Do you write in more than one genre? In today's publishing world I'm seeing more and more writers do this. I'm one of them. I write non-fiction for my freelance articles and I'm working on a non-fiction book to be released later this year. I'm also wrapping up my first Young Adult Fantasy and then I'll finish a Middle Grade Sci-Fi. So I write non-fiction, young adult and middle grade.
Many authors are finding it easy to transition between YA and MG. For example, Alyson Noel is the author of the New York Times bestselling series 'The Immortals'. She also writes a spin-off MG, 'The Riley Bloom' series staring the character from The Immortals series younger sister. Click here to learn more about Alyson Noel.
Author Sophie Jordan writes both romance and YA. She is the author of the popular YA series 'Firelight'. Click here to learn more about Sophie Jordan.
New York Times bestselling author Bob Mayer writes fiction and non-fiction with his helpful resources for writers. If you haven't read his 'Warrior Writer' book you must. Click here to learn more about Bob Mayer.
All of these authors (and there are MANY more) are very successful at wearing many hats.
Many writers like to delve into multiple genres. For me, the plus to this is being able to give my brain a break. I like to feel challenged and stimulated with my writing. By simultaneously working on non-fiction and fiction it is always easy for me to take a break from one and switch to the other. We've all been there. After countless hours of revising a fiction piece I welcome the opportunity to switch to something entirely different. And by doing this I am still honing my writing craft just switching hats and mindsets to do so.
Are you writing in multiple genres? Is it non-fiction and fiction? Young Adult and Middle Grade? Or another combination? Share in a comment what areas you are writing in and how tacking multiple genres makes your writing life easier or more of a challenge.
Happy Friday and Happy Writing!
It's a Catch-22. I don't think it has necessarily helped my career writing in multiple genres in fiction. On the flip side, I think in the current market, you need to diversify. I'd recommend focusing on one fiction genre you want to break out in and also writing in one non-fiction area you are expert in. The latter is an easier sell; or, to self-publish and sell and generate some revenue. At Who Dares Wins Publishing our non-fiction is our primary money-maker. In fiction, interestingly, my Atlantis series is our #1 seller and we were never able to determine its genre: it was never racked in science fiction, but mainstream. We called it X-Filesish, Michael Crichton type. Sometimes it's good to break genre,
ReplyDeleteI do it, but it's totally not intentional...in fact, I've been warned off of it. But I can't help it. I write what occurs to me, otherwise I'm not happy writing and tend to put my projects aside. I guess if you're not happy as a writer, there's no use doing it. You can make more money as an unhappy tax attorney than an unhappy writer, and probably with far less effort.
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