posted on April 8, 2015 by Kat Martin

HOW CAN A WRITER CHANGE GENRES?

Night-Secrets-(213x346)A question I’m often asked is how I managed to change from writing Historical Romance novels to writing Contemporary Romantic Suspense.

To be honest, it wasn’t easy to do.  Publishers are not risk takers.  They want to take the safe road.  It’s easier for them to sell the same kind of book by an author over and over.  The writer’s audience is building, sales are improving.  They don’t want to rock the boat–and I don’t really blame them.  They are in business to make money.

Fortunately, by the time I came up with the concept for my AGAINST SERIES (AGAINST THE SKY is my latest), I had already written ten romantic suspense novels.  Fortunately, their sales were respectable enough to help me convince my publisher to let me try writing more of them.

As I made the change, one of the things I really tried to do was to maintain the style of writing I was known for:  fast-paced, high-action, sexy, romantic stories.  I also wanted to keep the emotion in my books, something I hope people feel when they’re reading one of my novels.  I tried to make sure my basic style of writing didn’t change, even though the books are set in a modern world instead of Victorian or Regency England, which I was known for.

The easiest way to make the change is to write the new genre novel in your spare time–not that most of us have much of that!  But there are always a few hours here and there, and if you want to write the story badly enough you can usually find a way to fit it in.

Wicked-Promise-(213x346)Now that I’m writing contemporary, a fun thing has happened.  My older Historical Romances are all being re-issued with new and unbelievably gorgeous covers.  WICKED PROMISE was released in March, and this month, NIGHT SECRETS is out.

So in a way I got lucky.  I get to write the contemporary romantic suspense novels I have come to love (AGAINST THE TIDE, book #3 of the Brodies of Alaska will be out May 26th), but I also get the thrill of seeing my Historical Romance novels, dear old friends, many set in the Regency period, back out on the shelves.

If you like Historical Romance, I hope you’ll watch for WICKED PROMISE and NIGHT SECRETS, and if you haven’t read AGAINST THE WILD and AGAINST THE SKY, I hope you’ll look for them, too!

Very best wishes and happy reading, Kat

NIGHT SECRETS can be purchased in mass market paperback or 06/14 eBook
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Kat Martin

Kat Martin

Bestselling author Kat Martin is a graduate of the University of California at Santa Barbara where she majored in Anthropology and also studied History. Currently residing with her Western-author husband, L. J. Martin, in Missoula, Montana, Kat has written sixty-eight Historical and Contemporary Romantic Suspense novels. More than sixteen million copies of her books are in print and she has been published in twenty foreign countries. Kat is currently at work on her next Romantic Suspense.

https://www.katmartin.com

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