I have an agent; his name is Dan. Dan doesn’t represent romance, but every now and again I receive an email from authors asking how I like him (well done, with lava
fava beans and a nice chianti!). I’ve received more of these sorts of queries lately (which I absolutely don’t mind) and I noticed a strange trend among those asking.
Seems several authors are looking quietly for new representation because they want to branch into other genres, and their agents say no. This makes absolutely no sense to me.
In the contracting publishing market and the Is-the-recession-over economy, shouldn’t an author be, to use business terms, as diversified as possible? Shouldn’t an author’s business be a conglomerate of strong writing in potentially more than one genre? Why should an author limit herself to one subgenre of romance when she has an idea for a historical or has a proposal for a suspense series, and her prior work is not in those fields?
I’m completely baffled by the number of authors who have emailed me to say they were ready to rock the socks of more than one romance subgenera and were stymied by their agents unwillingness or disinterest in shopping them to publishing houses.
So in an environment where folks like the Waxman agency are going to start digital publishing projects for fiction from their authors, how does it make sense that at the same time other agents (note: none of the authors who wrote to me were represented by Waxman to my knowledge) are discouraging authors from expanding with a new genre or project?
Now, I don’t know as much about the publishing industry between agents and editors (oh, mercy, pass the chianti) so I thought I’d ask y’all what you thought. Would diversification be a strength?
Readers, do you dislike when an author writes in a new genre, under their own name or a new pseudonym? Will you follow an author to a new genre you might not have tried before?
Authors, do you want to add another subgenre to your business? Have you met resistance for that one? And agents, what reasons might someone have to encourage an author not to branch outside their published genre?
Now, I generally don’t encourage anonymous comments, but if you want to comment anonymously you can do so by entering a nonsense@blitheringyaddayadda.net email address. I’m honestly befuddled and would love to learn more.
Maybe it was just a word choice thing? Calling the author “devious” and saying the readers feel “played” implies that the author is gaining something by duping the readers. But there’s nothing to gain (at least nothing that comes at the reader’s expense).
Often writers take new pen names so as NOT to confuse their readers (for example, a friend of mine writes Inspies and Blazes, but she keeps those two identities far, far apart). Others simply use it as a marketing tool so readers can keep track of which “type” off book this is going to be, others do it because their publisher says they have to. *shrug* If it’s not a walled off thing (like my example), they usually link their various names on their websites.
Because they were bought by different houses and/or lines.
I totally think Carriger’s books are paranormal romances and she told me she wrote them with cross-genre appeal in mind, but her intended market was the SciFi/Fantasy market (and the editors her books would have been submitted to would have reflected that).
A friend of mine is a senior editor at LOCUS (the SciFi/Fantasy version of Romantic Times) and she says romance editors are consistently unable (or unwilling) to understand that the typical SciFi/Fantasy reader isn’t looking for books in the romance section, nor can they articulate to her any plan that would encourage them to do so. So it’s better for Carriger to be in the SciFi/Fantasy section, where SciFi/Fantasy readers will find her, and where romance readers will ALSO go looking for her (basically, romance readers tend to take from a wider cross section of genres than most other genre fiction fans).
I loved Karen Marie Moning’s paranormal romances. I read the first fae story. While I understand she decided to branch out. What I didn’t appreciate is the bookstores AND publishers identifying the books as romance.
I usually don’t like it when one of my favorite authors switches genres. For example, Lois McMaster Bujold switched from her science fiction Vorkosigan series to fantasy novels. The fantasy novels were good, but in my opinion they were not in the same league as the Vorkosigan books.
But maybe she simply didn’t have another Vorkosigan book in her. I wanted more Vorkosigan books, but if the author was tired of the series and out of ideas, any additional books she wrote in that series would have disappointed me.
Better an author should jump genres, I think, than write inferior books in a genre she has tapped out.
I can see how a publisher, however, might prefer a weak Vorkosigan novel to an unknown novel in a different genre, because even if the Vorkosigan book is disappointing, it will still sell. In this sense what the author wants (to reinvigorate her writing with something fresh so her books don’t get stale) may differ from what the publisher wants (a book guaranteed to sell).
I actually watched this problem play out with a friend who had written many, many HQ’s. Her agent was incredibly discouraging when she tried to move into Chick Lit and when early in the paranormal boom she had a story to tell that was awesome (I would tell you more but I am still hoping she will pursue it).
In my opinion, it is about time and billable hours. They need to spend as little as possible on each author to remain in the black. They have to balance good service with efficiency and setting up what is basically a new career takes them in the red.
I also think that agencies and especially agents have their own publishing comfort zones, and a different genre may require different industry contacts. I suspect the agent’s question is “What’s in it for me?” Answer: probably less money for a few years.
There are two exceptions to all this, Janet Evanovich didn’t find the best place for her voice until she switched to mystery. Nora Roberts/JD Robb is the other exception, a writer who is so prolific that a pseudonym allowed her to publish more books! NOBODY lost on that deal.
By the way, Chipotle is owned by Steve Ells NOT McD’s
Like all things I think it comes down to money. The idea of a conglomerate makes sense until you factor in the details. Is the author established in one genre? If so would branching out be worth the risk? Let’s say the author comes out with 2 full length novels a year. In order to build up this new name they’d have to want to come out two full length novels (probably more since I’m just throwing out numbers). Can the author sustain that without hurting the money maker? That’s 400, 000 words. Not to mention editing and promo.
Really in essence you are starting from the ground up. You can’t depend on that established readership just looking at the comments here. And as far as readers in the genre you are branching out in, you are a new author.In the long run, yes, it makes perfect business sense, at least to me. The agent (editor or publisher) may not think it’s the right thing for you to do at that very moment. From that perspective I can understand.
Yet I’ve learned when you want something you go after it. It’s up to the author to create and make the career path they envision. But I’m the type of person who would rather fail at something I believed in than something I felt meh about.
I’m new to the site, and a new author working on a new project. Actually two, but I’m paying more attention to one than the other. I’ve always wanted to write a book and am one of those looney people you will find daydreaming at the train station, cafe, bus stop etc. I’m writing a story in my head. Count on it.
But I digress. About this diversification theme. Ummm. Two names: Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb. Same author. Totally different genres. Have to say, not a fan of the J.D. genre, but have read plenty of Nora Roberts. But to each her own right? I don’t think any of my stories fall into the same category, but I don’t read just one category either so today it’s Nora Roberts. Tomorrow, Mercedes Lackey. That about says it all, doesn’t it?
I think it depends on *why* I read that particular author.
I love Bujold for her wonderful characters, and the way she lets character drive the plot. I’d follow her to any genre.
I love Evanovich for her witty banter, but her paper thin characters annoy me. So I’ll pick up any of her stand-alone romances, and the first few titles in any of her suspense series, but knowing that I’ll drop them after the first few books.
I loved Amada Quick for her historical world-building, and how her plots seem to be driven by the era. Liked the same thing about her futuristic Jayne Castles. Her contemporary JAK titles bore me to tears, and I had to give up the Arcane Society novels from too many dents in the wall.
I like both Barbara Michaels and Elizabeth Peters very much, but I cannot think of them as the same writer. Utterly different in tone, style, character, plotting… Same for Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb.
My bad. Apparently McDonalds was an investor in Chipotle, but only until 2006.
Not to mention that the first book cover for the Fever series was really misleading. But I never saw that cover in a book store. I’ve only seen the cityscape covers. Also, KMM has mentioned that although the individual books don’t qualify as romance, the series as a whole does.
Personally I think both sides have merit. By allowing an author to diversify and expand within the same company they have the potential to bring in more cash, more awards, etc. However people tend to be sidetracked by what they already expect from an author and than could cause sales to tank. For example I love Robin Williams, he’s the all around funny man, great in any role, however if youn see him in Patch Adams or What Dreams may come, a more serious role – The movie tanks because people are expecting the sterotypcial Robin Williams. I think that can happen to authors that keep the same name and move from Historical romance to say fantasy and their fantasy series flop because it’s not what the already created fan base wants. I can see why an agent would want to limit the amount of exposure, they don’t want their client to loose their fan base. For me I am a reader of all sorts of fiction, so it would not be a problem for me to change from one thing to the next. I’m loyal to the authors I follow and will ready anything they write – like someone said earlier I am more interested in their voice, and their method of story telling. I’m a huge Anne Rice fan, who has written under 3 pen names, and I’ve read everything she puts out because I like the way she writes. As a hopefully writer I have written in all different genres – I would prefer to have the flexibility to tell the story in any genre or category, but realistically I know that if I want to sell both historical and contemporary it might be best to have a pen name. I guess to sum up I think diversify is more of a double edged sword, their are benefits and downsides to it.
I’m in the same boat as TypO, Bliss and Beth on that whole Urban Fantasy experience. I don’t blame the authors for how a publishing house tends to market a book, but my first experience with Urban Legend was smack in the center of the Romance Section of my bookstore and was definitely *not* a romance. Like Bliss I felt very purposefully deceived.
I find it interesting that JAK is currently working very hard to inform readers that she is all of her alias. And it took Nora Roberts quite a bit before her covers started to reflect (if memory serves me right) that JD Robb WAS Nora Roberts.
I find the cross-genre aspect of the publishing business fascinating because as a reader I know the troubles I have in following an author from one to the other (Kay Hooper is a good example. Used to read her all the time. Now she’s firmly in the Romantic Suspense arena and I rarely read her)… as a writer I understand wanting to write anything as long as it interests you… and from a publishers standpoint (not that I am one but I can understand the business logic behind it) you don’t want to—as someone put it—“piss off” your readers either.
JT
I don’t see why authors can’t branch out or wouldn’t be encouraged to do so. As a reader, my genre-preferences ebb and flow like the (insert crude allusion here), so why would a writer, an artist, an author be any different? I would hate to be stuck in my job and have my HR person tell me that it wouldn’t be lucrative to my career to expand my knowledge base because I’m too good at what I do.
Like others have said previously, it depends on what I like about the author and into which genre they explore which ultimately decides whether or not I’ll follow them.
For example, I love KMM and would follow her just about anywhere under any name. I’m a huge Nora Roberts fan and will peruse inside-flaps and back covers for anything she writes under that name or pseudonym to see if the subject matter will entice me into purchase, regardless of genre. I love Anne Rice and followed her into Erotica with the Sleeping Beauty trilogy because I thought: If she can captivate, entrench, and affect me like that in General Fiction and/or Horror, what will she do with Erotica? (side note: YIKES and HOLY CRAP! Of the 3 “Beauty” books, I made it through 1-1/2 of them before literally flinging it away in abject horror at the sheer insanity that is kicking off between the covers of these books. WHOA! I **will** finish the trilogy as a matter of pride and principle. I WILL NOT be bested by a folk-tale. Damn you, Beauty…. Damn you! I couldn’t look my family in the eyes for days after! WHY!!??)
I digress. To recap, I can’t understand why diverging would be a bad thing… why not do as Anne Rice did and write under a pseudonym along with your name? As in: Anne Rice writing as A. N. Roquelaure. That way you’d keep the brand and achieve a separate “identity” for the new genre while giving the “new brand” time to flesh itself out and gain momentum and then eventually dropping the “old brand” from the new genre if it’s successful. I’m sure I don’t understand nearly enough about all this to make a convincing argument, but that’s my $0.02.
future68 – u do me, and tmo, I’ll owe ya one.
@ Alpha Lyra – Lois Bujold has a new Vorkosigan book coming out this November, fyi.
A NEW VORKOSIGAN NOVEL! WHOO HOOO…..Seriously, I was starting to think she’d never write another one and I am a huge Miles devotee…
I think if an author is prolific enough, writing in more than one genre shouldn’t be a problem. Individual readers may not like to cross genres, but there are enough romance readers overall, I would think, to provide an audience for a talented writer. Look at Lynn Viehl, who does paranormal romance and science fiction and anything else she wants. She also has a superhuman output – an average of twelve thousand words A DAY—so she can write enough books to keep her momentum going in more than one genre.
It’s no secret that publishers are risk averse, esp. nowadays, when smaller advances are being paid, fewer new writers are offered contracts, and writers whose very first books don’t sell well aren’t given any time to develop. So if an author’s selling well in one genre, I imagine a publisher wouldn’t encourage a genre jump. I wonder if e-pubs are any more open to genre switching.
I’m still determined to write the straight Regency I’ve had in my head for years, as well the time travel regency I recently dreamed up.
Oh my God, y’all. REGENCY WEREWOLVES. Huh? Huh?
beyond45 – sure. rub it in, bitch.
Kinsey: I’m not sure where Lois can go more with Miles. Parenthood, certainly. She said at one point that the next Big Miles Book would deal with the death of Aral (*sob*!) but she seems to have gone back on this. It’ll still be something that Miles will have to deal with, but I don’t know if I’ll want to read that book.
I definitely have followed romance authors into different genres. I first read a Kinley MacGregor historical, which led to Sherrilyn Kenyon’s DH series, which led to several other authors’ paranormal series, which led to their historicals, eg, Carolyn Jewel. See how it works, agents.
It’s ridiculous to think that the reading public won’t go along for the ride. If the books are good, we go. Talk about cutting off your nose to spite your face.
I’ll follow an Author if they switch genre’s. Pseudonym don’t fool me for long..
Remember this link: http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/
fantasticfiction site is your friend..
How come this industry feeds on fear?
Publishing houses are so averse to change, frightened of allowing authors who CAN write to branch out into other subgenres, that there’s a lack of freshness across the romance genre. As a result, agents won’t take a risk on something or someone new because the publishing houses are busy being scardy-cats. Fear of change is responsible for the stagnation of Contemporaries. Mould has started to grow, but, and this may be a stretch, maybe fear is why paranormals keep zombie-ing along.
—Sandra
Aside: Deb Kinnard, I’m reading Damages right now and quite liking it. 🙂
I write completely differently all the time. It’s kind of a point of pride to keep changing it up book to book, genre-hopping within a unifying theme. Family saga, contemp romance, women’s fic, historical, and post-apoc. Different POVs, different premises, different foci.
My goal is to build a reader base that understands I’m not a “this” writer or a “that” writer, and will follow me on whatever ride I build.
There are some authors I will follow anywhere- Stephen King? Pet Sematary is a far, creepy ass cry from the Dark Tower series. Diana Gabaldon? I’d read her grocery list. But I like to know when the book I pick up by a familiar author is not in the genre I’m looking for, and I think some-what transparent psuedonyms are a useful tool for this. After years of reading GREAT romance like Lucky’s Lady, Cry Wolf and Dark Paradise from Tami Hoag, I picked up a new book with her name on it and was totally disappointed when it didn’t have those elements I was looking for. Some authors I buy because I like their voice and I’ll read anything they write, some I look for because I ‘know’ what genre they write and that they write it well.
More objectively, author’s shouldn’t be given crap for going beyond their familiar genre- as a reader, I think the more books that are written, all the better. And even if the established fan base doesn’t much care for it, someone somewhere will buy it. It’s like someone making only blue shoes for 5 years and then saying “You know, I think I’ll start making some green shoes too, and maybe brown.” Different strokes for different folks, ya’ll.
i do have intentions of branching into other genres and one of the reasons I chose the agent I chose was because she seemed to understand that desire-sooner or later, I’m going to try more straight UF, I’d like to try my hand at fantasy and there are one or two other genres I’d like to try.
She’s totally cool with it, and in fact, wants to me to try everything I want to try-spread my wings, so to speak.
There are some authors who’ve branched off and while I may not follow them everywhere, I continue to read if they still write the areas I like.
Whether or not I’m going to change my name if I branch off, that’s something I haven’t thought about yet. I do understand why authors pick multiple names, and if it seems like the wisest decision for me to go with a new name, I will, although I’ll likely go with something similar or the same vein.
I have no idea why anyone would want to discourage an author from trying other genres. If I had to speculate though, I would guess it has to do with individual novels in certain genres may sell well, but romance novels in general may sell better with less effort and initial outlay by the publisher.
From my memory, Iris Johansen, Tami Hoag and Tess Gerritsen all broke out at the same time with suspense novels. All three are still publishing with some degree of success. Hoag is the only one I read consistently these days. I haven’t finished one of Gerritsen’s since the Mephisto Club, a book I was very disappointed in.
There were a lot of other romance writers who also tried their hand at suspense about the same time, who did not break out. Elise Title’s Romeo comes to mind because I have a copy on my shelf. Not a bad book, but it did not hit the way the books by the other authors mentioned did.
I also have no idea why anyone would feel that an author was being devious by using a pseudonym. It used to be the norm when romance publishers essentially owned the name an author wrote under. I have a book somewhere that was published in the 80’s that listed pseudonyms for all the major and some minor romance writers up to that time.
Throwing my two cents in here as a green member of the publishing industry, but there are a few reasons an agent or publisher might be wary of an author changing genres. I’m not as familiar with the romance market, so you’ll have to forgive me.
There are novels and then there are books. Authors write novels; publishers sell books. There is a slight, but not insignificant difference between the two. Readers buy a book, then read the novel. I’m trying to develop a difference between a book as a PRODUCT (with a brand) to be bought and a novel as the story contained within.
The hard part is figuring out what makes a brand. Is it the genre? Is it the voice? What is it? Why are some authors successful in writing in multiple genres (Nora Roberts, Neil Gaiman, Michael Chabon) and others need pseudonyms?
For authors like Nora, Neil, and Michael, it most often comes to down to a commonality of voice, tropes, and themes (and how they are treated) in their books that appeal, so genre-hopping is less of an issue. But say you have a writer who wrote a really fantastic gothic romance and the things that appeal about the book were the gothic and the romance. Then s/he wrote a light-hearted romantic comedy. What does the publisher do? The brand the booksellers bought was the gothic romance with its tortured love story and creepy mystery; how do we sell them the light-hearted romantic comedy? Especially if they’re equally good in two utterly different ways?
Say a company makes really awesome socks. One day, they decide, hey, I’m going to make really awesome hats and gloves too. Their buyers are probably going to say, “Yeah, sure. It’s all made from quality yarn. I can trust this company to make me awesome socks, hats, and gloves.” This is a writer who can probably write in multiple genres and it goes without a hitch.
But say there’s another company who crafts really gorgeous rocking chairs. Each rocking chair is a work of art and gorgeous. Then one day, the company says “We are also going to make replica swords.” Their buyers are probably going to go, “Say what?” Each replica sword is ALSO a work of art and they will find another base of buyers who appreciate them. But there’s a little bit of a mental disconnect there when you realize the same company does both things. The people buying replica swords will go, “What’s with the rocking chair?” and vice versa. It’s probably best this company start a separate business for the replica swords. This is a writer who probably has a few pseudonyms.
Those are my, uh, neopyhte thoughts! The honest truth is that there is no one answer to your question. I hate to equivocate, but it all depends. (No one likes to hear it. Nevertheless, that’s the only real answer I can give.)
I jotted some quick thoughts about branding in my blog here, by the way.
I read across genres and I will follow a favourite author to a new genre or subgenre. And in many cases, I enjoy both the old and the new books. Of course, I may not care for the new stuff and will avoid it from then on. For example, I’m not a big fan of historicals and thus I like Jayne Ann Krentz and Jayne Castle a lot more than Amanda Quick, though I’ve read all. And I enjoyed Suzanne Enoch’s Samantha Jellicoe series a lot more than her historicals. I read Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, but not his Codex Alera series. And while I didn’t really care for Karen Marie Moning’s Highlander books, I enjoy her Fae series a whole lot. But those are personal preferences. And my personal preferences in no way mean that an author should only write what I like, especially since another reader will have very different preferences.
Authors are not brands nor are they the slaves of their agents/publishers/readers. Authors are people. They should be able to go where their creativity takes them, even if it crosses subgenre and genre boundaries, and they should be able to do so under their own names. I understand the need for pen names, if the genres are wildly different, e.g. YA and erotica or inspirational and erotica. But a switch from contemporary to historical or from romantic suspense to paranormal should not require a new pen name. And if a different pen name is chosen, it often feels to me as if the author or publisher are ashamed of the new books. For example, there is a male epic fantasy author who also writes an urban fantasy series under a different pen name. Under his epic fantasy name, he is pretty involved in the SFF community, etc…. But he does not even mention the books under the urban fantasy name on his blog, does not link to them from his website, and it does feel as if he is trying to hide them. This is just sad IMO. Besides, blurbs, covers, etc… usually make it amply clear what genre one is dealing with.
I do understand the agent’s POV, if he or she does not work in the new genre. Hence, I think a writer should be upfront about the desire to change genres somewhere down the line before signing with an agent and/or publisher. I am an aspiring writer myself and I have the tendency to write all over the genre map. There are certain similarities between the different works, but being forced into one narrow genre or subgenre would kill my creativity really fast. Plus, the genre of my current WIP is pretty much a fluke and not where I see myself. This will probably hurt my chances when it comes to finding and agent and publisher, but I think it’s better to be open about this from the start.
if i really liked the author, i would absolutely follow them. if i didn’t know the author, i wouldn’t know the difference. i can’t see how it would hurt – if it’s a good author (and more importantly a really good book), why not try something new?
Genre jumping is a sticky issue with most agents, especially ones who represent a limited number of genres. I found my first agent at seventeen, whom I worked with for about two years on a project (YA mainstream) that didn’t sell, but when I decided to work on my next project (YA sci-fi) it wasn’t something the agency could represent. I’m now twenty and have found another agency, but it wasn’t easy. A lot has to do with the editor contacts the agent has prior to submission—many times an agent dealing primarily in horror or suspense won’t know many editors who take literary or romance.
In addition to bridging the gap just to get a work published, you also have to contend with gaining a new readership. If you have a solid readership in the paranormal romance genre, then the publishing house stands to profit from more paranormal romance novels by you. If you branch out to, say, westerns, then you are approaching a group of readers who may never have read your work and thus the publisher might lose money if the work is not quickly accepted by said readers. It’s basically starting from scratch. Big names like Stephen King and Nora Roberts can get away with it because even readers in other genres know who they are and are more willing to pick up their book, supposedly. And that doesn’t always work—Meg Cabot, for example, is a YA writer to some and a chick lit writer to others, and one readership may never pick up one of her books from the opposite end of their spectrum.
I don’t know for sure, but it seems to me that it would be easier to branch out to other subgenres within romance, since the genre itself is still romance. I know if it were me I would just as easily pick up a paranormal romance as I would a regency historical.
My two cents 🙂
spam word: fine 56. Switching genres is fine 56 percent of the time!
I don’t have an agent. And so far, my publishers have been happy to let me genre-hop any way I see fit. Steampunk lesbians, gay werewolves, a sexy Hanukkah gift or pagan inspy, swashbuckling pirates or contemporary BDSM, flower faeries or erotic horror, it’s all good.
It keeps me fresh and it keeps my readers and reviewers on their toes.
As an author, I just like to tell different kinds of stories. I mean, why not? It seems like a no-brainer, no matter what folks say about branding, expectations, etc. Yes—one has to take those things into account—but it shouldn’t be a reason to deny yourself the pleasure of spreading your wings.
I’m writing comic books for Marvel, which is about as far outside the romance genre as you can get—but it’s going great. I’ve been able to move between romance and urban fantasy, as well—and I plan to keep mixing things up. My agent totally supports me in this.
I can see an agent having limited contacts and not wanting to do another genre with an author. I’d really hope the agent would be upfront about it if that is the reason. I really dislike the idea of them (or a publisher) discouraging an author from trying. If an author gets bored in a genre, it really shows up in the writing quality.
I’m fine with pen names. I know of one author who writes both erotica and YA. Really good reason for her pen names. I just have to say, I want the author’s website to mention the other pen names. (Well, not the YA side of the website in previous case.) And to LIST THE BOOK ORDER of a series.
Yes, yes, yes, and yes some more! I’m much more likely to try a new genre by an author I love than to try a new author in a genre I love. That includes following a blogger into book format.
I followed Sarah Rees Brennan’s blog for several years before she published The Demon’s Lexicon. DL is an urban fantasy, a genre I don’t usually read and never seek out. I never would have picked it up if I hadn’t already loved the author.
I’d have to say, it depends on the author. There are some authors (example: Diana Gabaldon) whom I would follow to the inner circles of hell and back, as long as they keep publishing. If the best part of an author’s books are her sex scenes, though, and the rest of the story – you know, minor things like the plot and characterization – are total crap, I would probably be more willing to leave her debut mystery novel on the shelf where it belongs.
As a reader, I have no problem with an author writing different genres. Writers should write what their muse tells them to write or puts food on the table or whatever. I am not necessarily going to read it though. Whether I follow a writer to another genre depends on a number of factors including whether the premise is interesting or if I’m reading them because I love their style rather than a certain character.
I read Elizabeth Peters’ Vicky Bliss books because I love Vicky but I don’t read the Amelia Peabody ones. I will read the Barbara Michaels books though. I’ve just discovered a new writer, Kit Whitfield, and the book I’m currently reading—In Great Waters—is courtly intrigue with a dash of mermaids. I love her storytelling so I’m going to read her first book which is about werewolves and normally I don’t read books with werewolf characters. I believe I like Whitfield’s writing enough to read a book about vampires if she were to write a vampire book. I didn’t read Libba Bray’s latest despite the fact I really liked the Gemma Doyle trilogy because the book didn’t sound interesting. It’s won awards and a lot of critical acclaim but I’m still not going to read it.
I do prefer pen names that can be mentally linked to the previous identity because it makes it easier to find books by a particular author like Meg Cabot writing as Patricia Cabot. The Cabot is the same so whenever I see Patricia Cabot I always think, “Oh yeah, that’s Meg Cabot!” and I’m more likely to pick it up.
I have before. I will again. I’ll use the same examples as other folks, the first being Jennifer Crusie and the second as Lois McMaster Bujold. Like others, I enjoyed Agnes & the Hitman more than Don’t Look Down. But I still enjoyed both.
LMB went from SF to Fantasy to Romance/Fantasy. All those Vorkodigan Universe Novels and Novelettes, Then stretching her muscles. Book 1 (of 4) of The Sharing Knife was definite romance in a fantasy setting.
I’ll even cite Robert Heinlein, famous hard-science “speculative fiction” writer as a closet romance writer. Has anyone else here read The Menace from Earth?
So, yes. I’ll follow a good author almost anywhere.
I would have to say “It depends”. On what? The stories, the writing style, and the genre. For instance, Bujold’s ~fantasy/romance~ The sharing knife series, I could not get into. I love her writing but I did not care for the story. But I <3 the Miles books.
Other authors have ventured into new genres when a particular market is hot (Urban Fantasy anyone? Bueller? Bueller?) Too often as a reader I don’t enjoy these stories, they fail to entertain. It is not because the writing is bad…exactly, only that it does not provide what I want from that genre. Romance, give me a HEA. Urban Fantasy? A well thought out world, a plausible story, and action/adventure, is normally what I look for. (BTW I don’t like most of NR’s fantasy novels, but I still enjoy the JD Robb books. (I know I will read about Eve’s ‘Cop eyes/Whiskey colored eyes/Cold eyes’ once in the book, but I don’t care…it’s 2059 and NYC.)
But back to the subject, if an author branches out, I want them to do it well. If they don’t, I begin to feel like they are changing horses mid stream to cash in. And that leaves a bad taste in my mouth. I agree JAK is one of the authors who do it well, but so many do it poorly that I will read the first book looking for that illusive something new. That is what will hook me in any series, and if I don’t get it, I won’t read another of that genre by that author.
Regarding Agents not wanting Authors to branch out, I would ask, Could it be that these agents don’t have the contacts with the publishing houses departments for those genres? Could it be that they as an Agent are trying to do right by their client and steer them away from trying to sell a book they don’t feel will sell well? (And also protecting their part of the proceeds) If author X can command a 10k advance in the Romance market, but only a 5k advance in the Fantasy market, there is a reason for the agent to steer their client towards Romance. But I am not an industry insider and so I don’t know…
If I absolutely love an author I will certainly give one book in the new genre a read, but if I don’t like that book then I won’t continue to purchase any more books in the new genre – such as Judith McNaught and Julie Garwood. I loved their historicals but can’t stand their contemps.
Having a pseudonym isn’t an issue for me, in fact it makes it easier to avoid buying/borrowing any new releases in error if I don’t particularly like the books in the new genre. Some authors I’m not particularly fussed over whether or not I read each and every single book released whatever the name on the front cover is – I occasionally enjoy reading a JD Robb story, but am not at all interested in reading any of her books written as Nora Roberts and I enjoyed reading Marion Chesney’s regency books but am not interested in her mysteries when she writes as MC Beaton.
As a reader I will follow an author that I like regardless of the genre….if they writer wants to try something new …I’ll read it and give it a try..it’s not a guarantee I’ll like it but I will at the very least keep an open mind. If they want to use a pseudonym, that’s their choice and I can understand why they would want to do that and have no problems with it (Hello JD Robb/Nora Roberts) and I will try a new genre for an author that I’m already reading. In my opinion an agent that doesn’t want to try to cross-sell for his talented authori is an idiot and needs to be replaced!
Am I the only one who’s starting to hear “George R.R. Martin is not your bitch.” running through their head? God how I love me some Neil Gaiman . . .
@Cora
I came across this just last night. I’m trying to organize all the ebooks on my kindle and make sure I have all my series together and in reading order. I made a trip to an author’s website to look up the reading order of an Ellora’s Cave series she did and the ONLY thing listed in her books section were her Urban Fantasy mainstream books. No mention except a microscopic link to another site of her erotica books. AND, and!!! The link was a dead one.
BTW, this was an author that I own just about every Ellora’s Cave book she’s written and I paid full price for them. But her Urban Fantasy books I stopped buying after the second one. I tried to jump genres with her but it didn’t work for me. So there. I’m kinda sad that it appears she’s ashamed of her erotica books that I just love. 🙁
I’m sure lots of authors DO wall off their pen names for a host of reasons. It’s sad to think that shame might be one of them though . . .
@Michelle:
I, I totally go with this – it gets even worse when you see something like Insomnia, where he’s truly the bad guy, or Bump in the Night in which Christopher Reeves plays a pedophiliac stalker
It can kinda work with suspense/horror because it emphasises your discomfort, but I can totally see someone going in looking for Mork or Superman, and getting well and truly tweaked.