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But lately, there\u2019s been a lot of cross- and mis-labeling going on inside genre fiction, leading readers to scratch their heads and wonder, \u201cThis isn\u2019t X. Why did they put it on X shelf?\u201d<\/p>\nLabels are terribly useful to the majority of human beings. I find them useful insofar as I understand the definition of the label used, although this is usually a 50\/50 proposition for me. As a method of efficient inventory control and meeting customer expectations, genre labels simply can\u2019t be beat. The publisher knows which buyer to go to and the bookseller knows where to shelve it.<\/p>\n
But lately, there\u2019s been a lot of cross- and mis-labeling going on inside genre fiction, leading readers to scratch their heads and wonder, \u201cThis isn\u2019t X. Why did they put it on X shelf?\u201d<\/p>\n
Science fiction with romantic elements or a science fiction romance or a romance with a science fiction backdrop?<\/p>\n
Fantasy, ditto above permutations.<\/p>\n
Paranormal, ditto above permutations.<\/p>\n
Speculative fiction\/steampunk\/cyberpunk, ditto above permutations.<\/p>\n
Suspense, ditto above permutations.<\/p>\n
Erotic! and ditto above permutations.<\/p>\n
Mystery, ditto above permutations.<\/p>\n
Spy, ditto above permutations.<\/p>\n
Whatever other genres I missed, ditto above permutations.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
A reader may or may not be willing to go along with the story regardless what it is and where it takes them (that\u2019s the kind of reader I am), but some buy books specifically on spine label, cover cues, and back blurb so that they can get exactly (or pretty close to it) what they want.<\/p>\n
Today, some independent publishing friends and I have been discussing our books, about how disparate our stories are, how we view ourselves in completely different genres, and how our books all have one thing in common: They are not classifiable, except by \u201cdrama.\u201d (Well, why can\u2019t<\/em> \u201cdrama\u201d be its own genre? Or is it? I don\u2019t see it used anywhere.) They\u2019re all a mix, all dark and gritty, with romance and a happily-ever-after<\/em><\/strong> (the one and only real requirement to be considered romance).<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know how to classify The Proviso<\/em><\/a>. I never did. Drama? Yeah, plenty of that. Family saga? Check. Epic? Uh, most definitely, as it takes place over the course of 5 years. But epic what<\/em>? I can\u2019t think of a book I could compare it to. Healthy doses of religion and spirituality mixed in with money and explicit sex? What?<\/em> What\u2019s anybody supposed to do with that? It\u2019s not LDS romance\/literature\/fiction (defined as anything that could be sold at Deseret Book\/Seagull), although I could call it Mormon fiction if a criteria of \u201cMormon\u201d is that a Mormon wrote it. I call it a romance because I see myself as a romance writer.<\/p>\n
The editors at one publishing house liked The Proviso<\/em>, passed it around to get a roundtable opinion, but ultimately rejected it. \u201cWe don\u2019t know where to put it. The religion isn\u2019t going to go over with our erotic romance readers and the explicit sex isn\u2019t going to go over with our inspirational readers.\u201d That was good to know.<\/p>\n
I know that RJ Keller, whose Waiting for Spring<\/em><\/a>, got the attention of several agents, was told that she would have to extensively revise her book to be commercially viable. Most egregiously, she\u2019d have to cut out the drug references, except \u2026 the drugs is the keystone of her plot. Hello? She finds her book marketed on all the free sites as a romance, but she does not consider herself a romance author.<\/p>\n
Kel pointed me in the direction of Lauri Shaw, whose book, Servicing the Pole<\/em><\/a> (that title\u2019s as ballsy as using The Bewbies for my cover), had a lot of interest, but would have required extensive changes in order for it to be considered commercial. This is from Ms. Shaw\u2019s website<\/a>:<\/p>\n
However, when professionals who were interested in selling my work insisted I\u2019d need to make drastic changes to Servicing the Pole<\/em> to make it a commercial prospect, I had to ask myself if the end justified the means. After all, these people were able to guarantee me little to nothing on the front end.<\/p>\n
I was told that the book was too dark. That I\u2019d have better luck catching the reader\u2019s fancy if I made the story into something upbeat. The suggestion I took the most issue with, though, was that I ought to transform Emily into a more \u2018likeable\u2019 character. To do so would have been to change virtually every theme in this story.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m proud of the story I\u2019ve written. It\u2019s a story I can stand behind.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Servicing the Pole<\/em> also has a happily-ever-after (or at least a happily-for-now), but I don\u2019t know how Ms. Shaw labels herself as a writer, as I have not spoken with her.<\/p>\n
Note: Our books are all dark, gritty, nasty, twisted, with a happily-ever-after. That is what\u2019s genre-busting about them.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
You<\/em> can call \u2019em drama or epics or family sagas, or whatever you want.<\/p>\n
Kel calls \u2019em \u201cgritty romance.\u201d<\/p>\n
Gritty romance.<\/p>\n
I like it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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