MIXING GENRES: FUSION OR CONFUSION? by Linda Gillard

Author Linda Gillard

What do you like to read? Do you like to know exactly what to expect when you open a book? Or do you like to be surprised? Do you stick to favourite authors? Do you read only certain genres or do you like to try something new?

The publishing industry is based on guessing what readers like to read. (I say “guessing” because I’m yet to come across any adult fiction publisher who does reader market research, apart from Harlequin, Mills & Boon.) Sales figures show what readers bought, but not what they enjoyed and there’s a difference between the two, as you’ll know if you’ve ever been disappointed by the gap between what a much-hyped book promised to deliver and what actually lay within its pages.

I write fiction for a living, so I have more than a passing interest in what readers like to read. Over the years, I’ve found myself at odds with editors over this - which brings me to the thorny question of “genre issues”, a problem that has dogged many an author’s career, including mine.

At the beginning of this guest blog I asked what you liked to read. Let me guess… A well-constructed story about interesting, believable characters, told by a distinctive voice. Would I be right in assuming you’d also like this story to be well-written? After that, I’d guess it would be a matter of genre and this is where those of us who love, buy and produce books fall into two different camps.

In one corner we have readers and authors. Readers would like to read the best book ever. Authors, coincidentally, are trying to write the best book ever.

Kindle e-book (£1.90/$2.99)

In the other corner we have publishers and retailers who share a common goal: to sell the largest number of copies ever. I’m sure publishers would also like to publish the best books ever, but actually their priority is volume of sales, not quality of writing. I have many emails from UK and US editors, the kind known as “rave rejections”, in which editors enthuse about my writing, my characters, my original “voice”, but they all end with the same regretful formula, which says, in essence, “We don’t think this will sell, so we don’t wish to commission it.”

When publishers say something won’t sell, they usually mean, “We wouldn’t know how to market it”. Books that don't belong to a clear genre - or belong to more than one - are (it is said) impossible to market and the quite reasonable assumption is that, for something to sell, it has to be marketed. Big budgets and marketing departments are organised around what purports to be a commercial fact of life.

But it no longer seems to be a fact. I’ve sold 12,000 copies so far of my genre-busting Kindle bestseller, HOUSE OF SILENCE . I’m almost unknown, I have no publicist, I don’t have a blog, I didn’t do a Podcast, I didn't give copies away, I don’t even Tweet. My marketing budget was £100 which I spent on a very good cover. Perversely, I advertised the e-book on the Amazon product page as a mix of several genres and my teaser blurb ended: “REBECCA meets COLD COMFORT FARM.” But genre (or lack of one) was apparently not a problem for all the 12,000 readers who’ve clicked. 

So if genre isn't key, how do readers choose what to buy?...

E-books are cheap and there’s a vast range to choose from (much of it dross, it has to be said.) Readers want a good story at a good price. Apart from that, they have a fairly open mind and, for 99p, some aren’t too fussy about literary quality. It appears readers are also happy to step outside their usual genre comfort zone, especially when they can sample the book for free.

Kindle e-book (£1.90/$2.99)

This new way to buy books has led to a proliferation of genres, sub-genres and a lot of creative inter-breeding, so that boundaries have become blurred, genres more complex. I haven’t actually looked to see if you can find gay-dystopian-fantasy-romance on Kindle, but I expect it’s there somewhere. Whatever you want to read (cougar rom-coms, gay nautical historical fiction, Roman romance with gladiators, male or female), someone will be writing it and now, thanks to indie e-books, someone is publishing it. And why not? Bring on the gay gladiators, comic cougars and vegetarian vampires. Put them into the fictional melting pot and see what happens. The result, if well-written, could hardly be dull. Let books find their readers! 

I’m hoping to repeat the unaccountable success of HOUSE OF SILENCE with my latest novel on Kindle. Another hybrid-genre marketing nightmare, UNTYING THE KNOT is a love story about a couple in their 40s who are divorced. From each other. There’s a rom-com subplot, two weddings, some explosions, several war zones, flashbacks (in all senses) and the restoration of a ruined Scottish castle. In short: TWO WEDDINGS AND A FUNERAL meets THE HURT LOCKER. 

They say to be really successful in print publishing, you need to be a brand. Booksellers and supermarkets like brands. They like series. (I’m not sure why. I suspect because they don’t have to be marketed, they can just be advertised with, “OK, here’s more of the same...”) Sadly, Linda Gillard is not a brand, like Jodi Picoult or Sherrilyn Kenyon, but fortunately you don’t have to be a brand to sell e-books. Readers browse and decide whether to click on the strength of the cover, the price, the title, the blurb and the reviews. (Price is a big factor and that’s where indie authors really score.)

Of course with indie e-books, there’s no quality control – something which irritates, even depresses some readers. But at least you can download a free sample which will reveal whether you’re reading the work of a real writer or a deluded amateur. And don’t forget how many books you’ve started, then abandoned, asking, “Who ever thought this was worth publishing?” or even, “Did no one proof-read this book?”

Kindle e-book 86p/$0.99

Quality control has been an issue for years. Editing and proof-reading are expensive services and some publishers decided long ago that money could be saved by cutting a few corners. With the e-book explosion, quality control is now a much bigger issue, but the book world is already adapting. Blogs like this one, websites and Facebook pages are offering e-book recommendations. Even Amazon has realised that, if it’s going to publish all-comers, it needs to give buyers some guidance. They’ve set up a Kindle Indie book store on Amazon.com.  I hope we’ll soon have one on Amazon UK.

 I’m very happy with the latest developments in the book world and I’m thrilled that my books are finding lots of new readers. But I’d like to see a new genre being developed and promoted – not least because I think my novels would sit rather well within this niche. The name of my new genre? Rattling Good Yarns.

It’s a genre everyone will read and enjoy. And it will never go out of fashion.