But within a few hours of my post going live, I saw tweets from a literary agent that really caught my eye. They said - "Writers, I'm going to be bluntly honest. If you write paranormal fiction, it's time to work on something else until PNR fatigue has passed. I still get queries all the time for paranormal romances. The chances of getting a book deal for PNR at an established pub is almost nil."
Really? Has the publishing world had its glut of PNR? Bearing in mind, this is only ONE literary agent that I've seen tweet this, but is it a sign that publishers and agents are finding PNR has passed its peak? Have sales stalled or dropped? And if that's the case, is it a potential opening for SFR? Or will we be overrun by another genre? Two tweets out of the thousands, maybe millions, on Twitter each day is no evidence. And I have no ill will toward PNR writers and readers. But I can't help but feel a tiny sliver of hope that maybe SFR might get its chance in the limelight. We can only wait...
Last Friday I received the edits for my sfr short story Imprint, and on Saturday the final line-up for the SFR Brigade's first science fiction romance anthology was announced! I'm so excited to be a part of this project, and to be in such fine company on the author list. Here it is!
Announcing:
Tales from the SFR Brigade (Volume I)
Tales from the SFR Brigade (Volume I)
Nine great science fiction romance stories by nine fabulous authors.
(Alphabetical by story title)
(Alphabetical by story title)
“Allure” by Amy Laurens
“Envy’s Revenge” by Berinn Rae
“Imprint” by Pippa Jay
“MISSION: Nam Selan” by Linnea Sinclair
“Nobody’s Present” by Marcella Burnard
“Sensations” by Liana Brooks
“The Stranger” by Kyndra Hatch
“Thief’s Ransom” by Jaleta Clegg
“Whisky and Starshine” by Erica Hayes
“Envy’s Revenge” by Berinn Rae
“Imprint” by Pippa Jay
“MISSION: Nam Selan” by Linnea Sinclair
“Nobody’s Present” by Marcella Burnard
“Sensations” by Liana Brooks
“The Stranger” by Kyndra Hatch
“Thief’s Ransom” by Jaleta Clegg
“Whisky and Starshine” by Erica Hayes
The expected release date is currently midsummer.
In the meantime, my sfr novella Tethered is still out on submission, as is my scifi short Flaming Angel. My cyberpunk short for another antho call is with a crit partner, and my dieselpunk superhero romance is with a beta reader.
Discoveries
If punk is your thing - steam, diesel, mitten, nano, cyber etc - then the Pen Punks are currently compiling a list of punk publishers, editors and agents - check them out here!
Events
Breathless Press are having a critique session this weekend. The first five pages get feedback and maybe a contract. Check them out here.
Next Monday there'll be an exciting announcement regarding Sharon Lynn Fisher's Ghost Planet, both here and on my blog (I won't be posting myself at SFL next week). Stay tuned!
Next month I'll be celebrating Keir's first book birthday - I've been published a whole year! To celebrate, there'll be a virtual party held across several blogs with food on a blue theme, a Goodreads giveaway of a print copy of Keir, and a beautiful blue crystal star pendant. My fellow party hosts are Misa Buckley, Jessica E Subject, Chantal Halpin, Liana Brooks and Karen Y Bynum. Want to know more? Stop by my blog here on the 1st May.
And in June, my YA scifi Gethyon releases! Yay! It's all go for me for the next couple of months.
The sign up for the SFR Brigade's 2nd Midsummer Blog Hop is now open! Last year we only ran the event over one day - this time we're going for longer. Guidelines on what you'll need for your post are listed here and the sign up is open here. I've even set up an email just for the hop - sfrbrigadebloghop at gmail dot com. You can direct any questions or issues there. I will be asking for a small donation to a grand prize - last year we were able to give away a Kindle as first prize and a digital book bundle for 2nd. I'd love to be able to do that again this year. However, no one will be excluded for not donating, and for those not yet published, or Brigade members who prefer to read rather than write - you can still take part too! People reported a good hit rate over the event.
A Plea for Help
I'm still looking for guests to take part in the Cover Love slots, especially for May. It's soooo easy, and it's free promo for YOU. All I need is your five favourite covers, a line or two about why they caught your eye, your bio, your own latest cover and links to your media site. C'mon, you can't say no?! Can you? O.o
Ping Pong
Laurie, I'd already half intended to see Oblivion, but your post convinced me even more that this is one I should try and catch at the cinema.
Donna, yes, even though it sounds like the same stereotypical heroines in the background and the hero does all the exciting stuff. :( Loved the post on the prologue - I've not written one to any of my stories since I was a teen, and the industry preference for not having one has added to my tendency not to prologue. But I think they can be made to work - like anything in writing, if you have the skill, you can do it.
Sharon, great to see you back! I'd never heard of the term Mary Sue before, so at least I have some idea now.
Pippa, thanks for posting the Tales from the SFR Brigade story line-up. It's an exciting collection of stories. The submissions were all "blind" meaning the editors didn't know who's work they were evaluating (unless they recognized the writing style or other aspects) so it was a lot of fun when the author's names were announced after the stories had been selected.
ReplyDeleteI'd love to chime in on your cover series. (I planned to do so earlier, but got caught up in real life.) I'll try to get that done this weekend if yet another isn't swallowed up by other obligations.
The blog hop sounds fun and yay for a longer run this time around.
Oh, forgot to comment on the "decline of PNR." As one who's received advice to write SFR that would appeal more to the PNR crowd, I was surprised. Like you said, it's just one tweet, but doesn't seem the tweeter would put it out there unless there's some underlying industry sentiments to support it (but who really knows).
ReplyDeleteWe've been hoping for awhile now that SFR would be the NBT (Next Big Thing). Maybe the attention Sharon's Ghost Planet is receiving might help tip the scale. We shall see.
My pleasure, Laurie - I'm so chuffed to be in the list. Especially after finding out there were only nine. I'd have loved to be a fly on the wall when the names were announced.
ReplyDeleteAnd I'm really excited about the blog hop too. June will be manic, but hopefully fun too.
The tweet about PNR really surprised me too. I've seen a lot of requests for MG, NA and YA in most genres, although mainly romance but with a leaning toward speculative. So fantasy, paranormal, scifi, but particularly dystopian (because of the Hunger Games perhaps?) I've still seen several agents asking for PNR, though mostly in YA/NA, but the dystopian genre might lead more into SFR than paranormal. Who knows?
Interestingly, I just listened in on #askagent on Twitter, and it came up again - that PNR is getting tough to sell...
ReplyDelete>The chances of getting a book deal for PNR at an established pub is almost nil."
ReplyDeleteInteresting! Of course, the key word there is "established pub" by which I'm assuming the agent meant mainstream print publisher. It's probably much easier to contract a PNR with a digital-first/small press publisher.
Still, it makes sense that there's some PNR fatigue. There are only so many ways one can spin the same few core fantasies over and over. There are only so many ways to tweak a vampire's origin story.
Maybe the diversity SFR offers can give readers something new to get excited about. It's possible that authors of SFR have an opportunity here.
Congrats on the year anniversary of KEIR!
Heather, yep, I should imagine they're talking about selling to the traditional publishing houses rather than small press/digital first. However, seeing it mentioned again during askagent, I'm guessing it wasn't a one-off opinion but something more widespread. When and if that will affect the while of the publishing world down to digital first may take time.
ReplyDeleteAnd thank you. Hard to believe it's been a year already!
I'm chiming in way late on this one. Computer woes. But solved now!
ReplyDeleteEvery market hits its saturation point. It's bound to happen with PNR sooner or later. I'm a recent newcomer to the genre, as in not even two months, but I'm pretty picky. Devouring the Lords of the Underworld right now and planning to get going on Sherrilyn Kenyon's Dark Hunter stuff later next month. I have to be careful with her because our voices are similar and I don't want to end up sounding exactly like her.
Most of the vampire stuff doesn't appeal to me. Neither does the werewolf stuff. I'm a cat person, and yes I am looking for werecat stuff that's not erotica and not first person. No luck so far.
I'm also putting together a universe involving alternate dimensions via string theory, quantum matter manipulation, and shape shifters. It's a lot of fun! I also have another thing that could have gone PNR, but I've decided to make it science fantasy because I don't want to give up what the humans are obsessed with.