Question from a confused writer

[Florence]

Hi,
I've been checking my sales statistics. Rather my non-sales statistics because I put everything out there for free to see which of my published stories people read when they can read anything they choose without having to pick and choose which to buy. (Exception: Amazon won't publish anything for free unless I jump through more hoops than I can handle.)
Conclusion of my research? I write clean, sci-fi romance. And this after being told by an editor at a major romance publishing house that I DO NOT write romance!
Maybe clean romances are somehow different from other romances? Less initimate man-woman stuff and more story? Something?
Soooo..... my next book will be a clean sci-fi romance instead of the dystopian apocalyptic story with a small, clean romance in it that I've been crafting.
I'm finding that this is a huge change requiring a major mental shift on my part.
I've shifted genres before when the situation warranted but I have a question and this group is the place to ask.....
Does anyone look for clean sci-fi romance? Does anyone actually read clean sci-fi romance? Is clean sci-fi romance a sub-genre of sci-fi romance?
Or am I whistling in the dark and the sales statistics are just an anomaly?
Florence Witkop
http://FlorenceWitkop.com

[S.A.]

I think that clean novels have a certain niche audience. I write clean novels too, and have hard time getting people to buy and read my stuff. The easiest thing to do is to start with family and friends. If yoU're looking to target a larger audience for clean fiction, try the LDS audience. We dig clean writing :)

Your audience is out there; don't give up!

[Joan]

I don't read most sci-fi or dirty romance novels. A clean romance, I like. I would be tempted to read your new one however.

[Florence]

Glad to know I'm not alone and that there is a market out there for clean fiction.

What's LDS? I'm clueless.

Joan, you might try my last novel, Earth Legend, which is pretty much a small town romance, only the small town is on a space ship hurtling through space. Otherwise, it will be fairly familiar to you. But if you read it, go to Smashwords because Amazon won't let me give it away for free.

[S.A.]

LDS is an acronym for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints :)

[Joan]

LDS is short for members of the "Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints" or what most people call Mormons. We love sex and romance as much as the next person but we try to keep ours thoughts and lives morally clean so a nice clean romance is a good thing.

[Diane]

If you write clean stories of any genre, you should join the Clean Indie Reads group. There is a website to feature your books and the FB page has a tweet group to help market. My sci-fantasy novels have romance in them as well, but I think that is secondary. Here is my sci-fantasy page on Clean Indie Reads: http://cleanindiereads.com/heirs-to-t...

From that page you can go to the home page or other authors.

[Florence]

Again... thanks.
I'm glad to know what LDS is. I have a son who is pastor in a somewhat fundamentalist church and, though I don't write with him in mind, it usually turns out that way.

I'll check out the Clean Indie Reads group. Sounds great.

[Margaret]

"Does anyone look for clean sci-fi romance?" Yes
"Does anyone actually read clean sci-fi romance?" Yes

It is hard to find this. i.e The "Outlander" series are sort of sci-fi romance, but NOT clean. That said, I would love more books like hers without the graphic sex scenes. but I would definitely be one of the 'niche' readers here.

[Florence]

Thanks for the encouragement. It's encouraging to write something people actually will read.

[Hannah]

From a bookseller's perspective:
Most of the time I recommend Brandon Sanderson because he's clean. However, even Game of Thrones junkies often love his stories, and he's made plenty of bestseller lists, both with adult and YA books. The key is the quality of the tale.
Things I've noticed:
–People may come in looking for clean, especially for their parents or children, but rarely come in asking for dirty novels.
–Having everything free sets off people's alarm bells. They like free short stories, and maybe a novel or two, but I've repeatedly heard the comment "Wow, something free that was actually worth reading!"
–Everyone is looking for something that will glue them to the page and not let them go.
–A good, critical editor is worth every penny.

Tips to grow as a writer:
–Attend writers' conferences both within and outside your genre
–Join a book club
–Join as many writers' critique groups as you can handle. If you can't find one in your area, start one by advertising in the local paper. Find one that reads everything and gives honest, kind, straight-shooting opinions. Doing the critiquing for others will help you grow.
–Make lots of writer and reader friends that aren't afraid to tell you what works and what doesn't.

Even if you're the next Lovecraft or Robert Jordan, you can always learn more about new ways to play with words. I still use word tricks I learned from a poet I was in critique group with. Interacting with other genres will give you extra tools to work with.

The more you build relationships with writers and readers, the more your readership base will snowball.

[Florence]

Thanks, everyone! I've been making money as a writer for over thirty years (yes, that long) but was stumped this time!
Now, thanks to the help from so many readers, writers and others, I've come to realize that I write cross-genre. Not clean sci-fi romance, rather my work falls into both the sci-fi AND romance genres (not perfectly in the romance genre but well enough for marketing purposes) and it just happens to be clean.

[CaliGirlRae]

I'm a sci-fi and romance fan, but most sci-fi romances have turned me off because they are way too explicit for my taste. I would love to read more clean sci-fi romance so I'd definitely be on board. :-)

[Diane]

I have a sci-fantasy series that has romance, too. The series is definitely clean, even the battle scenes are not overdone. Check out my page Diane Rapp for THE ALPHAS, HOWL OF THE WOLF, THE HAVENSHIRE RESISTANCE, and DRAGON DEFENSE.

[Florence]

Thanks, I'll check it out. I love to read what I love to write. Of course!

[B.C.]

It looks like your question has been answered very well, but I might as well beat the dead horse also.

I've read many books, and am a writer/publisher. Most books contain some romance. But I rarely see them called sci-fi romance. Hunger Games isn't a dystopian romance, although it could be called that. The Wheel of Time series isn't a Fantasy romance, but it could be called that.

Maybe I'm wrong, but "Romance" is often very feminine sounding. Guys don't generally brag about the latest romance novel they read, and many girls feel guilty about loving Romance books.

If you're writing a sci-fi novel with romance, welcome to the club. I think most good novels often include and need some degree of romance.

Writing is all about making people "feel". I think that's why many romances turn dirty. It's a great author who can make someone "feel" emotionally involved, without polluting their mind at the same time.

Good luck in your novels. I hope they sell like crazy.

[Florence]

B.C.
Thanks. I've kind of come to that conclusion. I write sci-fi and there's a clean romance in my stories. Period. I'd not thought of the way people feel about the word 'romance' to describe a book. That's helpful. Again... thanks.

[Diane]

Florence wrote: "Hi,
I've been checking my sales statistics. Rather my non-sales statistics because I put everything out there for free to see which of my published stories people read when they can read anything t..."

I write clean sci-fi that has romance in it also. My battle scenes are even clean. LOL When you click on the genres for your book, pick sci-fi and romance separately. In the search words list clean romance and other words that describe the type of sci-fi to get your books listed in separate categories under sci-fi. That might help you.

Join the Clean Indie Reads group on FB as well. Find the people like you. Here are my books:

[Florence]

Thanks, that's helpful

[Robin]

There is definitely an audience out there for clean reads! I write articles for DeliciousReads.com and our "clean reads" posts are the most popular every month. I did one last fall called Clean Reads for Teens and we had 30,000 hits in just a few months. I write clean novels too - Remembrandt, Van Gogh Gone, and Memory of Money (suspense with romance: www.authorrobinking.com). I agree that classifying it as a "clean" romance can be a turn off for some (especially males if you use the word "'romance"). There are several publishers out there that have a line of books that they consider clean. My publisher, Walnut Springs Press, sells their books to Deseret Book. Deseret Book only accepts "clean" reads. One of their other publishers (Shadow Mountain) has what they call "Proper Romance" which used to just mean Regency period romance novels like Pride and Prejudice-like, but now they are expanding it to other types of novels as well. Even Harlequin has a line that they call Heartwarming Romances. There definitely is a market for it, but it is a smaller audience if you publish it as a "clean" romance. I think that the best way to go is to publish it as it is without focusing on the clean side of things or the romance (unless that is the main storyline). Just classify it as sci-fi and then let people know that your books are clean or let them discover it themselves. Amazing books don't need to be rated R and most books on the best seller lists aren't the most "dirty" (excluding Shades of Gray, but you get the idea).

It also might be useful for you to check out compassbookratings.com. They rate books based on content (i.e. Violence, profanity, sex, drugs/alcohol use etc). I just did a search on science fiction with more clean ratings there and found several (just do a 'search by content criteria).

Here's a link to the clean reads articles I've written. If you want to do research on how these authors became popular, read about them and their books!

40 Clean Reads for Teens: http://www.deliciousreads.com/2015/09...

24 Clean Romance Novels: http://www.deliciousreads.com/2016/02...

Top 24 Books for Teen Boys: http://www.deliciousreads.com/2014/09...

Best Books for Middle-grade Readers: http://www.deliciousreads.com/2016/07...

[Anna]

An interesting thread and I have bookmarked some of the links given on here. I'm pleased to see that there is a thriving market for the sort of books that tell a good story but don't spell out what is best left as private.

I write clean books, one is a time travel romance and the others are historical romance, so I'm encouraged to see that there are readers actively seeking the sort of book I write.

Under the book promotions thread in this group, there's a post with details of Book One of the Dark Moon trilogy which is reduced by 67% (US) until Monday. I hope that helps.