Today is my last day of work at the day job. I’ve enjoyed my time there and I love all the fabulous people I work with (I think I have the best coworkers in the world!) but I’ve decided to take the leap and write full time. Wish me luck, and expect a lot of posts here in the future about setting up a schedule and etc.
(Yes, I have health insurance.)
Also, it was one year ago today that I sold my novel to Kerri Buckley at Bantam Dell. Happy anniversary, book contract!
Finally, they’ve got my correct cover up at Amazon. Woo hoo!
Okay, on to other stuff. In the comments trail of the last post, the hierophant 
Becca asked:
“Could I ask: How central does a romantic subplot have to be to count a book as a cross genre romance?”
Gosh, I have no idea. I guess my first question is, what do all those terms mean? What do you think of as a romantic subplot? As a cross-genre romance? I know some people who think that ANYTHING that accompanies the word “romance” in the genre description makes it “cross genre, such as “romantic comedy” or “historical romance” or “time travel romance.” I’m not really with them on that one. Is a romantic suspense a cross-genre book, because many of them have huge crossover appeal? (I think books like Allison Brennan’s are probably read by a much different demographic than the romance one.) Or are you talking about the trendy “with romantic elements” kind of story? (Probably, since you said “subplot”.) I’ve heard of a few paranormal romances referred to as cross genre, since they are as much if not more supernatural (i.e., shelved in fantasy or horror) than they are romantic. Bookseller Chick once lamented whether books like Mary Janice Davidson’s Undead series should be shelved in romance or sci fi/fantasy. I suppose that would be as much a reflection of the books’ lack of romance as it would be of their fantasy elements, because there are stories with far, far more complex fantasy worlds that are shelved in romance because the story is totally about love.
Do you see all those keywords in the above paragraph? “Shelved” and “bookseller” and etc? That’s the clue, right there. Cross genre is not really something that you, the writer, decide. The publisher and bookseller decide. If the publisher or bookseller for whatever reason decide that you will sell better in romance than in sci-fi, you’re going to get shelved in romance. You might get shelved in romance at one store and at sci fi in another and in both at a third store, because the guy running that store knows that a lot of his customers know to look for, say, Diana Gabaldon in romance but he also thinks that a lot of people who would love Diana Gabaldon would never look in the romance section and so also shelves her in fiction. (This was actually a big hullabaloo this past year, as some big chain finally officially moved Gabaldon out of romance and into fiction.)
“But,” I see a certain kind of writer say, “I don’t want my books to be romance. I want them to be insert-genre-here.” (I’m not saying this is Becca, mind you. This is just for the sake of discussion.)
Well, that’s nice for you. That and $3.50 will get you a latte at Starbucks. Okay, serioously, there area few things you can do about that. When you speak to your agent about marketing this book, you two decide to market it to mystery houses (if you’re a cross genre mystery) rather than, say, chick lit or romance houses. This is a very popular option right now for the type of book we used to call, unblinkingly, a chick lit mystery. Because the chick lit market is in a slump, the savvy editor is going to go to the publisher with some “fabulous mystery with a snarky, witty voice and a dash of romance” rather than a “chick lit with crime.” Or you might try shopping to a fantasy-centric house before a romance-centric one. But if that fails, your agent is going to sell your cross genre fantasy romance to a romance house and not blink an eye. Because the point is to sell it as best you can, and if a romance house wants it and will do good things for it and pay you a pile of money, then maybe there’s a reason.
Regarding the strength of the subplot though, I haven’t the foggiest, and I’m probably the wrong person to ask, as I question whether or nto the romantic subplot in my first release even counts as “with romantic elements.” I would say that to be legitimately cross-genre, it had better be reasonably strong. In terms of percentages, I dunno. I don’t know if it’s about page numbers or about happy endings or about emotional involvement… I think it depends.
Let’s see what other people think, especially those who are writing cross-genre novels. Julie, that means you.
No, seriously, what do you all think about this question? How do you define “cross genre” and how do you measure the strength of a romantic subplot?
(And go check out Nalini Singh’s blog, where she has a slam book story going on…
April 21st, 2006 at 7:49 am
Congratulations on becoming a full time writer, Diana! What an exciting time in your life. And organization is definitely key. After nine months of full time writing, I still don’t have it down pat yet ;( Let me know if you find any secrets!
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April 21st, 2006 at 8:25 am
Happy Anniversary and best wishes on your new adventure, Diana! I’ve already told you how incredibly jealous I am, but I hope you knock the publishing world out with your brilliance!
Shannon
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April 21st, 2006 at 8:52 am
Lots of changes in your life right now. Congrats on all of them!
Teri
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April 21st, 2006 at 8:57 am
Congrats on the last day, Diana! And I’m so glad you’ve got health insurance (have you told Colleen)
I believe something is only cross-genre if it collapses if you remove any of the crossing elements. Essentially, I write romance/mystery hybrids. If you remove either of those elements from the story, there isn’t a story.
If the romance is central to the storyline, then it “can” be a romance – should it be – well, like Diana said, that’s up to the booksellers and your publisher.
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April 21st, 2006 at 8:58 am
I love this topic, and especially your statement about one’s agent pitching the book in a certain way, to certain houses. That’s exactly what happened with STRAY.
I pitched my book to my agent as urban fantasy, so she knew up front that I wanted to sell it as fantasy, if at all possible. We decided together to pitch it to fantasy editors first. But our Plan B. was to pitch it as paranormal romance, if none of the fantasy editors bit.
It didn’t come to that, fortunately, because I don’t think my books fits particularly well into that category. The romance is only a subplot. (The main plot wouldn’t change if the romance was removed from the book.) Except for Tor’s definition of paranormal romance. I’d have fit that one pretty well, because they want romantic subplots.
Anyway, my point is that we would have pitched it as many different ways as we could, to get someone to bite. I’d have sold it as Paranormal Romance if that’s what it took to get it on the shelf. But in my own mind, it’s not romance. It’s fantasy.
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April 21st, 2006 at 8:59 am
Oh, I forgot, welcome to full-time writing! I hope you love it!
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April 21st, 2006 at 9:10 am
that’s a great explanation, Rachel! And it’s nice to hear I wasn’t just pulling stuff out of thin air when I described that marketing technique.
Having read Jana’s book, I think she’s right about the hybrid nature of her storyline. I think jana could have gone romance or mystery with her book, whereas Rachel’s book would probably have fit uncomfortably within the romance genre.
So maybe Jana’s is “cross genre” and Rachel’s has “elements” of another genre?
Thanks so much for the congrats, guys! Shannon, you’re next! Ann, what is this “schedule” of which you speak?
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April 21st, 2006 at 9:14 am
Congrats on full time writing, Diana! Color me tres jalouse!
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April 21st, 2006 at 9:30 am
Hey Diana! Welcome to the world of self-employment! Have fun and enjoy every minute of it, ’cause it’s wonderful.
(And, yes, Jana, we went over the whole health insurance issue in detail, a few weeks ago. She’s all set, smart girl she is; but I wouldn’t have expected anything different from our Diana!)
Anyway, Diana, I’m glad you raised this issue about cross-genre and where the book is to be shelved, because that’s a discussion point regarding my historical vampire slayer books right now.
Mine aren’t romances–there’s not one hero and one heroine, and there’s no happily ever after (there are actually three heros in the first book, lucky gal!), but there is discussion about the book being marketed/shelved in the romance section.
Yet, there are elements of romance in them. And of course there are the paranormal aspects–the whole vampire world. I don’t know what the final decision will be, but you’re right, it’s the publisher’s decision, really, and for pity’s sake…I need to let them do their job and position the book the way they think it will sell the best.
In speaking of cross-genres, I find it very interesting that most Jenny Crusie books are shelved in the fiction section, not in romance; at least here in my neck of the woods. They are romance, but they’re not in the romance section!
And I was surprised to find Kim Harrison in the Horror section–she felt more like a fiction novelist to me.
Janet E can be found in mystery or fiction, depending on the store.
The interesting thing is what’s on the spine. “Fiction” is so general, it would fit pretty much any book, and seems like it would be good catch-all for those cross-genre ones that could be shelved in different places, depending on the store’s clientele.
Once the word “romance” or “historical romance” or “fantasy” is stamped on the spine, the bookstore doesn’t have as much freedom, in my opinion, to put the book where it might do best for its clientele.
So, for me, I’m voting for “fiction” on my spines…and let the cover, back copy, and excerpts do the rest!
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April 21st, 2006 at 10:00 am
Thank you Diana (and everyone else who has/will answer). My current NiP characters decided a few important things this weekend which left me wondering about how I could query it to agents. The book was originally a fantasy set in the (mostly) real wild west–the area around Fort Laramie, Register Cliff and a portion of the Oregon Trail at the start of the Indian wars. Then the bounty hunter heroine decided to fall for the horse thief she captured.
Absolutely unintended! If she hadn’t, he’d be hung in chapter 2.
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April 21st, 2006 at 10:01 am
Congrats on entering the world of full time writing, Diana!
Here’s hoping you end more of your days fulfilled and with many pages written, and less like I do, scratching my head and saying ‘what the hell did I do all day today?’ *g*
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April 21st, 2006 at 10:03 am
I’ve been called on…and the fact that so many other authors are having experiences with this just solidifies the theory I through out last week on another board about the growing popularity of the hybrid book.
If you took the romance out of my Marisela books, you’d still have a story–and yet, I’m going to be shelved in romance as a romantic suspense on my next book. Why? Well, because I’m a romance writer, even though this particular book–to me–is just “romantic elements.” The publisher put me in trade with Fiction on the spine and my already established readers didn’t find my book. It was a new format, a new bookstore section–all on the heels of being my first single title. My publisher wants to plug back into to my romance audience, so the decision was made.
Do I think my readers will be disappointed by the lack of screen time for the hero(s) and heroine? No. I believe this because those romance readers who DID read the first book loved the sex, banter and back and forth between my characters. What there is of the romance is hot and intense and I hope (hope, hope, hope) this will be enough to satisfy them when a happily-ever-after doesn’t come at the end of the book. Of course, this is a series–it can’t have an HEA in the traditional romance sense or the series is over, IMO.
Another reason I think this could work out is because of the sheer power of the romance genre. Our readers make or break stars. It is my firm belief that certain NY Times bestsellers in other genres broke out of the pack because romance readers discovered them and became rabid fans. The force of that buying power propelled them to the top. You know who I’m talking about. I can think of at least three off the top of my head, but certainly could brainstorm more.
So to return to the original question: “Could I ask: How central does a romantic subplot have to be to count a book as a cross genre romance?”
I think the answer is, like everything in this business, is that it just depends. On what the publisher wants, what marketing sees, how you shop the work (great point, Rachel.) It’s interesting to note that when I first shopped Marisela, we had interest from a straight mystery publisher (the editor bought for both mystery and romance) who wanted me to take all the romance elements (ie, the sex!) out of the book. Luckily, Pocket swooped in and made a better offer that didn’t include changing my vision, which I likely wouldn’t have done anyway. But if I’d been desperate to sell, then the books could have ended up very different from what they are now.
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April 21st, 2006 at 10:04 am
Good God…”threw out” not “through out!”
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April 21st, 2006 at 10:37 am
LOL, Julie, on the typo. We knew what you meant!
BTW, I’m reading Dirty Little Secrets right now and am really loving it!
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April 21st, 2006 at 10:46 am
Congrats on taking the leap. A few questions- what made you decide now was the time? How do you think your writing will change with a new schedule etc? What things did you consider when making the decision? Sorry to come across like a 60 Minutes correspondent- just very interested.
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April 21st, 2006 at 10:52 am
Wow, lots of stuff to respond to. I’ll do the easy ones first:
what made you decide now was the time?
I have a book due in August and it’s not fiished, and I want to be able to land another contract, which means that I need to write ANOTHER book on top of this one. It’s something I’ve been considering for a month or two, and finally determined htat it was feasible.
How do you think your writing will change with a new schedule etc?
Hopefully I’ll get a lot more done, won’t I?
What things did you consider when making the decision?
Budget and health insurance. Could I afford to live on the money I have saved for a given period of time, and could I get good health insurance without outside employment. If I don’t sell more books within the time period I’ve allotted, I’ll look for another job.
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April 21st, 2006 at 11:53 am
Congrats on taking the leap of faith! I wish you lots of luck and success. I wouldn’t have been able to write 3 big books (100K+) in 10 months if I was working full time outside of the house (in addition to the kids!), which would have severely impacted my ability to eventually make a living writing. Sometimes, you need that faith in yourself, hope and courage to give you the added push.
Regarding cross-genre: you’ll be shelved where your publisher thinks you’ll sell the most books. There is so much romance dissing going on (not here, just in general) with people who don’t want to be identified as a “romance writer” because they think this is some kind of bad thing.
Romance sells half of all mass market books out there, and (I think) 40% of all fiction sold. Those are big numbers with lots of readers.
Romance readers are loyal and more willing to try a new author (the one other genre might be big thrillers where debut authors getting hard/soft deals seem to be doing well in the wake of DaVinci). You have a greater chance of breaking out if you start in an area which has the greatest number of readers.
Of course, there are more books pubbed in romance so there’s more competitive. That’s why covers are so important to draw those who might be interested in the cross-genre.
I write romantic suspense. To me, that means I have a hero, a heroine, and they are together at the end of the book. Aside from that, anything goes. I’m on page 221 of my current manuscript and they haven’t even kissed, let alone had sex. They’re in the middle of a murder investigation. (But my heroine did see the hero in boxers and he’s hot
My books are identified as RS on the back cover, but that might be changing with the next release because I’ve done well as a cross-over author–I have romance readers who like me, and suspense readers, which is EXACTLY what I wanted. At the same time, you can’t please everyone all the time. I have some people who picked up my book and thought they were getting a murder mystery and didn’t like the “romance.” I had romance readers who didn’t like the gritty details of the crimes in my book.
I write what I write. I happen to like romance with my suspense. If I had to pigeon-hole me, I’d put me about 70/30 suspense to romance. Probably a lot like Tami Hoag and Iris Johansen’s earlier books before they landed more on the suspense side.
Booksellers are telling me that I’m picking up readers who like Linda Howard, Kay Hooper, and Lisa Jackson. To me, that’s great news. They all hit the NYT list with all their books, so if I can nab their readers I would be a happy camper . . . no matter where they shelve me.
Oh, and on the question of “how much romance” I’d say: however much fits for the story you’re trying to tell. It’s not a formula, not for me anyway. THE HUNT ended up being more “romantic” as well as more of a thriller because it was a reunion story and it dealt with the h/h past and present relationship. THE KILL has a completely different feel because it’s more a police procedural. But that’s the way the story fell.
To build an audience in ANYTHING you write, you’ll find you’ll have your own voice and rhythm, and once you are successful with on book, you need to deliver the same “type” of story for a time before making any major changes. So I’ll be writing gritty romantic suspense for awhile because I don’t take to tick off the readers who like me, and I think I can build more with future books. But at the same time, the story dictates how much “romance” is in the book.
Anyway, I would call your book what YOU think it is and when you sell it your editor will decide where they’ll make the most money with it.
Sorry for the long post!
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April 21st, 2006 at 12:40 pm
Great discussion today! It’s so interesting to see this “shift” in the market with the addition of so many “other” elements. I think that really only makes our genre that much stronger (though it does make shelving harder…).
Congrats on the move to full-time Diana (dare I say I’m jealous of all you full time writers – but y’all definately put in the work to get there!!).
Diana – you mentioned wanting to start work on another book to get your career under way. Is that difficult coming on the heels of SSG and SSG2? What about for the rest of you authors (Allison – has it been difficult to come up with the concept to follow up on your trilogy?). Just wondering what it’s like to take that step towards “what’s next…” and how planning for a career factors into those decisions.
Sorry for the big questions
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April 21st, 2006 at 1:27 pm
Actually, Carrie, I’m hoping that “what’s next” is SSG3… but I’m hardly there yet…
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April 21st, 2006 at 3:10 pm
Carrie, I’m never at a loss for ideas, so coming up with a trilogy concept wasn’t difficult. The trilogy is similar to my first trilogy where each book focuses on a serial killer. The connecting theme is both “cyberspace” (each crime is somehow related to the Internet) and a San Diego Irish-Cuban family.
I brainstormed with my editor some of the plot ideas, and I still don’t know who the hero of book three is . . . I said that when I get the two possible men in the same room with the heroine, I’ll know
I already have an idea for the NEXT trilogy, should I be offered another three book contract, as well as several stand alone or series ideas.
In terms of career planning, you’ll only see me writing romantic suspense, at least for the time being. I think it’s important to build a base before branching out. But because I write on the suspense side of RS, I think I have a little more room provided I have a strong relationship in the book.
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April 21st, 2006 at 7:52 pm
Thanks Diana and Allison for your thoughts (and thanks Diana for letting me coopt your blog comment section for my own questions!).
Diana SS3 sounds great – I didn’t know if you were planning on taking it past 2 or not. I was curious because you said that when you wrote SSG that you broke the rules and I wondered what came next after breaking the rules so succesfully.
Happy writing!
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April 21st, 2006 at 8:21 pm
Thanks, Colleen! I hope it works for you all the way to the end. Please let me know!
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April 22nd, 2006 at 12:52 am
Congratulations and good luck on becoming a full-time author Diana!
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April 22nd, 2006 at 11:32 pm
Wow, I totally envy you! Congrats on going full time and on your anniversary as well. Cyber champagne seems in order!
Can’t wait to read your book!
Delilah Dawson
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