Westerns are dead - killed by the romance reader who doesn't buy them. That's the response I've received from agents and editors about my western, Loved by You.The tale of Melissa and Calder came to me and became such an infatuation that I had to put fingertips to keyboard. For about three years, I've worked, tweaked, and polished my manuscript. When I mailed it out, either by snail mail or electronically, the replies were great story but the market for this genre isn't there. Then this past week, numerous blogs- Misadventures of Super Librarian, Petticoats & Pistols, Ramblings on Romance and The Good, the Bad and the Unread, banded together and started the Great Western Drive.
I cheered when I read their posts. I was ready to hitch up my wagon and join the drive. (Forgive the "hitching up" remark, I just had to make it.) I love Westerns. The rugged often emotionally scarred hero with an unwavering code of ethics, the strong heroine who can work the land as good as any man, the raw settings and the conflict and danger that can ride in with the stagecoach. That combination is the reason why I love the sub-genre and why I lay down my dollars for it.
I must not be the only person (my friend and fellow western writer Patt Mihailoff pens them still) since The Bridegroom by Linda Lael Miller is #26 on New York Times best seller's list. I sure didn't buy all those copies. I wonder if my fellow readers are waiting for more westerns. Are you? Have you ever read a western? Do you consider yourself a fan of the sub-genre? If so, which one is your fav? And if not, would you try one out?
Yes, I love the westers, I write them too, sorta. Mine are set in the gold rush era, but my heros are of the western type. Like country music, the western will always be around because it's part of our heritage.
ReplyDeleteYou go girl, and keep plugging away on our cowboys. They are such vibrant heros. Stacey Kayne is one of my favorites, but I am slightly biased as she is one of my daughters-of-my-heart and such a great western writer.
I'm sure westerns will be back. Not sure they were ever really gone gone. Keep sending and trying.
ReplyDeleteI have a few westerns by Linda Howard and Elizabeth Lowell. I like Westerns, but I don't seem to buy them often and I don't know why. But I agree that they will never be gone. Of course, that doesn't help you when they are in a drought. I wonder if, when they are published, they get shorted on publicity efforts by publishers (just guessing). Have you tried the epubs. They seem more open to niche markets.
ReplyDeleteNo westerns? Have you checked out the inspirational market? My Borders bookstore has an entire section devoted to inspirational novels set in the old west. I thought I was writing western romances but my publisher and other (Crossings bookclub) calls them Frontier Romances. I've also seen the term Prairie Romances used. Westerns are still around but they've taken on a new identity.
ReplyDeleteI'm so glad that people are passionate about westerns. In my Border's there aren't much inspirational novels. That is something to look into.
ReplyDeleteThanks everyone for the comments. Please keep them coming.