Meeting Readers’ Expectations—Or Not
In a few weeks I’ll be
celebrating the thirteenth anniversary of the release of Talk Gertie To Me, the first novel I ever sold. Shortly after the
book came out someone posted a review on Amazon that she titled “Talk Disappointing
To Me.” Why? I hadn’t met her expectations as a reader. “Contemporary Romance” was
printed on the spine of the book. The back cover copy emphasized the romance
that takes place between one of the main characters and what is actually a
secondary character in the book. The reader expected a book that fell squarely
into the romance genre. What she got was women’s fiction with a chick lit edge
to it. She was disappointed, and although I was unhappy to see a negative
review of my baby, I understood her disappointment.
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| The original cover from the book's release in 2006 |
In a romance the two main
characters are the hero and heroine. In Talk
Gertie To Me the two main characters are a mother and daughter. There is
romance in the book. Actually, there are two romances, one that involves the
mother and the other that involves the daughter, but the romances are subplots.
The main story is about the relationship between the mother and daughter. It’s
a comical tale of the tug-of-war that ensues when a daughter severs the apron
strings and her mother is faced with empty nest syndrome.
So why was Talk Gertie To Me being sold as a
romance? I can’t answer that. Authors, especially first time authors, have no
control over the business decisions made by their publishers. Given that at the
time my publisher also had a chick lit line, chick lit was the genre du
jour, and they even featured a quote on the cover from another chick lit author, it never made any sense to me to market my book as a contemporary
romance. I was totally shocked by
their decision. Whether it hurt sales of the book, I’ll never know. The
majority of reviews the book has received are positive, but there were other
readers whose expectations I didn’t meet. They wanted more Nori and Mac, less
of Connie and her adventures in New York. However, most did like other aspects
of the book. Even the author of “Talk Disappointing To Me” gave the book 3 out
of 5 stars.
Three-and-a-half years and a
romantic suspense later, I sold Assault
With a Deadly Glue Gun, the first book in my Anastasia Pollack Crafting
Mystery series. I wrote the book as a humorous amateur sleuth mystery, not a
cozy mystery, because the Mafia loan shark in the book uses language
appropriate to a Mafia loan shark. My editor didn’t ask me to refrain from
using colorful language or employ euphemisms. So imagine my surprise when a
year later I saw the book previewed on their website, not in the Amateur Sleuth
category but in the Cozy Mystery category! It was déjà vu all over again, as
Yogi Berra would say.
When I asked my editor why
the book was listed as a cozy, she replied that cozies sell better. The
problem, though, is that cozy readers have certain expectations, and one of
them is that they won’t find any foul language in cozy books. So once again, I
received some negative reviews, this time concerning a character’s limited use
of words generally not uttered in polite company.
There are now seven
Anastasia Pollack Crafting Mystery novels and three novellas with an eighth
novel in the works. I’ve always been of the mind that a word is just a word;
it’s the meaning that’s important. But not everyone feels that way, and as an
author I don’t want to alienate a segment of my readership. So I eventually
decided to bow to the pressure placed on me by some of my readers and now
employ euphemisms. I learned a long time ago that in life it’s best to choose
your battles, and this was one that wasn’t worth fighting.
Talk Gertie To Me
Two years ago Nori Stedworth
fled the conservative mentality of both her parents and Ten Commandments, Iowa,
for Manhattan. She loves her new life -- until one devastating afternoon that
culminates with the arrival of her mother. Mom is suffering from middle-age
meltdown. Her only identity is as a wife and mother, but her husband is a
workaholic, and her daughter is halfway across the country. Grandchildren would
give her life new purpose. If only Nori would come to her senses and marry town
mortician and most eligible bachelor Eugene Draymore.
To that end, Mom sets off to bring Nori home. But when she
meets Nori’s neighbor, her plans take an unexpected twist, and she’s thrust
headfirst into a career as the next Martha Stewart. Suddenly, she’s a somebody
in her own right and reconsiders returning to her old life.
As a coping mechanism, Nori resurrects Gertie, her
adolescent imaginary friend. A laptop mix-up lands her musings in the hands of
Mackenzie Randolph, a talk-radio station manager on deadline to boost sagging
ratings or lose his job. He knows he’s found the answer to his prayers when he
reads Nori’s make-believe correspondence.
And maybe he’s found much more.
Meanwhile Dad, with Eugene in tow, comes in search of his
AWOL wife. Tempers flare when Mom refuses to return home. However, when she and
Dad hear Nori on the radio, they unite to “save” her from the corruption of
both Mac and Manhattan.
And that’s when things really get interesting.
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7 comments:
Lois, I can't believe it's been that long since you asked some of us what title we liked best for your upcoming book, and we all loved Talk Gertie to Me. Amazing!
You have so many enlightening things to say about genre. Thanks for sharing.
June, I can't believe it, either! Seems the older we get, the faster the years fly by.
Vickie, you're welcome! Thanks for stopping by.
Very interesting subject, Lois. A similar problem can occur with the book's cover. I recently was given a cover design for one of my cozy mysteries that's very humorous, and when it was first proposed I thought it would skew readers' expectations the wrong way. The two murder victims are likeable characters and their deaths are treated seriously, so anyone expecting a light spoof might be sorely disappointed. Still, I've got to admit it catches peoples' eyes and probably has helped sales. As you've found, these decisions can be made strictly on the basis of marketing.
Epona, I also had cover issues with Assault With a Deadly Glue Gun. The cover chosen by the publisher would have been perfect if my protagonist worked as a cake decorator instead of a magazine crafts editor. I fought like crazy to get them to change it. They finally showed me a cover that the committee had rejected. It was absolutely perfect for the book! By some publishing miracle I was able to convince them that their rejected cover was a much better fit. However, authors rarely win these battles. Most of the time publishers aren't interested in authors' opinions. I've often wondered why authors are asked to fill out pages of information specifically for cover artists and marketing to use when no one ever bothers to read them.
This is so true. Readers pick up a book with a certain style cover and expect the type of read they're going to get. It's similar to a Hallmark romantic comedy. You know the basic plot, and it's what you want every time. That's why book covers are so important to convey the genre.
So true, Nancy! If only we could get publishers to realize this. Just about every author I know has had at least one battle with their publisher over cover art.
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