Dabbling across genres

A good few months ago, I was chatting to a few romance authors about their craft, just asking how they feel about this whole electronic publishing gig. I had an overwhelming response of "hell, yeah, it works!"

Why? If you capture your readership, you make far more percentage-wise in royalties off ebooks than with print. Looking at my own monthly royalty statements, I'm afraid I have to agree, tho' my books don't move in vast quantities as my chosen genre is firmly dark/urban fantasy with a horror edge.

Ebooks don't have so many physical overheads, like printing or postage, so the profit margins are better. That's a no-brainer. Hell, and my inner eco-warrior loves saving trees and pandering to the "buy it, download it, and read it now" ethos.

But it's also clear that one of the genres that is doing the best in this field appears to be romance. Now, if I were to see some returns for my efforts, it's also a no-brainer that I should up my erotic content, no?

So I gave it a shot. I wrote my first contemporary erotic romance. And, guess what, I enjoyed writing it so much I'm planning more and am definitely looking at selling some paranormal romance. And, I've had a peek at my sales within the first week for my first contemporary erotic romance novel. Things are looking promising. And I am cautiously optimistic about my future as a career author.

But crossing genres not going to stop me from writing my "heart" books, as I've heard one author describe her works that don't garner astronomical sales figures. Hell, I'm still going to write them. I'm still going to fish for literary agents. I'm still going to submit to bigger and other publishers. It makes sense to have a broad footprint when I'm just a small fish competing in a big pond for thousands of other small fish.

It's not easy getting noticed nowadays, when just about every Tina, Dina and Harriet is getting published. And it freaks me the hell out when I see that some of the stuff hitting virtual shelves is so not ready for publication. Modern electronic publishing is somewhat of a sausage factory. For every professional who approaches this method with clarity and precision, there are half a dozen hacks who put out absolute garbage.

What hell it must be for readers to discover quality reads among the dross. And, how difficult is it for genuinely fantastic authors to be noticed above the howling mob...

So, what I'm hoping, is to snag the attention of readers who like my romance enough to go take a look at my "heart" books.

This is a highly competitive industry and it pays authors well to be creative in their approach and to be adaptable.

Even though I had a well-known hardcore SF/fantasy author warn me that "dabbling" in romance would eventually blur the boundaries between my "serious" writing and "romance" (which I gain the opinion that he looked down upon) I really couldn't care. If my favourite authors like Storm Constantine and Jacqueline Carey write bloody awesome narrative underpinned by highly charged erotic content, then why they hell can't I mix the two with my usual gritty signature?

So, expect more from me, some fang-bangers, hell, even some shifters, I don't care, but also know that I'll intersperse these with my usual "weird sh1t" as a friend of mine calls my writing. I'll carry on writing the kind of books I enjoy reading, but I'm going to be more conscious of what the market is asking for.

* * * *

Tainted Love was released on December 9 through Siren Bookstrand. I describe it as a reverse-Cinderella tale with a bit of spice. The story was sparked by my conversations with a number of friends who worked as dancers in clubs for a number of years. I also read a number of autobiographies by ex-dancers and dug a little into the history of the sex industry. It was my aim to present my story without prejudice, and I've had some encouraging responses from my readers.

The blurb:
Retrenched and persuaded to participate in amateur night at a strip club all in one day, Marianne discovers she’s actually a damn fine stripper, and baring all brings in far easier money than dying by degrees as a temp in a cubicle farm.

But things between her and her ex-boyfriend, Carl, have gone horribly sour, and there’s no denying that her fascination with Brett Gentle, the owner of Imperial House Gentleman’s Club, will bring more complications than she has bargained for.

Even as she gains confidence in tantalising men with her sex appeal on stage and on laps, Marianne’s life starts spinning out of control, tainting the love she has dared to taste.

See more here: http://www.bookstrand.com/tainted-love

Young Adult Books

Long before I started writing paranormal, I was reading paranormal books. Ray Bradbury was an early favorite, especially Something Wicked This Way Comes. As early as junior high I was reading Stephen King and Anne Rice. There was far less to choose from in the Young Adult section back then than there is now. I think it’s terrific that there is so much more for teenagers to read now and am completely shameless about enjoying some of these great YA reads even as a thirtysomething adult. Richelle Mead’s Vampire Academy series is a favorite of mine. Recently I read the first two books of the Morganville Vampires series by Rachel Caine. I’ve read the Twilight series, though in all honesty I wanted to hurl the fourth book across the room. Lili St. Crow’s Strange Angels series is great. You might wonder what got a grown woman into reading Young Adult-genre books. It’s a simple two word answer: Harry Potter.

It was several years into the Harry Potter phenomenon before I read the first book. I liked the first one well enough to read the second, but it was Prisoner Of Azkaban that really got me hooked. JK Rowling created such an amazing and thoroughly realized world, the more of it I read the more I wanted to step inside and wander around Diagon Alley. Take a ride on the Knight Bus. Order a butterbeer at the Three Broomsticks. Spend part of the summer at the Burrow with my friends the Weasleys. Every time I see a reference to the ongoing World Cup, I think of Quidditch. Reading about the new theme park in Florida, The Wizarding World of Harry Potter, has made me want to borrow someone’s kid just so I have an excuse to go.

The generation of kids that grew up with Harry Potter are showing signs of holding on to the love of books they learned by following the adventures of The Boy Who Lived. I wonder if they’ll always love books with a fantasy bent, full of wondrous magic and terrifying monsters. Will it be something they come back to from time to time, and maybe even teach their own kids? Can you remember what books you read as kid that helped to shape your reading habits for life?

Keep it pure!

This week’s topic is another tough one for me since I’m a bit of a purest. I like my mysteries to be more mystery than romance and my romance to be character driven then action oriented.

I’ll let you in on a not-so-secret secret. I’m not big on romance. Not in my reading, or my movies, or my real life. Don’t get me wrong! I would love my husband to surprise me with a trip or a night out, but I’m more for the adventure than the romance. I like the new experience, not the romantic feelings involved. Sorry, but feelings come and go based on the person and the experience.

So I enjoy my entertainment more character oriented. Is cross-genre a good thing? Yes, I think so. Because people aren’t just romantic or mysterious. They aren’t just good or evil. Even the villain is the hero of his or her own story, right?

Even though my mysteries don’t have much to do with romance (heck, I can’t write a scene with Cerri kissing her husband, Matt, without thinking it sounds dumb!), I don’t not read something because it crosses a genre line. I like all types of books and movies.

It all boils down to one simple fact. People are multi-facetted.

Blessings!
Nichole