Question for agent as regards literary fiction vs genre backgrounds
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(Accidently posted this in wrong place)
Hello, new here. I have a question ideal for an agent.
I have a novel I have to try and sell and am about to look for an agent for it. It's my first novel. It is a literary novel and finished. Now the thing is in the meantime I started to find a niche for myself in the world of genre and the hope of having "literary" publication credits in magazines and journals has been slightly offset by the fact that all my publishing has been in genre magazines. So I seemed to have found myself at a fork in the road. The foundation (literary) I hoped to stand on to sell the book is actually a "genre" foundation. Meanwhile I completed work on a straight-up genre novel and am doing editing work on it. Do you think this situation makes me less sellable to an agent if they feel my future work might not jive with the novel I'm trying to sell? Should I put the literary book on the backburner and sell the genre book (which by its nature equates less money and audience)? Maybe I'm being stupid and overthinking things. But when you work full time where you put your energies in writing and publishing is quite a big deal. Thank you in advance. Donatos.
P.S. To make matters more confusing I published quite a bit of poetry....
Hello, new here. I have a question ideal for an agent.
I have a novel I have to try and sell and am about to look for an agent for it. It's my first novel. It is a literary novel and finished. Now the thing is in the meantime I started to find a niche for myself in the world of genre and the hope of having "literary" publication credits in magazines and journals has been slightly offset by the fact that all my publishing has been in genre magazines. So I seemed to have found myself at a fork in the road. The foundation (literary) I hoped to stand on to sell the book is actually a "genre" foundation. Meanwhile I completed work on a straight-up genre novel and am doing editing work on it. Do you think this situation makes me less sellable to an agent if they feel my future work might not jive with the novel I'm trying to sell? Should I put the literary book on the backburner and sell the genre book (which by its nature equates less money and audience)? Maybe I'm being stupid and overthinking things. But when you work full time where you put your energies in writing and publishing is quite a big deal. Thank you in advance. Donatos.
P.S. To make matters more confusing I published quite a bit of poetry....
I don't think this is a problem. If the literary book is done and that's the one that you really want to try to sell, go for it. The genre credits will be a plus because it shows you can write and have been published, even if it's in a different genre.
Basically, go with the book you believe in most -- if you suspect that's the genre one, then polish it and query it.
Did you mean literary fiction would have a wider readership and make more money? Because it's actually reversed. (I'm a literary writer, so I feel the pain.) I don't know which genre you mean, but I think just about all genre tends to sell better than literary fiction.
The poetry credits, by the way, are basically irrelevant to an agent who wants to sell your novel.
Basically, go with the book you believe in most -- if you suspect that's the genre one, then polish it and query it.
Did you mean literary fiction would have a wider readership and make more money? Because it's actually reversed. (I'm a literary writer, so I feel the pain.) I don't know which genre you mean, but I think just about all genre tends to sell better than literary fiction.
The poetry credits, by the way, are basically irrelevant to an agent who wants to sell your novel.
As long as these credits are legit, paid writing credits, I don't think it's going to be a big deal for an agent. Credits are good. But you don't specify which genre you've published in, and some agents may weigh them differently. For example, knowing you've published Science Fiction shorts may not sway an agent's opinion in the positive direction if your literary novel is set in 19th century England. See what I mean?
What genres are your stories? What genre is the other novel?
I'm curious where this idea that genre equal less money/audience came from? Because the vast majority of fiction sold and read is genre of some sort--romance and fantasy being two of the biggest. There is a lot of money to be had in genre. Literary novels can be sold for small potatoes, just like genre, and both have equal chances of tanking with readers.
Ahhh, isn't literary a genre? AW lumps mainstream/contemporary/literary together.
Many agents state they rep commercial fiction and literary fiction. There's no set definition of commercial that I can find. Each agent seems to have a different idea, but it seems to encompass whatever genre fiction the agent thinks will sell. A quick search on QueryTracker of agents repping commercial brought up a list of 477 agents. A search for literary fiction shows over 500. So there's lots to chose from.
Good luck.
Stan
Many agents state they rep commercial fiction and literary fiction. There's no set definition of commercial that I can find. Each agent seems to have a different idea, but it seems to encompass whatever genre fiction the agent thinks will sell. A quick search on QueryTracker of agents repping commercial brought up a list of 477 agents. A search for literary fiction shows over 500. So there's lots to chose from.
Good luck.
Stan
Yes, literary fiction is considered a genre, but when someone says they write "genre," that usually means science fiction, romance, fantasy, thrillers, etc. That's what I took the OP to mean.
If your book sells, it will be because it's good enough to sell. Period. Credits can help in some areas, but a good book sells, and a bad one doesn't. No one buys a bad book because of any credits the writer has, and no one refuses a good book because of lack of the right kind of credits.
And genre fiction pretty much always makes more money than literary fiction, not the other way around. Literary fiction is usually low-pay, small market. The bestseller list is filled with genre fiction, not literary fiction.
And genre fiction pretty much always makes more money than literary fiction, not the other way around. Literary fiction is usually low-pay, small market. The bestseller list is filled with genre fiction, not literary fiction.
Could you consider taking it down the Iain Banks/Iain M Banks route?
Otherwise, unless your genre is hard core sci fi and your literary is an experimental novel without any vowels, it probably won't be a problem. As mentioned, many agents rep both lit and commercial/genre fiction.
Otherwise, unless your genre is hard core sci fi and your literary is an experimental novel without any vowels, it probably won't be a problem. As mentioned, many agents rep both lit and commercial/genre fiction.
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I've been working in the horror genre. That genre is having a very tough time right now. The big publishers don't publish it because it doesn't sell, but then do everything possible to create new genre titles like paranormal romance to sell to the audience horror supposedly doesn't have.
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Thanks for the replies. All food for thought. I like how it seems the grass is always greener on the other side. One person might see a best seller list full of genre, another might see it filled with people like Jonathon Frazen and Cormac McCarthy.
"Commercial" means "as opposed to academic, etc." I.e., marketed to the general public.
Publishers didn't create paranormal romance for horror fans, it grew out of the romance genre.
Horror from the big houses has shrunk considerably in the last decade or so, but some small presses are still having good luck with it.