Several months ago I read a book that featured a vampire character as a love interest. He was impossibly fast, had great strength, protected the love of his life (a non-vampire) and didn’t drink human blood.  The format of the book was a prologue which was something in the middle of the book and then the story. This was published in 2009.
Sounds a lot like a series featuring sparkly vampires that’s been on best seller lists, doesn’t it? Twilight was released in 2005. The only true difference I could find in the vampire characters religion. The recent book’s vampire was committed to being a practicing Christian. Edward Cullen, on the other hand, wrestled with his religious beliefs. Since becoming a vampire he believed he no longer had a soul.
It was really difficult to review the recently published book. It made me think of one of the things I keep hearing: “know your market”.
That means if you write Young Adult Paranormal books you should know what’s already on the market. (And who is going to be most likely to buy your book.) Which books are similar to yours? You don’t have to read all of the recently published books in the same genre to do your research. Right?
There are some publishers with imprints for certain genres. Although time consuming, it shouldn’t be difficult to go to their sites and read the information about their recent and upcoming releases and take a few notes.
What other ideas do you have for researching your market?