A tour of the genreswise. Still, slavish imitation may not lead to big success. For that,
an author must be a market leader, an innovator.
And how does one do that? By finding a new romance formula that
reflects contemporary social conditions or taps into modern women's
fantasies, while at the same time giving priority to the three romance
elements that are eternal: (1) man, (2) woman, (3) happy ending.
SCIENCE FICTION/FANTASY:
INVASION OF THE MEDIA TIE-INS
Like the romance field in the last decade, science fiction (SF) and
fantasy have undergone major category fragmentation. Some dis-
tinct story types to be found on the shelves nowadays include "hard"
SF, military SF, space opera, cyberpunk, high fantasy, dark fantasy,
urban fantasy (called elfpunk by some), alternate history, and some-
thing termed steampunk.
Despite the proliferation of narrow subcategories (or in part
because of it), SF and fantasy are big businesses. Together with hor-
ror, these categories account for roughly 11 percent of all paperback
sales. That is a pretty big slice of a pretty big pie.
SF/fantasy is almost the opposite of romances with regard to the
outlets in which it sells. While supermarkets, drugstores, news-
stands, and variety stores sell half of all romance novels, they sell a
mere 20 percent of all science fiction, according to studies by
Gallup. A whopping 71 percent of SF/fantasy is sold in bookstores,
and specialty stores have a noticeable share of that.
On top of that, the SF/fantasy field is highly organized and has
powerful lines of communication open among writers, stores, and
readers. Magazines like Locus and Science Fiction Chronicle devote
themselves exclusively to trade news and reviews. And that is to say
nothing of news segments on the Sci Fi Channel, columns and let-
ters in magazines like Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine, and the
hundreds of lively "fanzines" published by fans around the world.
Conventions abound; indeed, fans and pros mingle at them almost
every weekend. Pros and publishers alike covet sales-boosting Hugo
Awards, which are awarded by fans.
Then there is the World Wide Web. Not surprisingly, the comput-
er-literate authors of this field have embraced the Internet. The vol-