Experimenting with Different Genres (Week 3)
Discovering your favourite genres to write, which books sell best, and whether to use more than one author name
There are reasons why a lot of authors like to experiment with writing more than one genre. Life is a journey, and as people change, so can our interests. Sometimes, we can find new opportunities or inspiration we hadn’t seen or felt before. It can be a matter of finding out what we enjoy writing the most. Other times, it’s about determining which genres might be the most successful or might give us a chance to make a living doing what we love.
Using More than One Name
This is why some authors, myself included, have more than one pen name. We’re told that our books should have tight branding if they’re to do well. That means they should have similar covers and fonts, especially when books are in a series, and all of the books belonging to an author should be in the same or closely-related genres. If they vary too much, it can dilute the brand, not all of the books will appeal to the same audience and it might look less professional.
However, authors are not brands. It’s normal for people to like more than one genre, and try their hand at writing different things. This is why, in the interests of keeping all of our books similar on our profiles, we create names for different things. I’ve used five pen names for different genres, as well as my married name. The problem is when you divide your efforts between different names, they might not get as far as one name that you put all of your efforts and energy behind.
It’s a matter of figuring out what works best for you. I’m one of those changeable people who likes to experiment writing different things. It’s also an opportunity to figure out which books might do well. There was a time when I tried to make a go of being a (non-romance) time travel science fiction author. I loved writing those books and I’ll likely write more of them in the future, but I got almost no sales on them. Not everything you love is going to do well, but I refuse to be an author who spends her time writing things she doesn’t like, just to pay the bills. I’ve experimented to find genres that I still enjoy writing but can earn some money from.
So far I’ve made the most off LGBTQ contemporary romance, but I’m a science fiction and fantasy writer through and through (which is why I’m a member of the SFWA). So despite the fact I could keep writing contemporary romance (and I might still write it again), I’ve combined my love of fantasy with romance, so I have a bit of both worlds. I enjoy writing romantic stories, so long as there’s a sprinkling of magic in there. So that’s why this works for me.
It’s a matter of finding out what works for you too. There’s nothing to say you have to stay in the same genre. I never intended to switch around as much as I have, but like life, it’s been a journey and I’ve grown and changed along the way. We all change, in our own ways. For the more changeable among us, sometimes we need to discover new stories to write if we’re going to keep writing and building on what we have.
What about you? Have you experimented much with different genres? Are you still figuring out what you want to write?
This week’s Author Tip: Make a list of your favourite books to read and their genres, and see if you gravitate strongly toward any of them. How often do you read these genres and would you like to try writing books in them yourself (if you haven’t already)?
Often it’s the genres we read and enjoy the most that we’re likely to be the best at writing, because we know them so well (and what we like to see in them).
Free Publishing-Related Design Resources
This week I’d like to share another set of printable bookmarks that I made. I create digital design resources like digital papers, clipart, sublimation designs, mockup images and more. Bookmarks are among those. I’m going to share a design freebie that’s publishing-related in my Substack newsletter here each week.
Here’s a free set of Aurora Sky Bookmarks (Set 2) for this week’s Substack:
You can download these for free from Creative Fabrica (ad/affiliate link). Optionally, you can download it here from my Icedrive account. I’m making these available on my Icedrive account for personal or commercial use. You must not sell or redistribute the original files as is, or without significant changes. The license terms for the set on Creative Fabrica are available on the site there. If you’d like to check out some of my other design resources, you can find them here.
Thanks for reading my newsletter this week. :)
Kidnapped by the Faerie Prince is on pre-order here now.
Thanks and be well,