Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Hello everyone,

I write historical romance and Time Travel Romance, but I just started a new series that involves sister witches. These witches are decedents of the great witch, Queen Cleopatra of Egypt. Now these are 21st century witches and they travel back in time to fight demons in an effort to balance the positive and negative energies in the universe. These sisters are also Spiritualists and they are Reiki healers. Most of the story is spent in the 21st century. In book one, they are trying to complete the task given to them by the Egyptian goddess, Isis, which involves returning to 1749 AD. The sister's all have love interests, romance seems to be a necessity whenever I write, but these ladies do not marry in the end and so this is not your typical happily-ever-after. I plan to make this a multiple book series with revisiting characters.

Okay, so where would you place it according to sub-genre? Fantasy? Paranormal? Spiritual? Sci-Fi? Can I still label it Historical Time Travel?

Perhaps I put: The Griffin Sister's is a paranormal time travel with historical, spiritual, and romantic elements. Hmm, now that seems long. I'd love some help with this.

My first instinct is Paranormal because of the witches. If romance isn't the main theme and they don't settle down in the end, I wouldn't call them romance. Your romance readers would be disappointed if they expect a typical romance. Historical Paranormal?

I agree with Tamie. It definitely has strong paranormal elements in it however romance is there but not a lot as you said. But you could make Paranormal as the main genre with small romance and history sub genres. I would say Paranormal and maybe even occult since it has witches.

That definitely helps. Thanks so much, I appreciate it. :)

Your welcome, best of luck to you!

I might be an exception but I see time travel (unless it's with a machine) as a paranormal event. The addition of witches just consolidate the genre.
Historical/paranormal sounds good to me.

However, if they travel with the help of a machine such as in Time Machine from H.G. Wells, then I'd say SciFi/Paranormal.

Romance often find its way into stories so since it's not the primary subject, I would leave it out.

The mere presence of a time machine, or any futuristic machine for that matter, doesn't necessarily make it Science Fiction. But the inclusion of witches--or demons, elves, or non-technical gremlins--certainly eliminates it from that category. I would consider it Fantasy, or Paranormal, but it's my opinion that you'll upset a lot of Science Fiction fans by selling them a book that contains witches. I doubt it would fit with Historical Fiction, either, but Paranormal does sell these days, so that's the label I would use.

If you haven't yet decided exactly how the witches travel in time, then I would suggest not having them do it with a machine, as then you are definitely mixing your genres, and as Ken says, Sci-Fi fans tend to be sniffy about witches and the paranormal, while many Fantasy and Paranormal fans would be put off by a Sci-Fi label because they're not into hard science. Since you're already committed to witches, keep it fantastic rather than scientific, and call it something like Paranormal Time-travel or Historical Fantasy.

I like the name 'Griffin', by the way. It has a good mythological pedigree.

I'd place it under Romance/ paranormal and if you're offered a third, then witches. Definitely put witches and time travel under your search words as both are popular SEO searches.

The witches travel through time with the help of Isis and a spell, so no machine. This is definitely not a Sc-fi. It's a very spiritual book because the subject of earthly life and life after death is something they discuss on a continual basis. I don't wish to call it a romance since the book does not end with the sisters marrying their partners. Although the book will end in a happy manner, the last scene will set up for the next book in the series.

I like Paranormal Time-Travel or Historical Fantasy. Now which genre will make the book sell like hotcakes? lol Does anyone know which genre sells better Fantasy or Paranormal? I should likely research that. I will add the sub genres of witches, romance, and spiritual, if the sites will allow. I will also add many keywords for SEO searches.

I like that you noticed their last name, Chris. :)

Thank you everyone for your input.