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.
Generally speaking, I’m not a big fan of the pseudonym. JAK/AQ/JC is a perfect example. The Arcane series spans all three names and it is exasperating trying to follow the series. Additionally, I never even noticed the “tone differences” in the three names. So for me, the name changes don’t mean anything to me except massive confusion. It also, and this is just an OCD complaint, makes it ANNOYING to shelve. They’re all the same author: which name should I use to shelve the books? ugh.
Ann Aguirre is another one I am going to have a hard time with. Now..let me state I am a total fangurl of Ann. So, how confusing was it to find out she has not one, but TWO, count them TWO, new pseudonymes (one is not quite out yet). I will give her some kudos to her website for making it VERY clear what her two other names are, even though one takes you to a whole other website (very annoying IMO). But trying to keep track of release dates is going to be a bit high maintanance. I will have to do a search for three names, rather than just the one.
For the record: I’ll be shelving all of Ann’s books under Ann Aguirre. 😉
As for genre shelving at bookstores-that’s a never ending problem. I don’t really get all huffy about *where* in the bookstore I find a book, only that I find it. The oddest example of this though: Mike Shepard’s previous Longknife book (not the one that just recently came out, the one before that) was shelved in MILITARY HISTORY. LOL. Not SciFi/Fantasy, which is where it had been shelved historically. I practically howled in the store when the employee finally found it. Military history, really?
More genres=more books by my favorite authors per year…who could ask for anything more. Some of my favorite authors are multi-genre-Lynn Viehl (aka S.L. Viehl, aka Gena Hale, aka Jessica Hall), Kim Harrison (aka Dawn Cook), Nora Roberts (aka J.D. Robb), and on and on. I’ll follow a favorite author anywhere. It seems to me that some of my favorite authors are constrained by having only one name and one genre. They are “allowed” to put out 1 book (sometimes 2 if we are lucky) per year, but if they have multiple genres voila 2, 4, 6, 8 books a year means more great books for me! It is a win win situation. I have followed authors to Young Adult, Mystery, Romantic Suspense, Historical, and even (if you knew me this would make you laugh) Christian fiction.
I’ll follow an author into a new genre. So many have rewarded me with wonderful books. But I can also be a little unforgiving. If the new genre book disappoints me, I’ll probably never buy another book in the new genre by that author.
Speaking a a NF author and a rabid book buyer I can say I tend to read more in GENRES than authors. Becuz I have gotten burned by Rom authors who it felt need to be more “credible” and started writing nerve-wracking suspense. I write NF—my nerves don’t need to be any more wracked. It made me sad to lose Tami Hoag, Elizabeth Lowell, the gal who wrote all the great Russian and NaAm romances, and on and on. It also becomes SO VERY DAMN HARD to find the authors titles in stores because the shelving has become useless. I really enjoy the metadata fashion of Amazon because “yes I will like that if I liked this”. xxoocf
I’m noticing a couple of trends in the replies here.
1) “I’ll try it, but if I don’t like it, I won’t keep reading it.” To that, I say, “DUH!” I’ll stop reading any series I dislike, no matter what the genre. I’d still rather try a new series by an author I know I’ve enjoyed in the past than try to figure out which totally unknown author is halfway decent. I think it improves my odds finding something good.
2) “They should use a different name for their new genre, so people don’t expect one thing and get another.” Isn’t that what the cover art and flap/back info is for? I mean, did anyone really pick up Sharing Knife or Chalion and think, “Yay! More space dramaz for me!?”
What a fascinating discussion. I’ve tried several times to follow authors into new genres, only to be disappointed. Like a lot of others, for example, I haven’t been able to get into Lois McMaster Bujold’s fantasy series (ironic since I generally prefer fantasy to SF) but I’m a mad fangirl of Miles Vorkosigan, his friends and family and their world.
Because of these experiences I have been really unwilling to follow a favourite author from contemporary categories (from years ago, but I still love those books) into paranormal romance which is a genre I already detest. I pick the books up because the name has that much appeal to me but the blurbs always turns me right off and I have never read more than a few pages of one. Having said that I think authors should do what’s best for them. If someone has tapped out her contemporary romance mine then she should definitely move where her creativity takes her, or if she has several genres bubbling around inside then of course she should be able to go into all those areas.
Is it possible to have more than one agent? (asks someone who is hopelessly naive about how publishing works). It seems to me that either finding an agent who is happy to genre hop or finding a fit with more than one would be the way around the issue. After all, I may not have enjoyed the books the authors put out in the new genres, but the names were enough for me to at least pick the books up to take a look.
I will read a well written book from an author I know regardless of the genre. That is the hallmark of a good writer that I become immersed in the story, the words take me there not the premise. Why would anyone want to restrict themselves in neat little box???????
I understand the separate pseudonyms for different genres thing. I’d assume readers would pay attention to blurbs and back covers too, Ulrike, but then I’m constantly amazed at the cluelessness of some people.
I’ve got some ideas for hard-core erotic romance/erotica novellas and if I wrote them, I think I’d use a different pseudonym. It’s not shame, exactly, it’s just…there are certain areas of my life that would be greatly complicated if people knew what kind of stuff I write. Enough people know who Kinsey is that it’s already a significant possibility. So if I wrote even hotter stuff (and I’m thinking of bondage-themed, maybe menage kind of stuff), I’d want to put double distance between the flesh-and-blood me and the paper-and-pixel me.
Am I a coward? It’s certainly possible.
I can only answer from the readers perspective, as the motivations and methods of publishers are unknown to me.
It really depends on a variety of factors.
1. How big of a change is this new book? For example, if the change is from high fantasy to historical fantasy I’ll probably pick it up faster if I recognize the author’s name. High fantasy to mystery/suspense? I’d probably pick it up to take a look just to see if it got put down in the wrong spot. Of course, this all depends on the question: do I even like the new category? No matter who wrote it, there are some classifications that I don’t read, so I probably wouldn’t even look in that area to discover the new book.
2. What sort of available funds do I have on hand? More money = looking further in the bookstore & more likely to pick up something just for curiosity/ooooh, catchy title/spiffy cover art. Tight budget = looking just at my favorite authors or the reliable sections where I’m almost certain to find something of interest.
2b. Time. The longer I have in the book store, the more things I can look at, and the more I eventually will look at. Given enough time, I venture beyond the familiar comfortable sections that I know and love and start exploring other areas.
3. What am I in the mood for this day/trip? You all have seen this to some degree – today I just can’t get into this sort of story, but that sort is just wonderful!
4. How well do I like the author to begin with? There are some authors that I would try anything they wrote at least once, though I might not read all of a new series if the first one didn’t catch my interest. Then there are some that I’d have no hesitation about crossing sub-genres, but might not cross full genres immediately. Others would fall in the category of the name looks the same/similar, which gives them a slight edge in the pick up and look at the cover blurb, but the blurb still needs to convince me. Of course there are also some authors that didn’t impress me enough that their name holds a place in memory to make me go ‘oh, another one by _____. Let me take a look.’ And the inevitable ‘oh, I didn’t like that one’s work at all, I’ll pass on the new one.’
Bottom line – as a reader, I say go ahead and dabble your authorial toes in more than one classification. Just please, please try to keep them properly described in the promotions and cover blurbs. Expecting something to be an urban fantasy romance because the author had previously done fantasy and historical romance and opening it to discover an urban paranormal crime drama would not be a cool surprise to spring on the readers.
verification love43 – I don’t think there are 43 different genres to love my favorite authors in… Maybe 43 books? (hmmm… some of them need to get writing then!)
I like different subgenres of Romance, and I like different genres of fiction. If I like a writer in one genre, I’m willing to give that writer a try in a different genre, and if he/she can pull it off, I will stick with it.
I also enjoy writers who might try different series in a given genre and will give them a try. I don’t always like the end result of a different try, but I don’t mind them trying. For example, I love Joan Hess’ Maggody series, but her Claire Malloy series doesn’t resonate. I love Donna Andrews’ Meg Langslow series, but not the Turing books. I liked some of Charlaine Harris’ early Sookie books, but drifted away from them, then fell in love with her Harper Connelly books. I get impatient for my favorite authors to publish the next book in the series *I* prefer, but all three of the above examples do very well and are clearly pleasing a wide range of fans, so it’s all good.
I like Elizabeth Hoyt’s historicals as well as her contemporary romances under the Julia Harper pseudonym (the latter resonate much more with me because I like the broader comedy).
I love Lori Foster’s work, but didn’t care much for her expansion with one of her MMA books into S/F, mostly because I have read extensively in the S/F genre and one of the major S/F tropes she used is one I despise. Didn’t stop me from picking up the subsequent book in the MMA series and enjoying it, and if she tried an S/F theme again, I might give it a try if she follows a trope I enjoy.
I love Jayne Anne Krentz in all her personae.
As a reader, I love discovering that an author has a presence in a genre/subgenre I wasn’t aware of. I’m more than happy to give him/her a read and see if I like that “voice style”, and if I do, I’m happy, it means I can watch for new releases I might otherwise have overlooked, or search out backlist. If I don’t, that’s okay, too.
As an aspiring writer, I hope to have a very busy career someday. I have viable ideas in three different genres, and in different subgenres of the genres. I think if I have the freedom to express my creativity, it makes my writing stronger and keeps my work fresh. I think that goes for all authors. Artificially limiting that creativity is ultimately destructive, and that means fewer books for a reader to enjoy and for a writer to build their career with.
Not at all. Delurking here to say that this topic is one I also think about quite a bit. I use a pseudonym because my family is very conservative and would absolutely flip out if they were to discover that I write erotica. So I keep virtual me and real-life me as separate as I can.
However, I do plan to someday write something more “mainstream” that my family can also read (and talk about, etc.), but that’ll definitely be under my real name, I think.
So I do agree with the other commenters who say it’s the good story that compels them to buy, not necessarily name recognition. At least, that’s what I’m hoping for in my career’s future.
I’ll follow an author I like from one genre to another. Usually, when I’ve done so, I’ve been pleasantly surprised. One example is Sarah A. Hoyt. Since October of ‘09, she’s published a cozy (Dipped, Stripped and Dead—written as Elise Hyatt), a space opera (Darkship Thieves) and the historical fiction No Will But His about Katheryn Howard under her own name. She’s also published a Shakespearean fantasy and the Musketeers Mysteries series as Sarah D’Almeida. None of them have failed to entertain.
I’ve never understood why agents discourage their authors from expanding into other genres. In this day and age, I’d think they’d want their authors, their clients, to do all they can to expand their fan base, especially since promotion budgets from the publishing houses have become almost non-existent for most authors.