Ask the Author: D.L. Richardson
Answered Questions (3)
D.L. Richardson
Hi Christopher
I understand the difficulty. I have books that are not slotted neatly into one single genre that is why I now slot them all under fantasy with a sub genre. Fantasy/Drama, Fantasy/Sci-fi, and Fantasy/Magic. But m=for my books, the fantasy is the main tone of the book.
You say your book is suspense, thriller, and drama. This should not sway the genre labelling since even a pure science fiction story should have suspense, thrilling moments, and drama as part of the plot as this is what keeps readers turning the page. In fact, your title already suggests the other three elements in the word "conspiracy". I don't think there's a need to make it clearer.
So to answer your question, firstly, you need to make sure your book is science fiction by checking if the contains any of the following: does it feature space ships or space travel, aliens, time travel, off world planets, a futurists Earth that is not dystopian, robots, science experiments, etc. If it does, I'd label it as science fiction.
If it doesn't, then it isn't science fiction. It's fantasy.
I've learned during my recent pitching sessions to agents and publishers, that science fiction stands alone because they want it to stand alone. Sci-fi has it's own sub genres such as apocalyptic, dystopian, space opera, hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi. It's my understanding that the market wants sci-fi to remain pure, and everything else can be branded under the fantasy umbrella.
I hope this helps. Be proud of labelling your book sci-fi if it truly is sci-fi. There are many great sites dedicated to promotion science fiction books.
Thank you for your question. It can be tough choosing a genre.
Best wishes
D L Richardson
I understand the difficulty. I have books that are not slotted neatly into one single genre that is why I now slot them all under fantasy with a sub genre. Fantasy/Drama, Fantasy/Sci-fi, and Fantasy/Magic. But m=for my books, the fantasy is the main tone of the book.
You say your book is suspense, thriller, and drama. This should not sway the genre labelling since even a pure science fiction story should have suspense, thrilling moments, and drama as part of the plot as this is what keeps readers turning the page. In fact, your title already suggests the other three elements in the word "conspiracy". I don't think there's a need to make it clearer.
So to answer your question, firstly, you need to make sure your book is science fiction by checking if the contains any of the following: does it feature space ships or space travel, aliens, time travel, off world planets, a futurists Earth that is not dystopian, robots, science experiments, etc. If it does, I'd label it as science fiction.
If it doesn't, then it isn't science fiction. It's fantasy.
I've learned during my recent pitching sessions to agents and publishers, that science fiction stands alone because they want it to stand alone. Sci-fi has it's own sub genres such as apocalyptic, dystopian, space opera, hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi. It's my understanding that the market wants sci-fi to remain pure, and everything else can be branded under the fantasy umbrella.
I hope this helps. Be proud of labelling your book sci-fi if it truly is sci-fi. There are many great sites dedicated to promotion science fiction books.
Thank you for your question. It can be tough choosing a genre.
Best wishes
D L Richardson
D.L. Richardson
I am currently working on a serialised novel, written in the style of a TV series. At this stage I have four major books planned, each with twelve episodes. It is science fiction. That's all I'll give away at the moment. suffice to say it isn't the conventional novel. I hope to attract readers who think they're too busy to read a book and end up read an entire book by doing so one episode at a time.
D.L. Richardson
My advice to aspiring authors is to keep writing. I know that sounds the simplified generic answer but the more you write the better and faster you get at it. Write your book, submit it to agents/publishers, then start a new book while waiting to hear yes or no. Give yourself a few days off if you need it to celebrate the finish of your book, but get started on the next book right away. Always have a book on the go. that way you'll always have a book ready to submit when the doors open for your genre. there have been times when I've submitted a book into a heavily saturated market, then I've put it on hold and waited for another opportunity to present itself.
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