Would you pick The Perfect Market or Incredible Writing Talent?

A Genie appears and tells you that you can choose one of the two

1. The Perfect Market. No one else has written a book for it. Readers in that market are dying for someone to write a book. Market Success is guaranteed. The first person to write a book will be incredibly successful. You will be the first and only person (at least for the first 5 years) writing for that market
2. Incredible Writing Talent. You will be able to write as well as, or better than, every other author on the planet. Anyone who reads your book will be delighted and compelled to review it, pass it on to someone else, to buy a hardcover for their desk bookshelf – simply because the writing is so exceptional

Which one would you choose?

The Romantic Choice – Incredible Writing Talent

Each of us authors strives for that ultimate unattainable goal – to be a superlative author who writes sublime books

So, naturally, the first wish that enters our hearts and minds is – Incredible Writing Talent. How great it would be to be recognized as one of the most talented writer in the world. That anyone who reads our books would be completely awestruck at the beauty of the writing

The Pragmatic Choice – The Perfect Market

Of course, the pragmatic choice would be to choose – guaranteed success and an assured market and 5 years of having the market to yourself

Surely, there is something to be said for success and financial freedom and getting your book into a lot of hands

Seeing Reality As It Is – There is only one Right Choice

If you take a bit of time, you will realize there is only one right choice

1. Finding Product Market Fit i.e. The Perfect Market ALWAYS trumps skill level

Here are a few reasons why The Perfect Market is a better choice than gaining Incredible Writing Talent

1. There is no way to ‘guarantee’ you will find a great market and be able to be first to it, and profit greatly from it. On the other hand, you can devote time and effort and ensure you become a superlative author
2. Financial security frees up your time for both improving your writing skills and continuing to find new great markets to write in. However, great writing talent does not free your time. If you don’t find the right market you will still struggle financially and might have to do a day job. You would perhaps not even have enough time to write books consistently
3. There are very few authors who have found a great market. There are a very high number of authors with very good to very great writing talent
4. Authors who have found success, are, rightly or wrongly, valued a lot more than authors who write well and yet are unsuccessful
5. Money attracts money. Talent does not attract money. What does that mean? It means you can just park part of your money in the bank and get some small interest every year. You can also invest well and make a decent amount of money regularly. Talent by itself cannot create money – you always need a market in which you can utilize your talent
6. The Perfect Market is an extremely rare thing. When you look at cases of authors who found a great market, such as J. K. Rowling, Jo Nesbo, Stieg Larsson, E. L. James, you can see their success exploded. Books, Movies, Merchandise. In fact, product market fit is so rare that most talented people even after working very hard never find it