Hingeing It Forward: On being "Genre Agnostic" before and after the industry notices your work
(Thinking like Jordan Peele, which is to say, "Strategic AF.")
A lot of writers have one genre of interest they spend their entire career working in—literary fiction, science fiction, romcoms, thrillers, memoirs.
And that’s great for them.
It’s especially great from a marketing perspective because, in the era of The Long Tail, there are few properties that reach wide audiences anymore. (Think of how many Best Picture nominees you actually watched before this year’s Academy Awards.)
With this in mind, we as writers should aspire to niche down in terms of voice, genre, and subject matter in order to find our true audiences, the evangelists that will hype us to their friends and follow us from book to book. The ones that will make you a success, essentially.
So yes, a lot of writers succeed because they’ve built a brand within their particular genre.
BUT WE’RE NOT TALKING TO THOSE A-HOLES, ALL CONFIDENT IN WHO THEY ARE AND WHAT THEY OFFER. 😡(JK. Mostly. I’ll get to that.)
Instead, I am talking to the genre-agnostic writers out there (i.e., my people).
Part of my inspiration for this being my second post out of the starting gate is the fact that I myself have been genre agnostic in the past. I’ve written everything from speculative horror to the romcom concepts I got picked up for a two-book deal with Bookouture. In fact, some folks I’ve workshopped with might be surprised to see me going so commercial here. (Hi, guys! This is my bright, peppy way of telling you I contain multitudes! 🥰)
Before my book deal, I wrote what was of interest to me at the time.
I then polished each project and submitted them indiscriminately, with the promise to myself that whichever genre first garnered professional interest would be the one I turned my attention to more fully.
That was great for me then, might be great for you now, but you’ve likely spent time wondering:
What happens to your varied interests if you get a book deal? Do you have to kiss all but the one genre goodbye?
In short, yes.
However, I do know of genre-agnostic writers who have published in multiple genres. For one anecdotal instance, Rumaan Alam went from exploring the world of New York socialites for his early novels to New York socialites caught in the apocalypse for Leave the World Behind, which was a finalist for the National Book Award.
To me, this anecdotal example suggests that in order to successfully pivot from genre to genre, you have to make the pivot point your subject matter, your themes.
This is supported by a 2015 article for The Book Designer by Kimberley Grabas. Grabas says author branding is “much less about genre, and much more about what readers come to expect in your books.” The subject matter, in other words.
This certainly seems to be the case for Alam, as well as for director, writer, and actor Jordan Peele, previously of the Peabody-award-winning sketch comedy duo Key & Peele. Much of Key & Peele found its humor in the experience of Black people in America, and now, as an acclaimed horror writer and director, much of Peele’s horror comes from the experience of Black people in America.
Of course, we have to understand, too, that it can be really difficult to build the kind of momentum that leads to a successful writing career if we’re constantly pivoting. Peele even admits, in this interview to promote his sophomore horror film Us, that Get Out could have been “a career killer.” This is a truth universally accepted, so if you’re self-pub and you do this, expect some difficulty retaining your audience as you move from space to space, and if you’re trade-pub and try to do this, expect some pushback from your creative team.
So, how has my relationship with my different genres of interest changed in the month since I’ve gotten my book deal?
For my books under contract, I’m writing to market with the help and patient guidance of my editor, Jess Whitlum-Cooper. This means making changes that pull attention to my strong female leads. It also means playing up the love and humor angles that romcom readers expect and toning down more intense or negative elements (e.g., illness, death).
In a sense, I’m essentially doing what those a-holes I referenced at the top of the piece are doing. (That’s right: at the end of the day, we’re all a-holes! 🌈✨) I’m “faking it till I make it” as the kind of writer who spends their career in one genre with plenty of help from industry professionals who know 👏🏼 what 👏🏼 they’re 👏🏼 doing!
My point in mentioning this is that, for the novel that really kicks your career into gear, you shouldn’t worry too much about fitting your genre. If someone at an agency or a publisher likes your work enough, they will help you mold it (or shoehorn it) in a way that is marketable and meets the terms of your contract.
For future titles, you will have to do a little extra work, making sure they match up with what readers have come to expect from you vis-à-vis your first book.
I think this is important to understand because, while I can offer up Jordan Peele and Rumaan Alam as brilliant examples of creators who have successfully changed genres, also consider that they were already successful, well-known names in a specific genre by the time they took that risk: Peele for his comedy, Alam for his bylines as a culture critic for national publications such as the NYT and The New Republic.
In other words, these creators earned the right to experiment. They put in the [blood,] sweat[, tears] equity to have readers loyal to their name, not their work, that would follow them to the gates of hell—or at least to a new genre.
We aren’t all there yet, so join me in eating this humble pie 🥧 that says the ability to genre-pivot isn’t necessarily our right, but something we’ll have to work our way to.
What does earning that right look like for me now?
I love writing women’s fiction and want to continue to do so for a really long time, but I would feel so bad if the other living, breathing ideas inside me never got their chance. With this in mind, I will need to think strategically about the direction in which each successive book I write builds on or moves away from the themes and symbols of the one before it. Each new book you get to bring to market as an author is a beautiful opportunity, and I don’t want to squander the opportunities these two books and any others I’m privileged enough to bring to market will afford me.
Now, won’t you please pass the humble pie? I think I’d like seconds.
xoxo,
Jessica
P.S. My debut novel has a title now! MY BIG FAKE WEDDING will be hitting shelves on August 18, 2022. Preorder link to come!
For Further Reading:
Grabas, Kimberly. “Thinking About Writing in Multiple Genres? Here’s What You Need to Know.” The Book Designer. https://www.thebookdesigner.com/thinking-about-writing-in-multiple-genres-heres-what-you-need-to-know/.
“Jordan Peele: Creating the Thin Line Between Comedy & Horror.” Black Doctor. https://blackdoctor.org/jordan-peele-the-thin-line-between-comedy-horror/.