Don’t Fit In ANY Genre?

23Jan11

Publishers are interested in one thing, selling books. So they tend to stick to the proven models of past successes. They claim to want new ideas, but they don’t. They want what they know will work. This is especially true of series romance which is why you see so many titles like “Cowboy Billionaire’s Secret Baby Surprise.” Because for some reason, the romance-reading population at large really likes to read about cowboy billionaire’s secret babies and they buy books about them over and over all around the world. It’s a niche market and a lucrative one for both publisher and writers who have a corral full of cowboy stories.

But what if you don’t write about fertile cowpokes? What if what you really want to write about doesn’t fit into any established genre or any publisher’s want list of sure-fire bestseller models? Do you keep trying? Write what they want you to write? Maybe. But there is another option…

E-Publish it.

Smashwords, one of the largest e-publishers has a slogan, “Your e-book. Your way.” www.smashwords.com

With some simple adjustments to your Word Document manuscript, and a nice cover, you can e-publish your book for free. Instead of sitting on your shelf collecting dust and eroding your self-confidence, your manuscript can be out there making money. And you get a bigger piece of the pie, a whopping 85% of sales with Smashwords belongs to the author.

A nice bonus is that every time you sell a book, Smashwords sends you an e-mail. I’m telling you, nothing perks up a writer like hearing those little beeps telling you your books are selling!

Smashwords publishes in all e-formats so that readers with a Kindle, a Sony or other hand-held devices, or people who want to read it as a PDF from their computer can all access your books. And it’s instant gratification. Once you go through their style guide to conform to their publishing standards, you can have a book for sale in a matter of minutes instead of two to two-and-a-half year wait for paper published books.

My husband and I are both recent Smashwords authors. I had an unusual book called Snowmagic, a novelization of an epic mythic poem from Finland. Although it was a literary award-winner it wasn’t exactly a sure-fire billionaire cowboy plot.

Neither was my husband’s Ancient Recipes for Modern Kitchens in which he explored recipes from ancient Egypt, Rome, England etc. If you’re writing historical fiction, you can cook the food your characters may have eaten.

He also did a self-help book, under a pen name, about Modern Knighthood which didn’t fit into most publisher’s collections either.

In order to qualify for the Smashwords Premium Catalog, which goes to places like Amazon and Barnes & Noble, you must have professional level cover art created with specific requirements. I am a professional graphic artist and I designed all these covers. It’s a nice sideline for me. I love doing it. I’ll design a cover for an e-book for $100, much less than the going rate. Please contact me at Novelist@telus.net if you are interested.