Do you like your authors caged?

How do you feel when your favorite author switches it up and writes in a new genre? Do you prefer them to stay in the genre cage you've put them in?

J.K. Rowling, famous for writing the Harry Potter series - the young adult fantasy series - decided not too long ago to write an adult novel - a crime novel. To do so she used a new pseudonym. Why?


Since she was known for writing a specific genre, she honestly didn't believe she would be well received if she tried something new.

Nora Roberts, famous for her romance novels, also writes crime novels set in the future as J.D. Robb. I still remember when I discovered they were one and the same. Since I had enjoyed the writings of both I was intrigued to learn it.

Others have switched up the genres they write after becoming famous - like Stephen King, and James Patterson. 

My novel, Lifeboat, is a science-fiction/suspense novel.

My novella, The Beacon, (coming soon) will have nothing to do with science fiction. Instead it is a pscyological thriller.

I do plan to step back into the science-fiction realm with my third, but may again try something else after that.

I know many authors who write several different types of fiction. Some of them use a different pseudonym for each genre and build separate fan bases with each pen name.

How do you feel about that? What do you think when an author you have enjoyed writes in more than one genre? Will you try the new genre, because you love the author? Or will you skip it because it is not your preferred genre?