A Closer Look at Timing Your Publications: Day 3 of the Discussion on Whether or Not Versatility Hurts an Author’s Career

This is the last in this series of posts. So far, we talked about the pros and cons of writing across genres and why some writers seem to avoid doing so entirely. Today, I want to talk about how writers can take versatility too far and truly become over-abundantly diverse. If you haven’t already read the first post, I recommend you start there and work your way back here.

 

Later on in the discussion, Tommy brought up another great question:

Do you think it would be more likely to hurt an author if they strive for diversity early in their career?

I wasn’t entirely sure what he meant at first until he used the Grimoire Trilogy as an example. Though I plan on branching away from epic fantasy for a little while after the trilogy, I will still have 3 core novels and at least 3 novellas. So I’m only starting to diversify after 6 books, while he was contemplating a change in course immediately after book one.

Hmm.

This is another great question, and an excellent point. If you haven’t established yourself as an author first, how do people know what to expect from you?

Is it too soon to switch genres after just one book? I think it is.

Think about it: if you look up an author you’ve never heard of before and see that they have an adult horror novel and a middle grade romance novel, you’re going to grimace and wonder what they’re smoking. You can’t be sure of what to expect from them. Will that stop you from reading one or both books? Probably not. But it is strange, and it’s hard to hook new readers when you haven’t first developed a platform and a brand image.

Therefore, timing and volume very well might factor into a possible scenario where an author is “over-abundantly diverse:” when they have a small number of novels that are nothing like each other.

In Tommy’s case, I think it might be best to publish his fantasy series first. That way, he’ll get more novels out there in succession and can begin to develop his brand image and his voice. After he’s establishes himself a bit—perhaps with 2 or 3 well-edited books—he can ease into a new genre by releasing the horror novel as long as there are at least some similarities between them.

To give you an example of what I mean, let’s go back to my paranormal horror series I have planned. I actually already wrote the intro—a short story that’s all polished and written called To Each His Ghost. I could publish it tomorrow if I wanted. However, it’s a teaser: an intro to a greater series. It’s so unlike the Grimoire Trilogy that I don’t think it would do me any good to put it out there before the Grimoire Trilogy has a sense of resolution. People who want more in that vein of writing will have to wait 1-2 years for me to get back to it, so I think I’ll just hold onto it for now.

Let’s look at some other examples.

Stephen King’s first book was Carrie (1974, horror). From there, he moved onto ‘Salem’s Lot (1975, gothic horror), The Shining (1977, horror), and Rage (1977, psychological thriller). While he didn’t write a horror series in the beginning, he did build a platform of horror fans using stand-alone novels with a dark voice and grim imagery. It also helped that ‘Salem’s Lot was a World Fantasy Award nominee in 1976. He has since released one book per year on average, though he published 4 in 1987 alone. In my opinion, it looks like a steady combination of quality, consistent voice, and volume is part of what made him so well-known.

Neil Gaiman began as a graphic artist before he branched into screenplays and novels. He published a few comics and steadily moved up from collaborations to working for D.C. Comics on Black Orchid. From there, he was tasked to revive Sandman, which effectively made his career. His first real novel was Good Omens, a horror collaboration with fantasy author Terry Pratchett. Remember, though, that he had a solid platform with his dark fantasy graphic novels at that point. He branched into a new medium by adding novels to his repertoire, but he kept in a similar genre and only did so after years of working on a plethora of graphic novels.

Alternatively, J. K. Rowling, C. S. Lewis, and J. R. R. Tolkien are most famous for just one series. While Rowling and Tolkien never strayed from their original works, Lewis wrote many other novels—all of which are far lesser known than his Chronicles of Narnia. That’s probably because they focused more on outright faith than fictional adventures, but it’s hard to be certain.

Now, I do have to interject here with an asterisk. Rowling is releasing The Casual Vacancy, which is the first in a new series has absolutely nothing to do with Harry Potter, this year. It actually looks interesting. Not only is it not related to Harry Potter, though, it’s not even YA. She’s writing an adult-centric literary fiction…though, that’s no doubt at least partly due to the fact that her core fan base is all grown up. I think it’s safe to say that Ms. Rowling would have to work pretty hard to write a book that didn’t sell, so I’m sure she’ll do well with her new series. She’s already in the top 30 spaces of two category charts, and the book hasn’t even released yet. Really, she’s one more argument in building up a genre first before you expand—her debut is now a classic taught in schools.

Amanda Hocking wrote a few paranormal romance series first (My Blood Approves & the Trylle trilogy) before branching into Hollowland (zombies), but she’s still known for YA pararomance and probably will always be known for it. She even slipped back into pararomance with her new Watersong series. She found her niche, it seems, and she doesn’t seem to sway much from that. Considering her recent millions, I’d have to say it works for her.

There are plenty more examples, but you get the point. I say write from the genre which most interests you first, and write multiple books within that genre—either stand-alone books or a series—before branching out and exploring. That will give you a platform of readers and allow you to establish yourself before you do a rain dance across genres.

If you have multiple stand-alone novels in the same genre, I also think you should write these in the same age label. That might be too much, but the point is to give yourself a brand image to start with before you dive off and expand.

The Bottom Line

Powerful writing stems from passion. A book sticks with us for many reasons, arguably too many to name, but the core reason a book is successful is because the author loved writing it. The passion shows.

So if you’re even slightly inclined towards writing in different genres, I say go for it. Try. Be versatile. Even if you write multiple genres in a strange order, make sure you take timing the order of your books properly into consideration when you publish.

Whatever you do, write as much as you can about as many different people as you can in as many worlds as possible. Use your writing to learn and grow as a person, and it will make your novels even more commanding.

 

 
The Schedule

This post was too big to host in just one day. Here’s the full schedule, with links:

Day One: Can Publishing in Multiple Genres Hurt an Author’s Career?
Day Two: Why Many Authors Don’t Change Genres…Ever
Day Three: A Closer Look at Timing Your Publications



S. M. Boyce is a fantasy and paranormal fiction writer. You can find her novels on Amazon and Barnes & Noble.


The Discussion

Is this a definitive look at versatility as it pertains to authors? No. I’m sure we missed something somewhere, but it’s a conversation starter. Jump in.

Authors

How many books do you publish a year?
Have you published books in different genres right after the other? How did you market them?
Do you care how many books an author publishes in a year?
When do you look at an author’s full list of novels: before you buy the first book, while you’re reading it, after you finish & review, or never?

Readers

Do you care how many books an author publishes in a year?
When do you look at an author’s full list of novels: before you buy the first book, while you’re reading it, after you finish & review, or never?