genre-hopping vs. publisher-hopping

[nephele]

You love books, all kinds of books, and think it would be terrific to write whatever takes your fancy. Good for you. But if you want a career in publishing--a serious career that pays real money--it is a good idea to pick a genre and stick to it. Unless you're astoundingly prolific, and can write multiple books a year (which can be spread across

Comments

[snowwhite22]

Ha....one of my clients needs to read this and take it to heart. He needs to tattoo it to his forehead.

[elizabethscott]

Thank you for providing such great links--the entry by Rachel Vater was especially interesting.

[ex_fashioni]

Now see, I fell into my current genre (YA) almost by accident and while I love writing in it, I still want to break into women's fiction. I'd love to be able to do so within my own house, because I really love working with them, but that's out of my control. The one thing I am doing is writing the YA under one name, the women's fic under another. (Same surname, but the YA uses my middle name and the women's fic my first name.)

However, I will say that that's as far as my desire to spread my genre wings goes. Both the YA and the women's fic have strong romantic overtones (the women's fic are more overt love stories than the YA, which tend to focus more on the coming of age aspect) and I'm not inclined to write for the historical market or paranormal or sci-fi. So where would you think that would fall in the scheme of things?

[nephele]

I think this is a great example of writing in two genres using different, though only slightly, names. Besides which, as I believe Rachel points out, YA readers grow up to be adult readers, and if you're writing romantic stories for both age groups, you're pretty much allowing your audience to grow with you.

[dsgood]

Note that some writers can become their own genres. Examples: Dean Koontz and Stephen King.

[nephele]

Well, I'm not sure I'd go quite that far. Stephen King basically writes horror novels -- generally with a paranormal aspect to them -- and Koontz pretty much writes thrillers.

[green_knight]

I'm not certain about the exact publishing history, but I read James Herbert when King was just starting to be big - and I'd definitely say they were in the same genre. It's just that King is so big, he's the first one to come to mind.

(And yes, I've outgrown *that* phase a long time ago...)

[mmarques]

If I have WIP in multiple genres, is it reasonable to stick with all books until I find an agent for one... and at that point limit my genres for a while?

[nephele]

Honestly, my advice would be to actually finish several projects in one genre and then look for an agent. If you have interest in writing in multiple genres eventually, make sure your potential agent list includes people who represent the areas you're interested in exploring. But there's a great deal to be said for mastering one thing before you start splitting your attention. Just my opinion, of course.

[nuj]

Risky thing, disagreeing with an agent with whom you're seeking representation, but...well, I find it difficult to keep an opinion to myself

[nephele]

First of all, I by no means expect everyone to agree with me. Just ask my clients. ;-) As I said above, it was just my opinion