Clean Romances discussion

Hi,
I've been checking my sales statistics. Rather my non-sales statistics because I put everything out there for free to see which of my published stories people read when they can read anything they choose without having to pick and choose which to buy. (Exception: Amazon won't publish anything for free unless I jump through more hoops than I can handle.)
Conclusion of my research? I write clean, sci-fi romance. And this after being told by an editor at a major romance publishing house that I DO NOT write romance!
Maybe clean romances are somehow different from other romances? Less initimate man-woman stuff and more story? Something?
Soooo..... my next book will be a clean sci-fi romance instead of the dystopian apocalyptic story with a small, clean romance in it that I've been crafting.
I'm finding that this is a huge change requiring a major mental shift on my part.
I've shifted genres before when the situation warranted but I have a question and this group is the place to ask.....
Does anyone look for clean sci-fi romance? Does anyone actually read clean sci-fi romance? Is clean sci-fi romance a sub-genre of sci-fi romance?
Or am I whistling in the dark and the sales statistics are just an anomaly?
Florence Witkop
http://FlorenceWitkop.com

As I have written a clean sci-fi romance trilogy I can tell you that there are people out there who read it and enjoy it. My book hasn't had a great reach yet, but most good books will get an audience of some kind. It's just a question of marketing them well. However, when you are small and just starting, that can be a real trick and can take some time.

Glad to know I'm not alone and that someone else writes what I write. I know how difficult marketing can be. I hate marketing. The only reason I do it is because it's essential.

Same with me. It's no fun at all.

Are you on Twitter? Facebook? Send me your links and I'll follow you and you can follow me back. :-)

I'd say that there's interest in just about everything, you just have to know it's out there in the first place to look for it. It's definitely worth putting it out there.

Sci-Fi is such a large genre though, it can range from realistic Earth based technology to aliens and space battles in other galaxies... which probably appeal to different people. This is a good place to advertise a clean romance though :)

Thanks for the comments.
Yes,I'm on Facebook, which I hate because I don't understand how it works, and Twitter, which I love. Facebook is Florence Witkop Author and Twitter is fwitkop. Sounds like a plan.

Okay, I've liked and followed you.

I would very much like to read clean scifi romance stories. If you know any, let me know! Thank you.

You can try my trilogy, Hugo. Visit www.verindon.com and click on the first cover to find out more.

Dear Lynne,

Thank you, I will have a look at it (after work, that is!).

No worries. :-)

You might want to read my last novel, Earth Legend, which is clean sci-fi romance and the story that showed me which of my books my readers prefer. It's free on Smashwords. http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/... or costs a pittance on Amazon http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00N193NRY

I'm very glad I posted asking for help. Through all the posts on this and other groups, I've come to realize that I most likely write cross-genre. Sci-fi AND romance, not one or the other.

According to the traditional publishing world the definition of the Romance genre is very narrow. The main focus of the book must be the relationship between two people who are in love and the focus must stay there. The general plot goes something like this: Boy meets girl, they fall in love, something happens to jeopardize it, they resolve it, they live happily ever after. If it doesn't fit that, then a major publisher will say - it's not Romance. The rules are strict for that genre. Whether it's clean or not has no effect on whether it's in the genre or not.

So if your book has other plot in it - it automatically becomes something else in a publisher's eyes. You could have some interesting sci fi stuff in your book and if it doesn't move the relationship along then they won't see it as romance.

Some of what the main stream public views as romance technically in the literary world is considered something else. Gone with the Wind is actually Historical Fiction. Jane Austen wrote Realistic Fiction not Romance. (Fun thought - if she had been writing today with a setting of today it would have been Chick Lit!) Margaret Mitchell and Jane Austen had too much in their books that wasn't about the central romance to be considered Romance. Wuthering Heights, however, really is Romance. But you see what I mean.

My point is the publisher may say you aren't writing romance but that doesn't mean a romance loving public won't consider it romance and won't love it. If it has a great love story, that's enough for them. And I think today's readers like extra stuff mixed in their romance anyway. Publishers are a little behind the times so don't worry too much about them.

Rebecca,
Thanks for the insight. It's about what I finally figured out. Though my stories aren't technically romance, that label will work just fine for marketing... and that's what's important to me.

And to everyone.... thank you all, you have been very helpful

I don't read scifi for romance and don't look for that label. However, some I read definitely have romance in them. The Vorkosigan series, for example. Also the now-departed Anne McCaffrey. If you're human, romance is part of the package.

Bonnie,

Yep, even I have finally figured out that romance is part of the human experience. I'm slow, I guess. I'll look up The Vorkosigan series. I've never heard of it but I've always loved Anne MaCaffrey.