Category Archives: The Writing World

  About a year ago publishers were asking for books with an angel theme; fallen or otherwise. It’s no surprise really.  A good fallen angel read can be just as smokey hot as any vampire with a heart-of-gold story.  

  Back in 2009 Publisher Weekly’s Karen Springen posted this article on “An Angelic Autum”-  “Move over, Edward Cullen. Bad-boy angels are the new hotties. Like modern vampires, they can be gorgeous, immortal and otherworldly heartthrobs, unlike, say, zombies. “With all that rotting-off, they’re not very sexy,” said Justin Chanda, v-p and publisher of Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers, who calls angels “safe gothic” and “romantic.” 

  And now, publishers are already saying “Stop! No more angels.” But why?  There aren’t floods of books gracing feathery wings the likes of the vampiric market, yet.  Remember, the market runs slow.  While the smaller publishing houses are turning out Angel books already, the larger houses are delayed by years sometimes.  And many of them are working off of cut-backs, which makes them run slower.

  So, if you’ve been working on an other worldly tale about angels, submit it now! It might look like the market is just heating up, but waiting in line are many halo-toting hero’s waiting to win our hearts.

  Today’s topic for the Writing World is “Curses.”  It’s something I ran into yesterday at the library.  I don’t get to go with my children too often because my boys don’t have a volume switch.  But, we tried. 

  Leaving the kids in the good graces of their therapists I darted over to my mother who was standing behind the counter. (yes, my mom’s a librarian) And I asked, “What’s cool, what’s hot, what isn’t staying on the shelves for Young Adult?”  She shrugged and said “Nothing.”

  That was a little difficult for me to believe.  There’s always something that’s moving.  So, she walked me over and pointed to the top of a case where all the new books were.  I was able to pick up three and read the blurb on the back before my kids demanded my attention.  But, they all had a common theme- curses. One claimed to be a horror, while the other’s were more of an adventure. 

  Later I asked my mom “What about the vampires, werewolves, demons and angels?”  She wasn’t sure.  I heard from author Rebecca Zanetti “When one agent or publisher thinks something’s hot, they all do.”  But, in this case these books aren’t catching the eyes of the readers.  These stories seemed geared more towards a male audience, or those looking for something spine-tingling. But, before it was the Paranormal Romances that caught more attention. 

  While curses may seem cool, they may not have the same “escape” factor that most readers are looking for.  Perhaps the readers aren’t as tired of the previous market as the publishers are? So, if you’re working on a story with the curse theme be prepared to advertise, cuz it’s a tough market out there!