Comments on: Genre-jumping authors: Love ‘em or leave ‘em?

By: Albert

Albert — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 08:43:10 +0000

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By: L.K. Campbell

L.K. Campbell — Mon, 05 Feb 2007 02:43:15 +0000

As another poster suggested, this is probably why many authors will take a penname (or a different penname) when changing genres.
Whether I follow a favorite author to a different genre will depend on whether I like that genre. For instance, I don’t care for horror or excessive violence, and will likely not read it even if my favorite authors writes it.

By: Katie Hart

Katie Hart — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 18:37:23 +0000

I’m one of the ones who tend to follow their favorite authors everywhere. I get bored when authors seem to write the same books over and over. I want surprises. I read in a wide variety of genres – romance, suspense, fantasy, mystery, historical, science fiction, contemporary (or women’s), chick lit – so authors have a pretty good chance of staying in a genre I read.

I can see why some authors use pen names, though. After all, what guy is going to pick up a thriller written by Karen Kingsbury?

By: Kimber An

Kimber An — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 13:24:30 +0000

Oh, yeah, Barbara, good idea. Another one I like is to take one of those Regency heroines and time travel her here to the present. That could be a hot, funny one!:lol: I like ‘funny’ much better than dark. There’s already enough dark in the world.

By: Barbara B.

Barbara B. — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 08:41:28 +0000

I actually like it when a favorite romance writer switches subgenres. Particularly if they go from historicals to contemporaries, my current favorite. I’d love to see what Judith Ivory, Madeline Hunter, and Megan Chance could do with a contemporary. It would be great to see all of that intensity and angst in a contemporary setting. I somehow doubt that it will ever happen, though. They seem to be die-hard historical romance writers.

By: readerdiane

readerdiane — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 03:03:37 +0000

I am willing to follow a writer to a new genre. I remember when there was a secret book that told us what other name our favorite author wrote under. If an author was good at one genre then I wanted to see what else they wrote. Sometimes I liked it and sometimes that was the end, but I really loved discovering something new.

By: Brenda Coulter

Brenda Coulter — Sat, 03 Feb 2007 00:20:18 +0000

I read through all of the comments just now, and this has been a fascinating discussion. A couple of commenters have seemed to suggest that readers’ expectations are sometimes unreasonable. As Michelle Lee wrote, “…it’s terribly unfair to expect an author to write the same thing, and yet something shiny and new all the time.”

What on earth has fairness got to do with it? A reader buys novels for entertainment. She doesn’t owe allegiance or even a “fair hearing” to any author. The time and money she spends on books is hers. She might be seduced into buying certain books, but she certainly won’t be guilted into doing so. To suggest that it’s unfair for her to demand a certain type of product from her favorite authors (or publishers or genres) is ludicrous. She wants what she wants, and the customer is always right.

Those of us who have wondered why some authors don’t take pseudonyms when genre-jumping (or why other authors do) can find the answer, I think, in these comments: Some readers will follow a favorite author anywhere and some readers won’t. Surely the decision to keep an established name or adopt a new one is difficult for any author; I think we can see from these comments why there’s no one-size-fits-all solution.

Thanks, everyone, for taking the time to weigh in on this.

By: Marianne McA

Marianne McA — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 22:36:59 +0000

Perhaps it is about changing styles rather than changing genres – there’s one mystery writer who I eagerly preorder – for one of the two series she writes. The other? Well, I’ve read a couple, and will read more if they come my way, but I’m not hooked.
On the whole, if I’ve liked someone’s voice I’d be willing to follow them across genres – sometimes it works, and sometimes not.
It’s not only a matter of expectations – it’s also a matter of the skills the author has. She might be wickedly witty, but poor at plotting. If she writes an action adventure, it’s never going to be good.

By: Jordan

Jordan — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 22:10:34 +0000

I tend to follow my favorite authors wherever they lead because I read them for their ‘voice’ and storytelling abilities. I do find it distressing to know that so many readers get disappointed by authors switching genres without switching names. I’ve jumped around in genres from the beginning. Maybe that’s what my readers expect. Shrug.

By: Michele Lee

Michele Lee — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 21:47:39 +0000

I’m not a romance author, in fact, I used to abhor that lots of women I knew would ONLY read romance. But it’s terribly unfair to expect an author to write the same thing, and yet something shiny and new all the time. My stories span the speculative fiction genres with a dark slant, dark romance (not quite horror, more like Romeo and Juliet, deep passionate romantic love with a dark twist, or in a dark world), dark “soft” scifi, dark fantasy, dark YA (not Horror like RL Stine, books where sometimes bad things happen, like Harry Potter). I’m already stradling the lines of too-dark-to-be-romance and not-scary-so-it’s-not-horror. I don’t expect some one who doesn’t like werewolves to like a werewolf book just because I wrote it, but how do you know if you don’t try? And if you don’t enjoy it… well don’t stop buying my books. Check them out of the library, or read a few chapters in the store before buying them. I’m completely fine with people picking and choosing which series/stories they like. But don’t completely blacklist an author because of one book alone. (Unless it is really really, truly bad like a gothic vampire writer suddenly writing religious fiction. but then, that kind of major genre jump is usally pretty darn obvious.)