REVISING YOUR WRITING
Adapting to and Surviving in a Changing Publishing Market
copyright Lisa Chaplin 2006
“Chick Lit is dead.”
“Historicals are on the wane.”
“Paranormal is HOT!”
“Contemporary mainstreams MUST be set in America.”
“Sagas are OUT.”
“The category market’s shifting – shrinking. They won’t take on any new authors, especially from down under.”
I’m sure you all, like me, have heard these “truisms” bandied about this past year or two. Yet Marian Keyes and Stephanie Laurens among many authors would beg to differ on their genres falling away – they’re constantly on bestseller lists. The American success of Keri Arthur’s urban fantasies – all set in Melbourne, Australia – would also seem to have broken that truth. Anna Jacobs, who writes sagas very well, is laughing all the way to the bank. Paranormal seems to have a cyclical wax and wane every ten years or so, as Barbara Clendon mentioned at the conference. As to category, after years of expansion they’re returning their focus to where it sells best – and there are greater opportunities for new authors than ever before – just ask Karina Bliss, Abby Gaines, Maxine Sullivan and Paula Roe, all bought in the past year or so.
So why did I quote these “truisms” if they aren’t true? To show you what I am not talking about in “Adapting to and Surviving in a Changing Publishing Market”. I’m not advising you to slavishly follow every new trend in the hopes of selling something, anything. It’s about finding yourself as a writer in the surging seas of trends. It’s about being at the head of the market instead of being a bestseller’s also-ran author: to become a leading light rather than a torch behind someone else. Think locally for this: Nalini Singh’s new series with Berkley; Helen Kirkman’s Viking books. Just two I can think of that have brought something new into a changing market – and Nalini in particular has adapted her core voice into a new type of book and not merely survived, but flourished!
There is always a balance in this job. It’s like walking a tightrope at times. The biggest thing to remember is that you are not indispensable. If you stop writing, they’ll find someone (one of twenty thousand someones) to replace you. Some big name authors brag that they have clauses in their contracts that editors can’t edit their work – but, as a reader said to another when one author made this claim: “Yes, and I can tell you exactly in which book that clause began.”
In this job, arrogance is stupidity, as a lot of long-time authors can testify when the market shifts and they’re suddenly told, “Do not submit.” Yup – it happens to big names, too. In the shifting waters of category romance in the past two years, there have been casualties that have shocked me, but it taught me a lesson: never take your place in publishing for granted. You’re only EVER as good as your next book, and your sales.
Regarding following trends, this has a massive attendant danger. Publishers have published and promoted many paranormal authors as ‘the next (insert big name here), certainly – but when the phenomenon wanes the big names remain, and the also-rans fade into obscurity, trying to find another publishing home. So don’t try to be the next Nora, especially while Nora’s still at the top of her game. Stephanie Laurens is still going strong. Janet Evanovich owns the bounty hunter chick lit genre – at least for now. Jennifer Crusie and Vicki Lewis Thompson are still at the top of screwball comedy romance. Helen Fielding, Marian Keyes, Freya North and Jennifer Weiner are among the definitive chick lit writers.
So how do you stay ahead of the market? How do you begin a trend all your own, so you aren’t the next Nora, but the first YOU?
By writing what you love, adore – and by taking chances with risky stories others may be shocked at. By not shifting your story with the wind of every piece of feedback you receive (and I’m not talking about correcting writing flaws here – I trust my CPs’ judgments implicitly, and make what changes are necessary to improve my work). What I’m talking about is the “they’ll never publish something like that” comments, or judge’s very subjective comments, who might say “this will never sell” (tick: yup, had that with Her Galahad). Or even the editor who’s having a bad day, or doesn’t like your style or that book (again, tick – I don’t know how many times!).
One thing you learn in this business: “No” isn’t eternal…and sometimes that definitive “no” can become “yes” in the eyes of the right editor for you.
So how do we find the right editor? How do we adapt – and survive – in a constantly changing market? I did this by finding my best voice – which was not, to my shock, romantic suspense, but deep, emotional family stories.
And now we get the real point of today’s workshop: finding your core, your one thing that remains constant in every book you write, no matter for which line or genre it’s aimed.
Does this confuse you? Well, for example, Jayne Ann Krentz writes under three different names, in contemporary, historical and in fantasy – but in a recent workshop she said her core story – the archetypes in character – will always remain constant. That’s her core and she sticks to it. What’s Nora Roberts’ core? In my opinion, it’s characterization. Her characters grab you by the heart and don’t let go, yet they’re nothing like Nicholas Sparks’ characters that can do the same, because his core is again characters, set in the deep, emotional weepie. Same core, different adaptation: that’s what it’s all about. Uniqueness in similar cores, because each of us as a writer is unique.
Two years ago I would have told you my core was action/suspense – but thanks to my current editor, I know differently. As I spoke about in a recent article, my core is emotional depth – risking emotional suicide – and no matter what kind of book I write the focus remains constant.
When I was invited to write for Romance, my current editor said she wanted my emotionally risky stories. In a line still seen as old-fashioned traditional (at least by outsiders – I think most of the authors would give you a different opinion on it!), I’m doing stories about the Stolen Generation and special-needs families, grief and disappearance: deep stories that “could happen to you”. And I love every challenge-filled moment of it.
Every book I’ve written so far for Romance bucks a common ‘rule’ about what Romance will accept – and I’m not talking about sex, as none of mine have sex scenes (though others can and do!). I’m talking about storylines that have made my books stand out: the Stolen Generation and special-needs families, a pregnant heroine refusing her family’s and hero’s pressure to agree to a marriage of convenience, and a hero who can’t reach out to the heroine when he could still be married, and he can’t find his runaway wife. Those are mere plotlines, I know, and every writer would handle them differently – but with my core applied to each one, emotional suicide combined with a tendency to turn established “romance rules” on their heads – the stories become mine alone.
So what I’m asking you here is to begin to open your minds: don’t simply think, yeah, emotional depth, I’ve got that, or yeah, characters – because I was wrong about my core, and because of that I floundered around in ‘Rejectionville’ for two years before I sold to Romance.
As Barbara and Peter Clendon can tell you – or my critique group – many people, including judges and an editor, believed I’d never sell Her Galahad to category romance, because of its risky content and Aboriginal hero. I was also told Long-Lost Father would never sell: who wants to be depressed by reading about special-needs kids? Romance is fantasy, right? reality is what readers live – they want stories about the impossible becoming possible!
Yet I keep selling those stories…and didn’t sell my more traditional ‘rule book’ romances. I’m not saying those fantasy romances aren’t necessary, because they are – for many readers. Bestseller lists prove that. Yet there is obviously a niche market for what I do, or it wouldn’t sell.
I’ve learned to take similar risks with my historicals. In a so-called shrinking historical romance market I’m writing a longer historical romantic suspense. The sex begins in chapter four. Then my pregnant heroine is put into Newgate Prison, and set to hang for high treason. It has spy action, family secrets and sadistic abuse. This story had finalled in three out of five contests I’ve entered, and it currently with a senior editor (here’s hoping!).
For the ancient historical, I’ve set it in first person, in a series of letters from the adulteress mother to her son the world’s wisest king, who has lost his way and is set to destroy his nation and his family for the sake of an obsessive, unrequited love. I’m writing about his descent from wisdom, love, wealth and power into tyranny and madness, seen through the eyes of the women who loved him – and I am turning the traditional beliefs about King Solomon on their heads.
Why am I continually taking these risks? Because I believe in my stories – and breakout writers have all been the first to sell something different that everyone said wouldn’t sell. Tolkien, Gabaldon, Cornwell, Diamant – you know the names: I don’t need to repeat any more. Those writers became big because they found their core talent and used to write risky stories, wrote bigger than the market demanded or with quirks that no one else thought of. Think it was a coincidence that they not just sold, but into the millions? And the more traditional stories some of those authors had published afterwards disappointed their excited public? I don’t think so…
There are few new words in the English language: it’s not just a matter of how you write. What you write, and what you write with, can be the key to a career that makes your name big.
As you can tell, I’m not alone with my story – and not in romance, either. My critique partners all have similar stories to tell, and on first sales like me.
You may have heard of historical author Diane Gaston/Diane Perkins, writing for Harlequin Historicals and Warner? She sold her first book with a prostitute heroine every publishing house and judge said would never sell. As she said to me, “I purposefully wrote the prostitute heroine so I could have a sex scene in Chapter 1 and make the book stand out.” After lucking out in the 2001 Golden Heart she re-entered in the same contest and category, that dark, sexy, risky story without changing a single word, won it and sold the book (The Mysterious Miss M), and sold to Warner within weeks as well. And now, she’s carving out a wonderful, award-winning career for herself by writing about ‘the dark underbelly’ of the Regency period, with characters that continue to make the reader gasp…and her adoring readers lap up every book.
Mia Zachary, Blaze author, sold her first book (Red Shoes and a Diary) with an inter-cultural romance. Instead of books with light premises and hot sex, she writes about marital abuse, breast cancer and 9/11 survivors. She writes about body image and dysfunctional families – and yes, they were all published by Blaze. Her first mainstream, (Another Side of Midnight, published in 2007) – a terrific women’s fiction mystery-romance, nothing like her Blaze books – but her core of strong-minded heroines that won’t bow to the dark, strong heroes she creates, never changes.
Rachel Robinson has won many awards this year with her laid-back heroes and screwed-tight heroines, writing about surfing, garden gnomes and other unusual ‘creations’ most people would never believe would become a published romance – and judges and editors alike are loving what they read. She’s been asked for full manuscripts and revisions with three different lines so far. It’s only a matter of time before she sells!.
So now I’m throwing this discussion back in your lap now: what risks are you taking with your writing, to make your book stand out from the crowd of also-rans? Do you know what your core talent is, the one part of your writing that is ever constant – and are you honing that talent?