Writer's Grove

Market Meta and Blurbage

I just read a really interesting blog post over at the BN SciFi and Fantasy Blog about why Nicole Peeler is so freakin’ cool. Even if you’re not a fan of her books—and I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t be—it’s a good read for what it says about the state of the urban fantasy market (or the paranormal fantasy market, or whatever label you wish to use for the fantasy books that don’t involve stew and orphans saving the world from a dark lord). 


I’d like to highlight a bit from his blog post about the subcategories in the market:

There’s hardboiled paranormal fantasy (Jim Butcher’s Dresden Files, Kat Richardson’s Greywalker saga), erotic paranormal fantasy (Hamilton’s Anita Blake), comedic paranormal fantasy (Mark Henry’s Amanda Feral novels, Mario Acevedo’s Felix Gomez saga), literary paranormal fantasy (Skyler White’s and Falling, Fly), paranormal romance (Christine Feehan’s Dark novels) etc.

But the biggest—and most commercially successful—subcategory is arguably the lighthearted contemporary urban fantasy, usually set in an alternate history setting like Kim Harrison’s Rachel Morgan series, the Southern Vampire sequence by Charlaine Harris, Patricia Briggs’s Mercy Thompson saga, etc.

I’m glad I didn’t worry about subcategories when writing my books. I know they’re not erotic paranormal fantasy, nor are they paranormal romance, and I wouldn’t dream of writing literary paranormal fantasy (because I’m not sure what that is). But my books might be a little bit of the remaining three subcategories mentioned. I’m wondering what’s the line separating comedic paranormal fantasy from lighthearted contemporary urban fantasy—any ideas? Heck, I just pitched my books as an urban fantasy series and left it at that. It will be interesting to see how they get classified once they’re published—or maybe Del Rey’s marketing department will slap a label on them when they send out the Advance Reader Copies to see if it sticks.


But while we’re all waiting…I’ve received a fantastic blurb from Ms. Peeler for Hounded! Squee! She liked it!

“Hearne breathes new life into old myths, creating a world both eerily familiar and startlingly original. I couldn’t read fast enough…Hounded, indeed!” —Nicole Peeler

Thanks, Nicole! :)