My novel is basically an adventure tale, except for the fact that it deals with judeo-christian supernatural elements . . . and a little bit of Pagan . . . with a strong fantasy backbone . . . with some heavy suspense elements . . . and some horror scenes . . . and a modern setting. (did I mention a strong fantasy backbone?)
My question is . . . what is it? Okay, dark fantasy (some people call it fantasy, others call it horror). To compare it, it would be a cross between Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Hellraiser, with strong epic fantasy ties. Yeah.
Well, I'm having trouble marketing it. Sure, it's a fast growing market (or at least it should be) with Buffy, Charmed, and the Harry Potter crowd coming of age, but the fantasy folks say it's not fantasy, the horror folks say that it is, and I can't really tout it as suspense.
What I really know is:
1. Can I market it as "mainstream"?
2. Can I market it as "experimental"?
3. What can I market it as?
I'll say this too, it has strong psycho-analytical undertones and an "experimental" format. Each chapter/subchapter switches viewpoint (all 3rd pers. limited), with a differing writing style for each character.
Yeah. Okay. If you read all that . . . sorry.
By the way, fellow Buffy fan? Love that show.
Though you probably don't want to hear this--I know I wouldn't--but perhaps if you don't find a home for this novel you'll have to wait until you're established before you can publish it.
Look at Stephen King. What kind of author is he? In the broadest sense, he's . . . well, I don't know. He's known as a horror writer, of course, but The Dark Tower series is fantasy, The Tommyknockers is soft-SF, and some of his best work--The Shawshank Redemption and The Body--are mainstream fiction. Then you have The Stand which starts as SF, ends as religious fantasy, and is marketed at a horror novel--go figure. But before he did all of this, he published four or five novels that firmly put him in the horror genre. Only then did he venture to publish other things. (In fact, you should read the "Afterwards" in Different Seasons.)
Here's my point. As a unknown novelist, publishers will be reluctant to take your novel. You don't have a fan base, and you're novel transcends genre.
In my not-so-humble opinion, you should think about which genre you'd like to write in and try to get established. Then, once you have a publisher, you'll have better success publishing this novel. Consider for a moment, Tad Williams. His first novel was a fantasy called Tailchaser's Song, and for a follow up DAW encouraged him to write another fantasy novel (which ended up being his trilogy, Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn) because his first novel was a fantasy. But then he went on to write a massive four-volume SF epic.
Good luck.
[This message has been edited by Balthasar (edited March 26, 2004).]
'Experimental' would, I think, be a red flag to most publishers. They want 'reliable', which experimental is normally the opposite of.
I also agree that saying your work is comparable to (fill in the blank) can be risky. What if the person you're sending it to hates everything Barker? She might have liked your piece, but won't even give it a try. The potential for sounding either arrogant or derivative is also a serious consideration.
By the way, slipstream is growing in popularity. It is a catch-all for stories that transcend established genres, so don't fret that your story cannot be neatly categorized. Good luck!
As for branding the books as non-genre? I'm by no means an expert, but what I've observed is that books dealing with genre subjects are only branded as non-genre if they're going to find a larger audience (read: make more money) that way. Cases in point: the Left Behind series, which can be considered speculative, but is based on theological speculations: I'd guess the target audience for this book isn't accustomed to reading Sf/F. Similarly with Margaret Atwood and other "literary" authors who tackle Sf/F themes. People assume if the books sell, it's going to be on the basis of their literary content, not on the basis of their interesting take on Sf/F tropes. And paranormal romances are marketed as romance, not as Sf/F, because the romance is the main point and that's where they'll sell. Genre is, on some level, based on market. Who do you think your book is going to appeal to? Where do you think your book is going to sell best?
I'm just wondering if I should use time and effort to contact publishers that don't generally deal with fantasy, horror, etc. by touting my novel as one of the types they're looking for, i.e. mainstream, contemporary, literary, or experimental.