different situation from an effort to write a more generic fantasy novel, where you have to compete with all the Tolkien wannabes instead of just people who want to read about fantastical railways. This kind of niche, targeted writing seems like a savvy business move, and most of us have more than one eclectic interest that could probably be incorporated into our writing in this way.
This is very much the approach I’m taking with my fiction writing. Not sure if it’ll ever pay off, but I’m confident at least that there will be some kind of audience for it.
That could work. Because however you do it, the first step is to define your audience. Then it’s a matter of finding out where they are, going there, and getting your work in front of them.