Only Myself to Blame

I'm feeling grumpy again. I got my monthly royalty statement from my main publisher. Let's just say it was disappointing. Once again, I'm asking myself why I bother to work so hard writing and marketing when nobody's buying my books.

Then I remember I have only myself to blame. I could boost my sales if I wanted to do so. All I'd have to do is write what's popular. A few years ago, that was vampire and werewolf tales. At the moment, the sub-genre de jour seems to be stories about a woman's initiation into BDSM by a mysterious, arrogant, dominant male.

Been there. Done that. That was my first novel, Raw Silk, more than a decade ago. For a long time, in fact, most of what I wrote was BDSM-flavored. I still love the genre. Well-written tales exploring the thrill of sexual surrender still push my personal buttons. After a few years, though, I started to worry that I was writing the same story over and over again. I wanted to branch out, to challenge myself. I didn't want to get stale.

I wrote a couple of erotic thrillers. Two M/M erotic romances. Some paranormal. Some science fiction. Just for the hell of it, I did a mash-up of  every genre I could think of, in Rajasthani Moon. Menage-BDSM-steampunk-shapeshifter-Rubenesque-Bollywood-interracial...That was so much fun that my next project is likely to be steampunk BDSM, too. 

So what kind of author am I? An erotic author, certainly, but beyond that, I don't fit into any pigeonholes. And that's at least one reason why my work doesn't sell better. I don't have a brand. Unlike some authors, I don't write one book after another with basically the same plot and characters. And okay, I admit it, when somebody tells me I should write the sort of book that's currently "hot", I feel an overwhelming desire to do exactly the opposite.

Call me contrary, but I don't like to be a sheep. And I figure the world doesn't need yet another take on the gazillionaire Dom and the virgin.

When I do tackle a popular genre, I find myself irresistibly tempted to turn the stereotypes on their heads. So in fact, I have been thinking about a gazillionaire and virgin book - one in which the hero is the virgin and the heroine is the filthy rich dominant.

Sigh. I know that won't sell at all....!

I can write to spec when I want to. I'm on the staff at Custom Erotica Source, a service that provides individually crafted sexual fantasies for its clients. You wouldn't believe the detailed scenarios some of our customers have given me. And somehow, I've managed to get into their heads and give them exactly what they wanted.

But otherwise, I want to surprise and delight my readers, turn their expectations upside down.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to bet much of a market for originality - at least not in erotic romance.

I know I could analyze what's selling and write more of the same. I'm good at taking direction, as my Master will confirm. But I just can't stomach the prospect.

So if my royalties are a pittance, I have only myself to blame.

Does the Writing Matter?

I've been pondering this question for some time, wondering whether I dare raise it on my blog. Then I thought, what the heck. I'm not going to name names...

I've been writing, and hence reading, erotic romance for about three years now. I review for several official sites as well as my own. I do peer reviews. And I visit lots of my colleagues' blogs and read lots of excerpts.

I've come to the tentative conclusion that in this genre, an author's writing skill is far less important than other considerations in determining popularity and sales.

Sometimes I feel as though I'm reading the same book or the same excerpts, over and over. Same vocabulary. Same tired images. All too often I'm yawning by the second paragraph.

Then there's the head-hopping and the grammar errors and the factual inconsistencies. I find myself wondering how this author ever got published--or what her editor was doing instead of cleaning up the text!

Yet some of these authors have huge fan bases and sell many more books than I do. I'll be honest and admit that I find this annoying.

I am starting to believe that what matters in romance, more than anything else, are the characters. If the characters grab the reader, she won't care too much if the prose is of indifferent quality. The plot can be familiar, the resolution can be obvious, but this won't bother the reader at all if she really identifies with the hero and heroine. My theory is that romance readers are looking for that "love high"--the pure emotion that shoots through you when the hero and heroine (or the hero and the other hero) connect. Everything else is secondary.

Am I right about this? If so, then maybe the time I spend on crafting my sentences and searching for just the right words is wasted. I'd hate to think that's true, but maybe I've got to be realistic.

What do you think?