GENRES
By Sue Rich
Do you know what genre sells the best? Do you know the submission requirements for each genre? If not, then you haven’t done your homework. It’s hard to write a book if you don’t know how and where to market it.
Or, you may have written for a specific genre, and have the perfect book for the perfect house, but if that publisher isn’t buying, you’re not going to make the sale. You must research the market. Find out exactly what genre your book fits into by investigating the publishing houses, see who is buying, and find the ones most likely to purchase your novel.
In answer to the first question…the Romance genre is the # 1 seller in the industry, pulling in about 51% of the sales. But you must also remember that in the romance genre, there are a lot of ‘sub genres’ like Historical, Contemporary, Erotica, Sweet, Christian, Laughter, Suspense, etc.
Unfortunately, most of those ‘sub genres’ have different content specifications, guidelines, and tones. In fact, the course of action for the same type of story will vary from publisher to publisher. When you’ve researched and found the publishers who are in the market for new manuscripts, you need to get a copy of their guidelines. You can usually find these online, but if not, call the publisher. Don’t ask for the editor. Just ask to be directed to the person who could supply you with guidelines. In most instances, they’re glad to assist you.
Once you have the road map in your hands, how closely do you have to follow it? All I can say is try to remain as faithful as possible to what the house requires. They provide the guidelines for a purpose. The readers have come to expect certain criteria from “Publisher A’s” books. If you vary too far from that formula, there’s a good chance you won’t make the sale. And if by chance you should squeeze your story by the editor, unhappy readers can deal a death-blow to your career. Follow the plan as well as you possibly can.
What if the book you’re itching to write doesn’t fit into a genre? What should you do then? Believe it or not, there is a genre for those types of stories. It’s called Mainstream. Now, don’t get the wrong idea. Mainstream isn’t a dumping ground for anything that won’t fit somewhere else. It’s a genre in itself—sort of. It reaches a wider variety of readers—and generally from varying age groups.
Good examples of mainstream authors are Tom Clancy, Dean Koontz, and Nora Roberts. Their stories are often a mix of genres; everything from suspense, to thriller, to mystery, to historical, to paranormal, to comedy—often all in the same novel. Their work just doesn’t correspond with a single category, but their readership is massive.
One thing about mainstream, though; your story has to be exceptionally dynamic to slip into that genre. And they are usually much bigger books, like Clan Of The Cave Bear, by Jean Auel, or Without Remorse, by Tom Clancy. Huge books.
The least flexible sub genres, in my opinion, are the category romances, like Harlequin or Silhouette. They have a targeted audience and a formula that works. They expect their guidelines to be followed very, very closely, and who can blame them? They sell a staggering amount of books.
I believe the most flexible is single title. Although a single title may fit into the slot of one genre, you can often add other elements that don’t normally pertain to that group. For instance: a romance novel that has elements of paranormal is still a romance, just like a mystery with rudiments of comedy is still a mystery. Single title gives you much more room to create, but don’t go too far out of bounds or no one will want it.
The basic genre still has guidelines.
Your job is to research and find out where your story will fit the best--and who in that genre will be most likely to buy your book.
It takes a little time, but that’s why, when you reach the ranks of ‘published’, you really are a professional.
Courtesy of www.fiction-writing-tips.com |
