Reading Across the Genres

In a discussion I had yesterday with several authors about collaborating on one of the boxed sets that are all the rage currently. We were trying to decide which genre of romance we would choose to publish, each person having a different genre that they write. We couldn’t come to an agreement, so one author suggested that a set might be made up of different romantic subgenres: contemporary, historical, erotic, fantasy, sci-fi. As long as the theme was romance, people would buy it.

Until recently I believe,  boxed sets were usually all of one author’s works, but that’s changed  now.  Boxed sets including books from a variety of authors have become very popular.  All the sets I’ve seen recently, however, have been of one subgenre or another, not mixed, although I’ve not made a study of them certainly. So I began to wonder if a mixed set would indeed sell.

I don’t think that I would buy a set that only had one historical book in it out of say 8 or 10. I only read historical romances now, although I guess I could stretch that to historical fantasy as I’m currently enamored of the Outlander series, which is time-travel and therefore fantasy. In the past I have read much more than just historical romance, being a fan of Stephen King, John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell, and Phillipa Gregory. However, ever since I began to write historical romance, that genre seems to be all I’m interested in.

I am also certain that my tastes are not everyone’s. Authors are often given the advice to read outside their genre, so they are not influenced by other writers. (Advice which I obviously ignore.) Of course, readers have no such restrictions on what they read, so likely there are readers who would pick up a set of books that spanned the genres.

Tell me, do you read across the genres? Or do you stick strictly to one or perhaps two? Would you buy a set of novels or novellas from which you might only read one or two books? Do you instead prefer a variety? Is there any genre you would be more apt to buy?

Filed under: Jenna Jaxon, Reading