Squawk Radio
Monday, April 25, 2005
Elizabeth Opines
And I haven't had any wine, so I can only hope I know what I'm talking about.
Putting aside for now that Connie has equated contemporary writing with ba... writing (and she'd damned well better be talking about sheep), I remember a time back in the early to mid-90s when a lot of my fellow category authors suddenly started writing historicals because we were all told by our agents that that was where the big money could be made. I remember Patricia Coughlin wrote some wonderful historicals, as did Dixie Browning (my hero), and some others who I can't off the top of my head recall. (I'd have to go open a bunch of book boxes and I'm too lazy, not to mention I'm supposed to be working.) My then-agent told me I should write historical, too, and when I assured her there was no freakin' way, she directed me to Loretta Chase. Naturally, after reading LORD OF SCOUNDRELS, I knew I'd be way, WAY out of my league in historicals, so that pretty much cemented the decision for me to stay in contemporary right there. I don't care if the contemp market bottoms out egregiously. I can only write contemorary, and that's that. I admire anyone who can cross lines, in or out of genre, but to quote that great 20th century philosopher, Bob Dylan, "It ain't me, babe." (Was it Bob Dylan who said that? Remember, I cut my teeth on the Archies and Barry Manilow, so what the hell do I know?)
ANYway, what happened was that many of us category authors went to historical and saw that our category income was infinitely better, so few of us stayed. (Remember, this was back in the EARLY 90s, when category writers were still seeing some seriously decent income.) And then a bunch of historical writers found out how much we category writers made, and we saw this big rush (well, okay, maybe a mini-rush) of historical authors suddenly popping up in the category lines. I think several of them stayed and did very well there and are still thriving. The secret, in my opinion, is that if you genuinely love the genre or subgenre into which you move, and you have a great story to tell there, you'll succeed quite nicely. But if you're only going there to make money, foggedabbuddit. (Yes, as a matter of fact, I DID live in New Jersey for a time.) Your lack of passion will come through, and you'll ultimately flounder.
This is such a weird business, and I always laugh when I meet doctors and lawyers who want to leave their profession and join mine. Oh, yeah, it's great going for months with NO income and having NO benefits and NO healthcare and NO retirement and NO certainty that I'll still be employed once the next contract is up. Who wouldn't want to sign up for this gig? You absolutely have to love what you're writing, regardless of what it is, and you can't do it because you're looking for the big bucks. There aren't many bucks to be had in this business, and they're becoming more and more scarce with every year. That said, however, we do want to make a good living, to provide for ourselves and our families. So we have to think commercially, and if that means making changes, so be it. Just be sure you still love what you write when you make the change.
THAT said, knowing a bit about Connie's contemp project, and knowing how much she loves it, and how anxious she is to write it, and how incredibly jazzed she is to be doing it--and, oh, all RIGHT, how freaking talented she is--I'm sure she's going to zoom right to the top.
One thing I've learned after seventeen years of doing this is that the market is cyclical. I don't doubt that historical will swing back to the top with a vengeance at some point, and will probably morph into something different from what it is now. At that time, contemporary may become the doormat to the past. I'll just have to hope I'm the doormat at the house of some fabulously successful historical writer.
And now you know the real reason why I hang around with these guys.
Putting aside for now that Connie has equated contemporary writing with ba... writing (and she'd damned well better be talking about sheep), I remember a time back in the early to mid-90s when a lot of my fellow category authors suddenly started writing historicals because we were all told by our agents that that was where the big money could be made. I remember Patricia Coughlin wrote some wonderful historicals, as did Dixie Browning (my hero), and some others who I can't off the top of my head recall. (I'd have to go open a bunch of book boxes and I'm too lazy, not to mention I'm supposed to be working.) My then-agent told me I should write historical, too, and when I assured her there was no freakin' way, she directed me to Loretta Chase. Naturally, after reading LORD OF SCOUNDRELS, I knew I'd be way, WAY out of my league in historicals, so that pretty much cemented the decision for me to stay in contemporary right there. I don't care if the contemp market bottoms out egregiously. I can only write contemorary, and that's that. I admire anyone who can cross lines, in or out of genre, but to quote that great 20th century philosopher, Bob Dylan, "It ain't me, babe." (Was it Bob Dylan who said that? Remember, I cut my teeth on the Archies and Barry Manilow, so what the hell do I know?)
ANYway, what happened was that many of us category authors went to historical and saw that our category income was infinitely better, so few of us stayed. (Remember, this was back in the EARLY 90s, when category writers were still seeing some seriously decent income.) And then a bunch of historical writers found out how much we category writers made, and we saw this big rush (well, okay, maybe a mini-rush) of historical authors suddenly popping up in the category lines. I think several of them stayed and did very well there and are still thriving. The secret, in my opinion, is that if you genuinely love the genre or subgenre into which you move, and you have a great story to tell there, you'll succeed quite nicely. But if you're only going there to make money, foggedabbuddit. (Yes, as a matter of fact, I DID live in New Jersey for a time.) Your lack of passion will come through, and you'll ultimately flounder.
This is such a weird business, and I always laugh when I meet doctors and lawyers who want to leave their profession and join mine. Oh, yeah, it's great going for months with NO income and having NO benefits and NO healthcare and NO retirement and NO certainty that I'll still be employed once the next contract is up. Who wouldn't want to sign up for this gig? You absolutely have to love what you're writing, regardless of what it is, and you can't do it because you're looking for the big bucks. There aren't many bucks to be had in this business, and they're becoming more and more scarce with every year. That said, however, we do want to make a good living, to provide for ourselves and our families. So we have to think commercially, and if that means making changes, so be it. Just be sure you still love what you write when you make the change.
THAT said, knowing a bit about Connie's contemp project, and knowing how much she loves it, and how anxious she is to write it, and how incredibly jazzed she is to be doing it--and, oh, all RIGHT, how freaking talented she is--I'm sure she's going to zoom right to the top.
One thing I've learned after seventeen years of doing this is that the market is cyclical. I don't doubt that historical will swing back to the top with a vengeance at some point, and will probably morph into something different from what it is now. At that time, contemporary may become the doormat to the past. I'll just have to hope I'm the doormat at the house of some fabulously successful historical writer.
And now you know the real reason why I hang around with these guys.
Elizabeth Bevarly, 2:18 PM
2 comments
