IWSG: November

The first Wednesday of the month means IWSG. This blog hop is the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh and is now more than three years old. By visiting the IWSG blog, you can find links to all the participants. Participants will share their insecurities and/or offer advice and encouragement depending on their needs this month. Please join in this warm, welcoming group.

I've commiserated with a few fellow writers when we've had books with disappointing sales. Sometimes the books were independently published but others were published by small presses or even the big NY boys. And reports from RWA National Conference in July and two weeks ago from the NJRWA conference, that editors and agents no longer want paranormal romance. A lot of my friends write what RWA categorize as paranormal but RWA defines it broadly so it includes any kind of speculative fiction. The national organization, and I assume editors and agents, lump sci-fi, fantasy and futuristic in with vampires, angels and demons. Yet, the most recent Romance Writers Report has the 2013 statistics showing that over 22% of readers claim paranormal romance is their favorite sub-genre. This is of interest to me since my most successful romance novels are science fiction romances. I haven't heard of any small presses claiming paranormal is dead. Romantic suspense is the leading category.

Other stats shared include that 21% of the adult fiction market goes to romance and that publishers generated over a billion dollars of revenue last year. Only the thriller genre edged out romance for most sales dollars. Almost half that revenue comes from E-book sales.

What do these stats tell me? Popularity of genres waxes and wanes. I will continue to write what I enjoy reading and not try to follow a trend. Christian Romance and YA romance had the lowest percentage of readers, yet there is and will always be a market for books in those categories. With almost half of romance readers buying a book every week or even more often, a lot of books are being sold. When asked, romance readers claim the most important factor in selected a romance to read isn't the sub-genre but the story itself.

The lesson of the stats? Write the story you want to write. If only 22% of readers are interested in your novel's category, then make it a great story so that all those millions that make up that percentage will want it.

Have you heard any recent reports of a certain genre gaining or losing popularity? Do any of the things I've shared above surprise you? Are you surprised how much of the book market is romance? When do you think E-books will outsell print?

Please remember to visit the rest of the IWSG participants. You'll find lots of interesting posts.

Mentioning Some Publisher Love

I recently received my quarterly statement from one of my three publishers. I've been with them for quite a while and my most recent release, The Marine's Heiress, is my eighth novel with New Concepts Publishing. Every quarter when I get my statement, I'm reminded of some of the reasons I'm glad I'm with a small publisher.

I published my first book with New Concepts at the end of 2007. It doesn't seem like such a long time ago but in book years, six years is leaning toward elderly for a fiction novel. In the bad old days of book publishing, a genre novel might get a few weeks in the sun and then might never be seen again. Thanks to ebooks, the shelf life of a book can be infinite. Every quarter when I get that sales report, that very first book is still making money for me. Not like it did in its first year or even its second, but people are still purchasing it.

Every time I have a new book released, I see a little bump in sales on my old books. Not one or two of them, but all of them. Not just ebooks, but print books also. New Concepts recently did some upgrades to their site so they can show off new releases and special sales even better. When they sell my books directly from their site, I make more money on it since the middle man is cut out of the profits.

Though my small publisher doesn't pay me an advance, with their support in keeping my books easily available I feel confident I will eventually earn an income from my books similar to what a larger publisher pays as an advance. As you've probably heard before, many books with the large publishers never earn back their advances and that is the only money authors ever see. I'm quite happy right where I am.

Do you remember the days when backlist books were difficult or impossible to find? Have you received advances for your books or do you earn only royalties? Do you have books that keep earning and earning for you? Want to shout out a 'love-ya' to your publisher?