What do you write?
Right now, I’m actively working on three books. I’m in the middle of edits on a fairy tale adaptation, J. Scott Coatsworth and I are finishing up a portal fantasy, and I’m about a third of the way through a cozy mystery. My backlist includes science fiction, horror, fantasy, and gay romance in just about every imaginable subgenre. So when people ask me what I write, my response is often a pause and then, “Uh… everything?”
I’ve read advice to authors that says we should stick to our brand. This makes sense from a sales point of view. If a reader is in the mood for, say, Sapphic suspense, dystopian YA, or historical romance set in ancient Greece, then it’s helpful for them to know exactly where they can find those books. Sticking to a brand also means that if someone reads your paranormal gay romance and loves it, they won’t buy your newest book and be unpleasantly surprised that it’s a mystery instead. Also, a lot of authors simply love one particular genre and choose to remain happily in that lane.
Clearly, I’m not one of those authors—and I haven’t heeded that advice. The thing is, I love to read multiple genres, and I love to write them too. I would feel way too confined and unhappy if I had to choose only one.
There are various ways to deal with being a genre-hopper. You can use a different pen name for each genre. But I find it exhausting to maintain social media for and keep track of even one me; I’m not up to many mes. Amy Lane has an ingenious method of working with only one pen name: she color-codes her books by subgenre. I’m not that organized, unfortunately.
I attempt to deal with the issue by having covers and blurbs that (I hope) clearly telegraph what kind of book is inside. I’ve also tried to identify themes that are common to all of my books. Most of my protagonists are queer, for example. And my author tagline (which Amy Lane helped me create when we shared a flight back to California) is “Authentic Voices and Unconventional Heroes,” which I think sums up all my stories pretty well.
The reason why I write in multiple genres is simple: I don’t write well if it’s not fun for me. Sometimes what’s fun is writing about roguish spaceship captains. Sometimes it’s a romance in a magical version of Victorian Cornwall. Sometimes it’s a drifter stopping over in a foothills town and falling for the bartender. It all depends on my mood and, of course, my fickle but demanding muse. I hope that my faithful readers will follow me into genres that are new to them or that they previously thought they disliked. Fingers crossed.
I don’t know if my methods are the best for selling lots of books. But they keep writing enjoyable for me, and in the end, I think that’s what’s important.