Reading through VALENTINA over the past couple of days, I realize that I'm just as much in love with it now as I was 7 years ago when I finished it. Yes, my writing has improved and I can tighten and strengthen, but the basic bones of the story are strong. My hero and heroine both want--no, NEED--something desperately, and are willing to do just about anything to get it. Their motivations make sense, and falling in love is a complication neither of them needs. But the story was really not saleable material, at least not to the NY romance-publishing houses.
The story is set in Spain, not England. It's set in 1880, which is neither a contemporary story nor the Georgian or Regency periods. When the book opens the heroine is planning on murdering someone--the bad guy, it turns out, but she's still bent on killing him. And although being disguised as a male isn't all that unusual, being disguised as a male bullfighter and actually getting in the ring to fight bulls most definitely is. Not sure I've ever read that before, at least not in historical romance.
Completely unsaleable.
Or is it? I have cautious optimism now that the complete has been requested. What does it say about this brave new publishing world if it now beats the odds and gets published? Is it because the market has widened? Is it because standards have been lowered? Is it because readers have always wanted more variety and now can have their demands answered? Is it because there's less of a cash outlay demanded from an e-publisher who will only print the paperback version in limited quantity?
I've seen all sorts of theories bandied about, but I'm not sure anyone really knows the answer right now. Would I like it to be published by Avon or Dell or St. Martin's? You betcha. Is that going to happen? Probably not, at least not with this book. I tried most of them (I think) after finishing the story, and they weren't interested in taking a risk on a book like this from an unknown author. But now that I've emerged from school lo these many years later, I'm looking at a publishing landscape that bears absolutely no resemblance to the one that existed when I returned to school.
Because over the past seven years the story really hasn't changed much, I have to think the primary reason that someone's looking at it now is because of the tectonic shift in publishing. True, I spent my time looking at a host of e-publishers and finding one that has published books in non-traditional locations and with non-traditional characters (The Wild Rose Press requested it), but I tried that the first time as well.
So what do you see ahead in publishing? Further diversification? Some consolidation at some point? If that happens, will we still have the variety of genres and stories that we currently enjoy? Will authors be able to love (and sell) their 'unsaleable' books?
11 comments:
Steam punk, vampires and independent E-publishing have widened some markets. Several people have done well with their unsaleable stories in e-format.
Good luck.
I'm thinking it's due to readers demand. I read a lot of different genre's some I've tried and won't embrace. Some, I wouldn't have thought I would like, but found I did. Hopefully with some of the unsalable themes of yesterday becoming salable the publishers will concentrate on great stories more than sub genre's or themes. I hate the era a wonderful story is set in can keep it from being published.
Personally, I think it's a bit of a crap shoot. (sorry!). Seriously, Valenta sounds like a wonderful story. I have no explanation for why it was passed on years ago. I know timing has something to do with it, but I can't define how or why. If you find those magic answers, let me know, k? :)
I'm excited about the current publishing landscape because of all the small publishers willing to publish books that couldn't sell to mass-market NY. I'm sure you can find a home for your book with a reputable small press.
Karen Harbaugh always has a good take on the publishing industry. I'll have to hunt her down and see what she says. Karen, are you out there? Can you give us your best informed guess?
I'm here. :-)
I think the publishing world is becoming more open to different settings because there's huge competition now from indie publishers and self-publishing in e-book form. There are a lot of established authors who are deciding to republish their backlist in ebook form instead of selling the rights again to another traditional publisher. In addition, there are a lot of established authors looking at ebook publishing as a way to experiment with different settings and types of stories--writing books they want to write and seeing if it'll really sell, rather than relying on the judgement of a New York publishing marketing department.
That leaves more room for new authors in both traditional and ebook publishing.
As for what I expect will sell--well, it's wide open, really, much more so than ever before. Paranormal/fantasy will still sell well, and though I expect vampires etc. will continue more or less, you may see a sort of move into more characters with special powers--sort of superhero characters.
Historicals...some mainstream historical novels have paved the way for other settings than the popular Regencies, so it really isn't too much of a stretch to see historical romances in other settings and eras as well. Heck, some years ago, I wrote a novel set during the French Revolution and another set in France during King Louis XIV's reign, and both did well. In fact, the ebook versions are doing well even now. So it's not like it wasn't happening 7 years ago.
I'm thinking it's way past time for Westerns, American Revolution, and Civil War novels to come back.
Lots of changes, mostly better for the author. I think we'll see a lot of experimentation, not only in setting, but type of story, from short stories to novels. Even serial novels, very much like the way Charles Dickens published his, in weekly installments. It'll be interesting to see how it all shakes out.
Thank you, Karen! I knew you'd have some good insight!
I think it's because most of the publishers taking on new and different genres, are primarily e-book publishers, who pay no advance. It's a lot easier to take a chance on something that may not end up being saleable. But e-books and e-book readers have also made it possible for readers to find stories that suit their interest and at a more affodable price. Plus, you can purchase the book from the confort of your home or other location and have it right away.
Good point, Susan, and one that opens up a whole new discussion about who, exactly, drives the market now. I'm watching this whole new dynamic play out in the industry and it'll be fascinating to see where it all shakes out. With no overwhelming need for a publisher at all, will the customer truly drive the market now?
I've often thought that romance authors are closer to the readers than the mainstream publishers are. Most romance authors started out as readers and loved the genre so much that they decided to write them, too. I remember back in the 1990's, the mainstream publishers were turning down paranormal/fantasy romances, which a lot of authors wanted to write. I went to a Romantic Times convention at that time, and there was a huge clamor from the readers for those romances.
I remember more than a few authors pointing out this fact to their editors, but it was dismissed as not important, because Romantic Times attendees were the heavy-hitting fans, the most avid of romance readers, even downright fringe. The publishers wanted to get the "average" reader, because there were more of them.
Big mistake. Trends go from no action to big time tipping points because the fringe to the early adopters ARE the fanatics that love what they're reading so much that they talk about the books to everyone within hearing distance. That's how word of mouth starts. You get more than a few fringe and early adopters talking up a book or type of book, and that gets the mainstream curious enough to try it. Once they're hooked you have a huge trend.
At the RT conference, the fringe and early adopters were scarfing up anything that had a paranormal or supernatural element. Publishers resisted it until around the year 2000 when...well, I might have been an instigator at the RWA conference that year at a particular publisher dinner. :-D I almost bust a gut laughing when I heard what I had said repeated almost verbatim all over the conference.
But I'm glad, because that year was the tipping point, and opened up more slots in mainstream publishing for paranormal romances. Thing is, the reader wanted these romances years before the publishers wanted to publish them.
Now that we've got e-publishing, there are fewer gatekeepers. There are pros and cons about that. The pro is that you get almost instant feedback (all other things like cover art, quality, marketing, and pricing being equal). If readers want it, they'll buy it right then and there. If they don't, you'll know about it fast, instead of months or a year later.
The con is that you DON'T have a gatekeeper. There isn't anyone between you and the reader who can say, this story needs work, you have to have better grammar and spelling, and you say the heroine has green eyes on page 5, but then you say she has brown eyes on page 115.
And I think there was recently a big kerfuffle that reached as far as Huffington Post regarding an author whose e-book received a very kind review that pointed out her horrible spelling and grammar, and her unfortunate reaction to that review.
And there are a lot more like that author because it's now fairly easy to get your book out there to the reading public. Problem is, readers are going to have to wade through all of the really bad writing to get to the good writing.
So we may end up going back to some sort of gatekeeping after this free-for-all settles down, because readers may well want to pay a little more after a while to make sure they're getting quality for their money.
Carol,
Having read the start of Valentina, I know it has all the elements of a great romance, even if the setting and era isn't typical. Good luck with it.
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