Urban Fantasy still hot?

biggerbrowneyes · Aug 23, 2011

Is Urban Fantasy still hot right now?

I'm reading that editors are starting to take less of it, although others say that the paranormal market will never die. Any wise words on this topic?

Darkshore · Aug 24, 2011

I've been seeing quite a lot of new UF Novel/Series as of late. While it may be true they want to tone it down a bit, UF is a hot genre and it's not going anywhere.

ChaosTitan · Aug 24, 2011

UF is still selling well, and editors are still acquiring new projects.

However, because the market is getting crowded with series and authors, you really need to sell well in order to see a second contract. I know several fellow UF authors who landed a two-book contract, had okay sales, but not enough for another two books, so the publisher dropped them. It sucks, but it's also part of the business side of publishing.

As always, make sure you have a strong and unique concept.

amyashley · Aug 24, 2011

Most of the time, entire genres don't die overnight.

I'd aim for book concepts just outside of genre standards. Bizarre is going to be too much of a risk, and same old stuff isn't worth printing costs right now.

Just my opinion. If you love the genre, you'll write in it regardless of what you fear may or may not be happening. Like many of us, you're slamming away at the keys to push literature to it's limits every day. I want to succeed as a novelist, sure, but ultimately I want to do something for my art.

lufftocraft · Aug 24, 2011

I know that I still hunt out good Urban Fantasy books when I shop for my weekend reading so I truely hope they aren't going anywhere!

Jess Haines · Aug 24, 2011

As Kelly said, it's not that UF is going anywhere so much as that the market is getting crowded and agents and editors are probably being more picky about what projects they take on.

If you're thinking you should avoid writing in the market, let me say this: don't write for markets. Write what you enjoy, and do it well. If it's written well and has a decent premise, no matter the genre, chances are good you'll find a home for it.

By the time you're done writing something for a specific market, that trend is likely over and done with already and publishers are looking for the next hot thing. Write what makes you happy. It will bring you less heartache in the end.

biggerbrowneyes · Aug 24, 2011

Thanks for the advice, guys! I personally dig urban fantasy and I write UF as well.

I just started querying, so I hope it's not too hard to find my novel a home...

LisaAnn · Sep 17, 2011

So glad you posted this. I was afraid UF was on the way out myself, but I've recently heard lots of encouraging things from agents about UF's staying power. The trick is, as everyone has said, that new UF has to work much harder to stand out in an increasingly crowded market.

Nonny · Sep 18, 2011

If you read the "Fiction Affliction" blog series over at tor.com, they were commenting this month that there were something like 40+ urban fantasy/paranormal romance releases in September, compared to less than 10 traditional fantasy releases.

Obviously, that's what's getting released now, and was contracted awhile ago, but it doesn't seem that the trend is slowing down much.

waylander · Sep 18, 2011

'Rivers of London' at #5 in the paperback bestsellers list in The Daily Telegraph Review yesterday.
Looks pretty hot to me

AlwaysJuly · Dec 18, 2011

I'm not sure if this is comforting or not, given that I have a UF that I've been querying to carefully-selected agents and getting minimal interest from. My query might suck (but I've gotten help with it both here and on AQ, I think, so I'm not sure that's it, and I've sent out 3 different versions in different stages), but I'm pretty confident about the pages I've been including. At least, they're the best writing (and polishing!) I'm capable of. Maybe my premise is tired. Or something. I wish I knew. But I've really been starting to wonder, maybe it is the genre and it's just too saturated right now.

I want to start working on another UF book (I've been pursuing some projects in other genres lately while I queried this one), but I'd like to know why this book isn't moving first. Ghaa.

Jess Haines · Dec 19, 2011

It's hard to say without seeing your query or pages, but it's possible you're either A) not querying agents who rep that kind of material, B) querying agents who already rep material too similar to yours, or C) your query/pages need work. Or some combination thereof.

Sometimes it just takes a while to find the right combination of agent interest/material. Keep honing that query, keep polishing those pages, and most of all, keep trying.

Silver-Midnight · Dec 19, 2011

I'm pretty sure Urban Fantasy is still going strong. I personally don't write for the genre as of yet, but I don't think you have anything to worry about. Yeah, it has become very popular right now, and yeah, it is probably a lot harder to find higher, quality work. However, I don't think that will entirely diminish your chances of publication, if that's what you're after.

Windcutter · Dec 28, 2011

All I know is that a big name agent told me (after reading and rejecting my full) that she would have sold my book a few years ago but not now, because the market is crowded yet isn't inclined to divergency. Basically it seems to be large but somewhat stale.

Jamiekswriter · Dec 28, 2011

I think UF is still hot, but from what I've been hearing you have to have something different/unique to stand out on the crowded shelves.

DivineDiva · Dec 28, 2011

As an avid reader, I love Urban Fantasy so much, I started reading Paranormal Romances. While I have definitely enjoyed a lot of PR, my first love (well second, since the first is epic) is UF, and I just got desperate for it because there aren't nearly as many new UF novels, and of course, unfortunately, even fewer epic.

So, no, I don't think the demand will slow down anytime soon, if ever. The concepts are just too captivating and intriguing. I just don't see that fascination ever dimming. It'll be a sad, sad world if it ever does, and I hope I'm long gone from this place.

nitaworm · Dec 28, 2011

Write what you want to write. Chasing a trend is hard to do.

Smiling Ted · Dec 30, 2011

There's a lot of rubbish UF. Back in the '80s, the notion was new, and the writers working with it were inventive - Emma Bull, Matt Wagner, and so on. In the last decade, I've seen a massive amount of undistinguished work in the field...from very popular UF writers whom I will not name for fear of starting a flame war.

If your stuff is good, it will sell. If it's the same old same old we've been seeing on the shelves for a decade - there are already hacks to write that.

Polenth · Apr 28, 2012

AlwaysJuly said:
I'm not sure if this is comforting or not, given that I have a UF that I've been querying to carefully-selected agents and getting minimal interest from. My query might suck (but I've gotten help with it both here and on AQ, I think, so I'm not sure that's it, and I've sent out 3 different versions in different stages), but I'm pretty confident about the pages I've been including. At least, they're the best writing (and polishing!) I'm capable of. Maybe my premise is tired. Or something. I wish I knew. But I've really been starting to wonder, maybe it is the genre and it's just too saturated right now.

I'm bumping this thread, as I also have query experience now to add. I'm definitely getting the vibe of paranormal fatigue, even when the paranormal elements are a bit more unusual. Though I think there's room in a trend if a book is amazingly awesome, I have to be realistic that I'm not that writer. I write well enough, but not so well as to overcome being the hundredth urban fantasy query in a day.

So on the one hand, it is still hot in terms of sales to consumers. But on the other, if you have a choice between your urban fantasy idea and an idea you had in another sub-genre... you might want to go for that other sub-genre.

Windcutter · Apr 29, 2012

Same here.

Silver-Midnight · Apr 29, 2012

Polenth said:
I'm bumping this thread, as I also have query experience now to add. I'm definitely getting the vibe of paranormal fatigue, even when the paranormal elements are a bit more unusual. Though I think there's room in a trend if a book is amazingly awesome, I have to be realistic that I'm not that writer. I write well enough, but not so well as to overcome being the hundredth urban fantasy query in a day.

So on the one hand, it is still hot in terms of sales to consumers. But on the other, if you have a choice between your urban fantasy idea and an idea you had in another sub-genre... you might want to go for that other sub-genre.

Good to know. Thanks for letting us know, Polenth.

triceretops · Apr 29, 2012

Still hot--still alive and kickin'.

Death Wizard · Apr 29, 2012

It's still alive and kicking, but I'm one of the minority who simply prefers high/epic fantasy over just about anything else, though I do love some good horror mixed in to my reading batch. That said, if it's written well, I'll read anything. For instance, Tri's stuff is excellent, even if it's not my first choice of genre.

Windcutter · Apr 29, 2012

I've been told by an agent that you mostly need a "project" for UF now--i.e. a series with a marketing plan.

Miguelito · Jun 16, 2012

UF DOA:

If you are working on an urban fantasy, you might be out of luck. Every SF&F editor I chatted with while in New York was being inundated by urban fantasy submissions and with some rare exceptions, were not buying them.

http://pubrants.blogspot.ca/2012/06/got-epic-fantasy.html

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