Goodreads Authors/Readers discussion

Hey all

I am trying to find and connect w/ self pub authors who feel they don't fall into typical genre fiction categories (such as, YA, romance, paranormal, etc).

I am trying to build some community to give opportunities for people who aren't writing in popular genre categories to connect with one another. Why? Well, it seems there are some of us out there but we are having a hard time finding one another.

If you don't write in genre fiction and are interested, please contact me. Maybe I am misguided in thinking I'm not the only one out there. But it is hard to find 'who your reader is' and who you can connect with when you are not writing for genre writers in the self publishing game.

Hi James,

I've written four novels, all fall into different genres. I've recently published my first. I think there are more of us out here than we know.

John

Cemetery Street

I write both heavily cross-genre works (or a few straight genre works) AND poetry. I've self-published a book of my poetry, so I fall on both sides of the divide.

I'm also working on a self-published nonfiction book.

Brenna

I have self published 2 Australian poetry books with a 3rd about to be published by an American publisher.

I've self published three children's books, but I suppose they are a genre, but not Y/A, Adult, or Romance. One is Children's Fantasy Adventure, one adventure with an animal, and the other is a humorous chapter book for reluctant readers.

I write in multiple genres with 3 books published and a WIP to be released in fall/winter. One of the books I currently have published spans 4 genres itself (Fantasy, Science Fiction, Mythology, Legend), not to mention it has some elements of romance and historical fiction. Generally, I list that book as fantasy, but the main theme is adventure.

It’s been hell trying to figure out what bin to sell it in!

Hi fellow authors.
My two independently published novels, AN UNCOMMON FAMILY and LOVE OF A STONEMASON cross genres. They are love stories but also deal with relationships between family members and friends as well as with art. They are general fiction with romance elements and take place in different countries and continents. I also have a traditionally published book of poems, PATH OF FIRE.
I always scratch my head when I have to assign a genre label to my novels.

hey all - thanks for hopping in on this! It is relieving :)

I suppose I am in a place where, I personally am having a hard time finding people who write similar work to the work I am publishing. It is so hard to feel "genreless" in this community?

Your comments got me wondering, how do you guys deal with this issue and try and find opportunities to build community? I am trying to come up with some strategies and make some moves!

I've written 2 novels which are contemporary adult novels. The Old Mermaid's Tale has themes of romance and of history but is certainly not contemporary romance. Each Angel Burns has themes of romance and themes of mystery but is not genre romance or mystery.

I've also written a book on knitting lace shawls, The Mermaid Shawl and other beauties and a cookbook/memoir about growing up Pennsylvania Dutch Fry Bacon. Add Onions.

Also lots of short stories....

I believe that in the world of commercial book publishing there's a genre designation for every kind of book and you've got to slot yourself right to reach the right readers. For example, in my opinion in addition to her poetry Christa writes literary fiction. Yes, there's a love story, but her books are a serious attempt to deal with real issues of the human condition, not romantic fancies. I write in several genres but have only published thrillers so far. I hope to bring out a work of literary fiction soon.

I like to call my novel THE BREVITY OF ROSES literary women's fiction. It's about love, but also about dealing with grief and letting go of the past. Definitely character driven, with literary elements such as the use of symbolism and metaphor.

It's a struggle to pigeon hole for marketing purposes. Sometimes I wish I wrote straight genre.

It doesn't much matter what you call your book. Someone else will disagree and call it something different. I called my first book paranormal romance, and my publisher agreed. Reviewers called it everything from epic urban fantasy to neopagan parable to adventure to mystery/thriller. Shrug. There's no accounting for what others will come out of your work saying.

thats a great point! i think in target marketing though, wouldn't it matter?

Brenna wrote: "It doesn't much matter what you call your book. Someone else will disagree and call it something different. I called my first book paranormal romance, and my publisher agreed. Reviewers called it e..."

Making genre designations for marketing purposes is tricky. For example, going to a Romance thread and saying your book contains a love story probably won't get you anything except some pissed off potential readers if your book isn't truly a Romance. And so on. I feel that if my book is not truly a thriller or a romance or what have you, I should tell potential readers it's literary fiction, which it is, and describe the plot as best I can without giving it away. Of course, some books cross genres and can be listed in more than one place.

Lee is correct that you have to choose your audience well. Where you choose to promote...and how you do is very important.

In addition, make effective blurbs. You don't want carbon copy blurbs, because that's the way to end up in diminishing returns, but... A blurb should ideally be written in the tone and voice of the book. A blurb should ideally reflect the information readers of your target audience expect to see in a blurb. Blurbs should ideally not reveal anything more than three chapters into a novel length or 10% into a short story.

As author, it is YOUR JOB to define your book for your personal marketing. Your publisher (if you have one) will further define it, in fitting it into their lines of books and attaching it to like books to encourage cross-readership by established readers of their works.

Remember, you don't have to use the blurb the publisher gives you (again, if you have one). Some publishers are notorious for creating copycat blurbs.

I agree with Brenna about the importance of blurbs. Writing them is an art form in itself. What skill I gained in writing them I learned from writing submissions (unsuccessful) to literary agents.

Nearly every first contact in this business is based on blurbs, from query letter to meeting with an agent to sale blurbs. You must be able to write them. If you fail in that respect, you don't sign with an agent or editor, and you don't sell the book to prospective readers.

I teach a free class on blurb writing, and I'd be glad to give anyone that wants the outline/notes a copy. Just email me at lyonsden4168(at)comcast(dot)net (THIS IS THE CORRECTED ADDRESS. MY APOLOGIES FOR INITIALLY POSTING IT INCORRECTLY.)

B

One thing puzzles me, Brenna, how come I can write blurbs that sell books, but not ones that entice agents? Not that I'm looking for an agent anymore.

Agents are very different animals than readers. They are looking for books specifically that not only entice them but also that they think they will have an easy time selling to the publishers they specifically deal with.

Now, agents work primarily (some solely) with NY conglomerate publishing. Conglomerate doesn't turn on the dime indie or self-publishing does. It's not as responsive to readers. Conglomerate turns on a railroad turnstyle, and they tend to do a lot of copycat and diminishing returns work. Yes, you see some breakout books in conglomerate, but the bulk of what you see is copycat offerings that piggyback on the success of the blockbuster that paved the way for them. Then you'll see another blockbuster.

This is why you sometimes see conglomerate folks and agents telling people "X is dead. Y is in." What really happened is that they beat the copycats in X to death, and Y is the next blockbuster hit they are building on...until they kill reader interest in Y and move onto Z...or eventually back to X, when the readers have had long enough to realize they miss that sort. It's not that X is truly dead. In fact, there are often people clamoring for it in indie and self-publishing, but they don't want the tired old storyline/copycat book. They want something new and interesting in the genre.

So, you send in a query letter to the agent. Maybe your query shows that you have a true breakout book, and that scares the heck out of the agent, because it's not the flavor of the month and not the easy sell. Maybe your query shows that you're writing a new twist on something conglomerate has pronounced dead. Yours has a chance to sell, but it's scary, because the agent thinks the editors will trash it out of hand, because it's not the flavor they are looking for this year.

Or maybe...and this is one of my personal problems, they just don't know how to fit it into their line. Dark fantasy/dark romance...gritty dark...has been big in indie for the last decade+, but conglomerate still doesn't take it into primarily romance and sometimes not into fantasy lines. Once every few years, I check in with an agent I know and ask her about it, and she keeps telling me that they aren't willing to take a chance on what I write, because it's different...and that's scary to them. While different is the lifeblood of indie/self, it's a numbers game in conglomerate, and they don't like the odds, no matter how poorly their current number game is serving them.

very interesting thread! I think I'm going to email you about the blurb. I have written, rewritten, and re-rewritten my blurb to the point that I think I found it lying on the floor last night gasping for air, accusing me of abuse.

Brenna wrote: "Nearly every first contact in this business is based on blurbs, from query letter to meeting with an agent to sale blurbs. You must be able to write them. If you fail in that respect, you don't si..."

Brenna, I would really love a copy of your outline/notes as you've offered. The blurbs are surely one of my weaknesses and I need to improve. There were other reasons but I'll admit that a certain amount of intimidation writing these contributed to my self-publishing decision for my novel, Earth Bound.

I tried to email you at the address you posted, both from here and another server (obviously replacing the 'at' and 'dot' appropriately) but I'm getting a delivery 502 error from both.

Julie

Brenna, doesn't help to offer something and not have a valid address, nor answer the concern.

Stuart,

NO ONE is online 24 hours a day. I'm sorry that you seem to think I should be, but I have spent the last day mainly offline, while a room was gutted for repairs.

My apologies that the email address was incorrect. It should have read lyonsden4168(at)comcast(dot)net. I was mixing two email addresses together. Just a typo on my part, more or less.

Brenna

It's hard to classify my novels. Suspense seems a general catch all for it.

"Escape from Second Eden" is listed as suspense because it has espionage in it. Also as a thriller because of the action and the ticking clock. But it has a strong female protagonist which makes it chick lit. It has elements of romance between a married couple, but not sure if it would classify in that category fully although I've had many romance readers read it and enjoy it. It could be listed under adventure because the main action takes place in a foreign country.

While I understand the need for classifying books to sell to a particular audience. Picking just one genre can be a difficult thing. What this does show is how crossovers are made. The appeal stretches across quite a few markets and no reader has been disappointed that I've heard about.

Oh, and I am self-published. That is by choice not from lack of offers for representation and publication.

Jo

I'm not sure if the book I've decided to self publish genre or not, but I know it's not one of the main categories. It's a humor book. Not a humor/thriller or a humor/fantasy, but just humor. There is a romance, but it's not romantic.

And then there's the literary-horror novel that I'm trying to publish through traditional means. I have no clue if that's going to end up self-published, but I'm going to wait until I actually hear back many times over before I make that decision. I self published the humor book because it was already technically published as a web-novel on a friend's website. I'm still trying to decide what to do with the rest of my work.