Please welcome the fabulous Jennifer Estep to the SFF Seven! I loved her fantasy (with an awesome slow-burn romance) KILL THE QUEEN, and now the sequel, PROTECT THE PRINCE has released and hit the USAT bestseller list! Highly recommend you check this series out.
Jennifer is guest-posting this week's theme: Genre predictions – where is SFF headed?
*********
Hello!
First of all, I want to thank Jeffe for inviting me to guest blog. Thanks,
Jeffe! J
Where
are the science-fiction and fantasy genres headed? Ah, that’s the
million-dollar question, especially if you write science-fiction and/or fantasy
books.
My
first book, Karma Girl, a paranormal
romance, was published in 2007. Back then, paranormal romance was *the* hot
genre. Everybody was writing about vampires, werewolves, witches, and more.
But
like many things, publishing is cyclical. When a genre suddenly becomes
popular, publishers want to buy books in that genre. But as more and more books
in a particular genre hit shelves, the genre quickly gets oversaturated. It
becomes harder and harder for new/debut and even established authors to stand
out, and sales of that genre often start to wane as readers turn to other books.
Then another genre will suddenly become “hot,” and the cycle will start all
over again.
It
happened with paranormal romance. These days, you would probably have a much
harder time selling a paranormal romance than you would have 10 years ago when
the genre was hot.
I’ve
seen several genres come and go over the years. After paranormal romance, urban
fantasy was hugely popular for several years. Then it was young-adult books.
Then new-adult books. In more recent years, thrillers/psychological suspense
books have been extremely popular, and 2019 seems to be the year of the
rom-com.
So
what does that mean for SFF authors? It’s hard to say. There will always be a
market for science-fiction and epic-fantasy books, especially since those are
the two mainstays and cornerstones of the SFF genre. As for what other SFF subgenres
might rise in popularity, well, that is anyone’s guess. We won’t know until it
happens.
However,
I wouldn’t be surprised if we see other genres/tropes start to mix in more with
SFF books, especially epic-fantasy books. For example, I think we could see a
melding of urban fantasy and epic fantasy. Kill
the Queen and Protect the Prince
in my Crown of Shards series both
feature a first-person, urban-fantasy-type voice, but in an epic-fantasy
world/setting. I certainly hope those kinds of books become more popular. Fingers
crossed! LOL.
But
I could see other genres merging with SFF – like a whodunit murder mystery set
in a castle, or a heist book set in space. Or a dozen other different genre
combinations. I also think that SFF romance will become more popular – books
that give readers all the action, adventure, and world building of a
traditional science-fiction or epic-fantasy book, but with more
romance/relationships and happier endings for the characters.
And
it’s not to say that these kinds of books don’t already exist – they do. I know
several authors, including Jeffe, who write fantasy romance, among other
things. But I think publishers will be looking for more and more unique and
interesting twists on the SFF genre and that readers will be searching for
books that give them more than one sort of story/reading experience – again,
something like an epic-fantasy mystery or a sci-fi heist book.
There
are no guarantees in publishing, and trying to predict trends is a tricky
business, at best. The only thing that is certain is that trends come and go, and
that a genre that seems dead right now will probably rise from the ashes like a
phoenix a few years down the road.
All
it takes is one book to start a trend, so I say write the SFF book that *you*
want to write. Who knows, maybe your book will be the trendsetter that ushers
in a new wave of popularity for SFF books.
Happy
writing and reading! J
*********
Jennifer Estep is a New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling author prowling the streets of her imagination in search of her next fantasy idea.
Jennifer writes the Crown of Shards epic fantasy series. Protect the Prince, book #2, was released on July 2.
Jennifer is also the author of the Elemental Assassin, Mythos Academy, Bigtime, and Black Blade fantasy series.
For more information on Jennifer and her books, visit www.jenniferestep.com or follow Jennifer on Facebook, Goodreads, and Twitter. You can also sign up for her newsletter,
Website: http://www.jenniferestep.com/
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/Jennifer_Estep (@Jennifer_Estep)
Newsletter signup: http://www.jenniferestep.com/contact-jennifer/newsletter/
Amazon author page: https://amzn.to/2QeDW4j
