Historicals are a hard sell.
Westerns are dead.
It’s harder now than ever to get published.
Hot is in. If you want to sell, write hot sex.
Where is the next Desperate Housewives ms?
I’m listening to all of this talk flying around the loops and listservs, and I shudder. I can just picture all the many writers who are now tossing perfectly good, original mss to the side to write the next sex-heavy Desperate Housewives story. I saw a thread the other day where at least a dozen writers mentioned their intention to try writing erotica. I shook my head. Nothing wrong with that, all avenues should be explored if you truly have an interest. However, I think a lot of this is just trying to write what they think will sell. I hope I’m wrong.
Loops and listservs are great highways of information and I like to think of the author out there who has had her Desperate Housewives story sitting in a drawer for too long and being genuinely helped by this new trend. I don’t like to think about the passionately western historical author with her sweet romance setting aside what she loves to write something outside her scope just to sell. In those instances I think too much information can be harmful.
I heard a different story LOL Of course it’s all second hand! I heard Jennifer Enderlin at St Martins was calling for “really gritty really sexy westerns” at the last RWA convention. This RT just past rumours editors are looking for historicals that are in new and different time periods.
Facts are better to go on, though, so here’s one from Jess Michaels at ww.passionatepen.com: “the July Historical Releases, which I added to the site this month? Did you see how many new historical authors are listed, debut authors? EIGHT, people. EIGHT debut releases. You may not realize the awesome-ness of this. A year ago, there might have been one and that would have been a big month. So what does it mean? Well, obviously the publishers are accepting new historical authors.”
So you can stop shuddering now.
on May 10th, 2005 at 11:50 am
See? Exactly!
There’s nothing wrong with targeting your stories. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be published.
There’s nothing wrong with writing in different sub-genres.
I just hate to see people setting their beautiful eggs in someone else’s basket.
on May 10th, 2005 at 11:54 am
Not to mention getting lost in the huge crowd of similar submissions when the original work may have stood out for being, uh, original!
on May 10th, 2005 at 12:07 pm
I totally agree. Trends come and go and what doesn’t work today could very well work tomorrow.
on May 10th, 2005 at 12:35 pm
Erotica is not for everyone. I happen to like writing it, especially that of the male/male variety, but that is not everyone’s cup of tea. There are publishers out there that are willing to publish what you write. If there is no market for it now, who is to say that won’t change in six months to a year.
on May 10th, 2005 at 1:50 pm
I’ve come to the conclusion that staying off the loops or reading them for fun only, not as the gospel, is the only way to survive. You could go absolutely nutty listening to all the well-meaning, and many times conflicting, advice out there.
on May 10th, 2005 at 6:56 pm
It’s always a hard sell. The myth that anyone could toss off a story and get it published is just that — a myth. Chasing after trends sends people into a tizzy and they are so busy trying to fit themselves into the market that they tend to lose themselves.
I remember listening to a lot of people who were telling me that if I wanted to sell I had to write this or that. Guess what happened when I listened to them? I didn’t sell and I ended up losing my own voice and direction, so burned out that I spent two years basically wandering in the wilderness before I found my way again.
You have to write what speaks to you. Sometimes it means you swim upstream.
on May 10th, 2005 at 9:23 pm
Well, as I read the latest Black Lace guidelines, the editor there is looking for authors who are genuinely commited to writing erotica and love the genre, *not* people who are rushing into writing it because they’ve been told it’s ‘what’s selling now’…
I’m no industry expert or insider, but I’d guess that *all* editors want mss from writers who have a natural gift for what they’re writing, not ones who’ve thought, like, ‘Oh, I must write X kind of book because everyone says that’s what eds want now’, regardless of where their natural writing inclination is.
As everyone’s said above, trends cycle and recycle, and I’m sure you stand a better chance of success by writing to your strengths rather than forcing yourself to write against them because of some temporary market blip.
Having said that, of course, sometimes when you try something new, you find you have a knack and a love for it and it really works out! But I bet there are loads of people trying to write erotica now who really don’t actually honour the genre at all…
on May 10th, 2005 at 11:35 pm
“As everyone’s said above, trends cycle and recycle, and I’m sure you stand a better chance of success by writing to your strengths rather than forcing yourself to write against them because of some temporary market blip.”
Love that. Someone told me I should write an erotica because it’s hot right now. Um…yeah, but could I write straight erotica well? I don’t think so. It’s not where my strength lies.
I’m writing what I WANT to write, where I feel my voice and style fits best. I wouldn’t be happy if I got published because I wrote something JUST to get published, but didn’t really like it. In fact, I can’t imagine anything worse.
on May 11th, 2005 at 6:41 am
[...] w. But I know I’m a richer writer for having my editor. Soooo… going with my previous post, please try to filter the advice you get. A lot of advice is useful and a great teach [...]
on May 11th, 2005 at 8:07 pm