Redefining "Commercial" in Romance

I'm a member of RWA (Romance Writers of America) and I just got the September issue of the member newsletter, Romance Writers Report. There's an interesting article by Irene Goodman, a prominent agent, on "Common Mistakes by New Authors."

An entire section of the article is devoted to "Uncommercial Subjects," with Goodman advising aspiring authors to focus on subjects that are saleable. One line, in particular, caught my attention: "A 28,000-word historical romance set in Germany is not going to sell, no matter what" (p. 20).

I assume Goodman is referring to traditional tree-book publishing out of New York, because nowhere in her article does she even mention e-publishing, which is where a 28K historical romance set in Germany would not only get a read by an editor, but might very well sell.

E-publishing is redefining "commercial." Shorter length books set in time periods and locations that New York publishers spurn are being published successfully. For example, Carina Press recently released a historical romance set in Austria called Song of Seduction by Carrie Lofty. The same publisher has a  shorter M/M medieval romance and a book featuring a sixteenth-century Native heroine living in the Sonoran Desert.

While I can't comment on how well these books are selling, they are being published. By a division of Harlequin, no less. Goodman's essay indicates a lack of awareness of the rapidly shifting landscape of publishing that I find troublesome in an industry newsletter intended to represent "the voice of romance fiction."

Of course, Goodman is entitled to her opinion. As a very successful and respected agent, she's more than earned the right to comment on the industry. Nevertheless, I couldn't disagree with her more. And I hope aspiring authors won't be discouraged by her words, because I'm convinced that a well-written 28K historical romance set in Germany can sell.

The Season . . . and ebooks

Today there’s an excerpt of Not Quite a Lady posted at The Season. It's a great website for reviews--especially of historical romances--as well as for general discussion, comments, and top-pick lists (I adore book lists). Plus, the web design is lovely. I'm really pleased to have NQAL featured and want to thank the folks at The Season for the opportunity.

Since the site receives a lot of traffic, there are a number of comments. It’s great to get real-time feedback from readers, though I noticed that many are dismayed by the cost of ebooks. At $5.20 for an electronic file, which is what my book costs from the publisher website, I can see that it might seem a bit high, since you’re getting a file, rather than something more tangible.

On the other hand, mass-market paperbacks are increasingly running about $7.99 plus tax. More and more romances are also being issued first as trade paperbacks (the larger size books), which cost about $14.99. Recently I even saw a Jim Butcher book for $9.99 that was of a size half-way between a mass-market PB and a trade book.

My point is that $5.20, in light of the increasing cost of tree books, is not too bad a deal, unless you are seriously dissuaded by the ebook medium. Further, there’s the fact that in buying tree books, you and I are supporting an energy-intensive industry that consumes a lot of fuel in production, transport, and distribution.

Even though I haven’t yet made the switch to an ebook reader, I expect I will within the next 12 months. I’m currently traveling in Norway and it would have been a lot easier to load up an ebook reader rather than use precious backpack space for books. Plus there’s always the fear that I’ll run out of books to read while on the plane, since I just can’t stomach paying the equivalent of $20 for an English-language paperback.

Anyway, I do get reader concerns about the cost of ebooks. And as an author, it would be nice to see my work actually in print. But I’m also convinced that ebooks will take an ever increasing share of the market, and I foresee download sites at places such as airports and cafes in the near future. That means my book will have a much longer “shelf life” (file life? server life?) than any paperback.

Ebooks

This is a great time in which to be a writer. There are more options than ever for publishing, and I've taken advantage of some of these options, including ebooks, which I both purchase and write.

Ebooks are the future of publishing. Period. Let's not waste time protesting or lamenting the loss of paper-printed books. While I'm not willing to make any predictions about when tree books will disappear, we're in the midst of a major sea change in how books are produced and consumed. The arrival of Carina Press, a digital division of Harlequin, is a landmark in romance publishing, and I foresee a highly successful future for them.

One great advantage of ebooks is flexibility in length. This means that short stories, novellas and short novels--notoriously difficult to turn a profit on in traditional publishing--are now feasible to write and publish. Tree-book publishing has long privileged novel-length works of at least 80,000 words or so.

And I have slogged through such writing projects. But I find them painful. And boring to write after about 50,000 words. This is due to a congenital inability to focus on a single topic for an extended period of time. I couldn't write a Diana Gabaldon-length novel if my life depended on it. I'm happy to read long novels, but I can't write them. At this stage in my career, I'm happier working at around 30,000 to 40,000 words--roughly 100 manuscript pages.

Shorter lengths allow me to pursue a new idea, spend some time with it, and then move on. Ebook publishing makes this sort of writing economically feasible. And allows me to avoid that killer of creativity, boredom.