Why I don’t focus on one genre…
In my extended series (“Detectives Chen & Castilblanco” is the longest at seven books), I often avoid focusing on one genre. My stand-alone books can be in any genre, or multiple genres, too. Other authors and marketing gurus have told me that’s a mistake, that I’d sell more books if I would only pick one genre and stuck to it. Maybe they’re right? (If you’re an author, express your thoughts in the comments.)
First, let me emphatically state that I don’t write my stories to become rich. I write them to entertain readers. If each book entertains at least one reader, I consider it a success. My bar’s not high because, even when I started to publish my stories, competition was ferocious, and it’s only become worse. I never expected to publish any bestsellers. My goal was simply to have some fun storytelling and to entertain a few readers in the process.
Second, I could never be happy sticking to one genre. I only assign genres and other keywords when I publish a book. Up to that point, I just tell the story, a process which is unfettered by constraints on themes and plots, settings and dialogue, and other novelistic elements. Each story carries the Moore brand, of course—my mix of story elements that’s probably as unique to me as fingerprints or DNA—and yet I’ll experiment. The result is hard to describe with a few keywords, and that’s all genres are.
Third, being somewhat an old curmudgeon with a leprechaun’s twinkle in my eye—the blarney in me, if you will—I’m just as likely to wander through that vast forest of genres and subgenres that critics have created as I mimic a wise old owl flitting to various perches to hoot at the folly of those who try to pin me down…and enjoying it all immensely.
The only people who really need genres (and only out of habit, mind you) are librarians and bookstore clerks who have to figure out where to shelve and display a book, and reviewers and critics who feel the need to pigeonhole the book in some way. And all that is especially irrelevant for ebooks—most of my books have no print version! (I only use those for book events, which have become non-existent during Covid. They’re expensive to produce, so I won’t produce any more either. My apologies to those of you still living in mid-twentieth century.)
When I start a story, I have no idea whether it will become a short story, novella, or novel. And I don’t really care how readers and pundits categorize it when it’s finished. I focus on the story. Traditional constraints are largely irrelevant now in this new world of publishing. Genre is one of those.
When I finish a story, though, genres might appear among the keywords. I often doubt that “post-apocalyptic thriller” helps readers when eyeing novels in “The Last Humans” series, or “mystery/thriller” helps readers deciding to purchase books in the “Detectives Chen & Castilblanco” or “Esther Brookstone Art Detective” series, simply because I focus more on the book blurbs when selecting my own reading material. But, just in case genres are of some use to book-buyers and others, I include them in keywords (I can’t help how online retailers’ search engines work).
And maybe genres are more of a warning to readers? I certainly use “romance,” “erotica,” “horror,” “psychological thriller,” and a few others in that way to avoid choosing some books I know I probably won’t like. I try to keep an open mind, though. It’s always possible the author, publicist, or retailer has incorrectly categorized a book. (A local Barnes & Noble shelved my Rembrandt’s Angel in their arts section!). A sharp reader allows for human error and focuses on the blurb and a “peek inside.”
Selecting one’s reading material isn’t easy. By focusing on blurbs and the “peek inside” options (equivalent to browsing at a bookstore), one can protect oneself from purchasing a book they’ll maybe start but never finish. (Maybe I should write some lessons akin to my free download “Writing Fiction” about how to buy books? Of course, most avid readers are already experts at that!)
***
Comments are always welcome.
A. B. Carolan’s Origins: The Denisovan Trilogy, Book One. Kayla Jones has dreams she can’t understand. Her future seems determined as the brilliant STEM student who looks forward to a research career, but her past gets in the way. As if the chaos afflicting the world and leading to her adopted father’s death wasn’t enough, killers begin to pursue her. With some friends who come to her aid, she’s on her way to discover a conspiracy that can be traced to prehistoric battles waged by hominids bent on conquest of a primitive Earth. An ebook for young adults and adults who are young-at-heart, only available on Smashwords and its affiliated retailers (iBooks, B&N, Kobo, etc.) and library and lending services (Scribd, Overdrive, Gardners, etc.)
Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
