Under the pen name Anna Schmidt, Jo Schmidt has written over thirty novels that have collectively sold over half a million copies. She is also the author of Parkinson’s Disease for Dummies and several books on eldercare published by AARP. Her latest novel, The Winterkeeper (March 2019) is her first literary fiction release. A former marketing and communications professional for two international corporations who has also taught at the college level and run a Mom-and-Pop adult daycare business with her husband, Jo is now retired and focused only on writing. She splits her time between Wisconsin and Florida.
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Breaking out of the Genre Pigeonhole: Tips From a Romance-Turned-Mainstream Novelist
When the love of my life died seven years ago, it was like losing half of myself. Aside from the deep emotional toll grief takes, it brought professional challenges. As a career romance author, writing love stories suddenly became downright painful.
For years I had been contemplating breaking away from the genre fiction mold I’d been embedded in for decades, but now, moving away from romance fiction felt vital. I no longer wanted to write ‘happily-ever-after’ stories. I wanted to write ‘what-happens-next’ stories. I was fascinated with telling the story of a marriage after the honeymoon—years, even decades after. I now knew that story—the laughter and the tears of that story.
Many writers, myself included, start their careers with a singular quest: to get published. It follows the outline of the “if a tree falls in the woods” adage: You can work day and night on a manuscript, but if it never reaches readers, did it ever really get written?
If you’re lucky, you might get published. You may even have a bit of success, as I did. And I learned an important lesson: With success comes restrictions. I had sold over 500,000 copies of my romance works. How hard could it be to pivot away from romance, to be able to tell the more complex stories I wanted to tell?
The answer: Hard. Very, very hard. In the end, publishing is a business. Turning out romance novels for the legion of readers is big business. Having worked in the corporate world for two international companies, I understand that bottom-line philosophy. I don’t have to like it; I just understand it. And the bottom line was that these publishers needed me to keep writing the stories that would feed the appetite of genre readers and drive consistent, predictable sales.
So when it was time for a change—or at least a shift—my agent pitched my new novel concept to a number of publishers…and I got some of the nicest rejection letters I’ve ever received in all my years doing this writing thing. They liked the story, the writing, the characters. But they couldn’t see a viable route to cash in.
Luckily, my skin was thick, and I learned a lot. If you find yourself in a similar position, hoping to reinvent yourself as a writer and storyteller, here’s what you can do:
Center yourself on your purpose. Publishers will still want to be in the driver’s seat. But you know your capabilities as a writer, and you know where you want to go with your career. So first, center yourself on your purpose—the story you want to tell—and build your confidence up around it. If you don’t honor your story with your best attempt at getting it published, no matter what happens, you’ll regret it.
Write the book regardless of the outcome. You may have gotten used to selling each new book idea on a pitch or proposal. That will probably not work when you’re trying to break out of a genre, so consider whether you’re willing to write despite this before diving in headlong. And if you do, commit wholeheartedly to this journey. You may be pleasantly surprised.
Embrace this change of course as a new beginning. Depending on how long you’ve been in your pigeonhole, you may not be able to build on your existing career or platform, which means you may be starting over. My name carries some weight with readers of romance fiction, but would those readers follow me to something new and different? Even my work in the inspirational market—stories that were closer to the ‘big book’ novel I wanted to write—is still not necessarily close enough to catch on with my existing followers. Rather than looking at this challenge as a setbook, embrace it for the new beginning that it is, and recognize that although you may need to build up a new audience and reputation, what you’ve built to date demonstrates your capabilities.
Open your mind to the empowerment of self-publishing. If you have been traditionally published for years, self-publishing can be an eye-opening and daunting experience. After all, I was used to the publisher handling things like editing and marketing and such. In self-publishing the key word is SELF—you do everything or else you hire people to do things like editing, marketing, uploading, cover design, etc. The learning curve is steep. It took me several months—and failed attempts—to conquer it. But conquer it, I did. And you can, too. It is empowering.
The Winterkeeper—the novel I wanted to write—released this April. I published it
myself, through Amazon’s KDP program. Just as I published The Winterkeeper, I was finishing revisions on the final story of my romance series, Harvey Girls and Cowboys, and found myself wanting to tell the heroines of those novels who were bent on finding romance: “Honey, you are not getting this. Love is so much more (and so much more work) than romance! Real love is a lot more fun and challenging and even more mind-boggling than anyone can expect.”
And that’s when I realized I don’t have to choose—if I have a story to tell, there are paths for telling it. It’s my story—and my career.
Readers, have you ever changed paths? What challenges did that change bring your way? How did you overcome them? We’d love to hear your stories.
It is encouraging to read about your journey out of romance into general fiction. The publishing industry definitely believes in the old saw “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” That makes switching from one’s proven formula difficult, sometimes impossible. Congratulations on your accomplishment!
Thanks for commenting–I smiled when I read the ‘old saw’–definitely applies!! All best, Anna
Hi Jo, I found this essay heartening. I particularly love the concept of centering yourself on your purpose. The stories I want to tell should rightfully remain paramount to the journey. The rest is subsidiary. Thanks for the reminder and the lifted spirits.
Wishing you the best with the Winterkeeper. I love the title and the concept of being a winterkeeper. I’m glad they still exist.
From what I’ve been reading winterkeepers are more ‘temporary’ positions these days, but I guess moving mountains of snow off rooftops is still a by-hand job!! Thanks so much for your kind wishes! All best, Anna
I have met many, many romance novelists who want to write mainstream. I have met very, very few who successfully made the leap. So first of all, congratulations.
The struggle I see is not in the desire to change one’s writing but in writing in a new way. Romance fiction reads like no other type of fiction. It’s characters are singularly focused. Romance fiction even has unique language found in no other type of story. Habits are hard to break and that can be true for writing in the romance mode too.
The second difficulty I see is in the pace of production. Experienced romance writers turn out (detractors say churn out) novels with a regularity unmatched in other fields. The shift to a different narrative style is necessarily a downshift, not least in expectations. The change takes longer than most are prepared for.
Too often I’ve read manuscripts that are meant as an author’s break out of category, only to find that they read not much differently than romance. That said, there’s no reason people can’t go back to school, learn new skills and change careers. Happens, right? That’s true for the romance writing profession, too.
It just seems not to happen very often, so thanks for showing the way and making the leap. Your reasons resonate and remind us that fiction writing goes well when it is honestly and authentically rooted in one’s own life and experience.
As a reader, I get frustrated by books advertised as gritty mysteries or epic fantasies that turn out to be romances with thrills sprinkled on top.
When I investigate those books, I often find out they were written by established romance authors. Or they were written by new novelists who name romance authors as their biggest influences.
Writers don’t have to change themselves to suit what I like, but if a book is advertised as something I will like, I expect it to deliver. If the back cover description is about a kick-butt heroine having sword fights with vampires in steampunk Victorian England, I expect the promised sword fights…not three hundred pages of make-out sessions with hot werewolves.
Okay, beyond honored that you saw this and chose to comment. Your workshops and books have played a BIG part in my growth as a writer, so thank you!!
Anna
Anna/Jo, I’m going to disagree nicely with Donald and not because he’s wrong… he’s not.
But because I know your talent and devotion and work ethic, I know what you’re capable of and I think there are many authors who can also do this if they choose to do so. I don’t think it’s encouraged often enough for a couple of reasons. First, that some shrug off category or romance writers as inconsequential, which is silly, right? When those sales make up so much of the marketplace. And their talents should never be made light of.
But the competition on all levels is fierce, and it’s rare for the industry to encourage troupes of authors to jump in and try the water. Sure some may not make it, but I think many would and could, but with fading numbers I can’t imagine that the industry wants to see that happen. Fortunately there are indie publishing options that give us a chance for a wider body of work.
So while Donald’s words ring true for some, I hope they don’t discourage authors from jumping into the waters of mainstream fiction… or vice versa, folks who find that sales are fading in their genre might have some fun in the romance market. I’ve seen that happen with some success… but as Donald aptly states, switching up isn’t easy and learning to write shorter and crisper stories isn’t easy, either. And not everyone can deal with happy endings. :) My Pollyanna-loving nature loves a happy or at least a hopeful ending.
In the end I believe it’s not a talent thing… it’s a willingness to learn and to explore and to stick with it. On that Donald and I agree.
I’ve also personally seen a huge spike in sales when a publisher re-published my trade paperback series into mass market size and shelved them in all the stores my Love Inspireds have been… sales soared enough to make them high-earning books instead of dead weight.
The other thing I’ve noticed while working with Amazon that production is still key to spin. Name recognition is wonderful, but the more books we put out, the more notice we’re given between the site and the reader. It’s an interesting composite of multiple factors that help bridge this new age, and you know I love your work… so I can’t wait to get my hands on this.
I like keeping my hands on both sides of the great divide because in the end, talent wins out as long as the work ethic is deeply rooted.
I’m developing my career as both a writer of stories for children and adults. It’s not that people haven’t tried to tell me that I can’t do that. It’s that I haven’t listened. I have to write the stories that inspire me–regardless of any categories. I have to trust that if I write them to the best of my ability people will care.
Congratulations for making the change. I’m thrilled for you!
Anna, thank you for sharing this post! I’ve always self-published so I don’t have a comparison…but it must have been a big leap. Yeah you! From another Wisconsin/Arizona author…Brenda
With 30+ romance novels under my belt and no sales to speak of, I switched to my true love, historical tine travel. It was a bad move. After 2 years of failed releases, I recently switched to my other love, YA. Yes, I will always love romance and even my YA has a touch of it. But the YA was more popular than the romance, so it seems it is time to change paths yet again. Here is to a path more successful this time.