THE CAREER NOVELISTcapable, but they cannot possibly read every book that comes in. I
do not think most authors would want shelving decisions made for
them on the fly, either. Disasters happen as it is. We need spine
labels; just ask any author who has ever found his novel shelved in
the nonfiction section.
Okay, why then cannot crossovers simply be labeled "fiction"?
Would that not put the novel before the broadest possible audience
anyway? Possibly, but remember that if you have built an audience
writing, say, romances, you will want to bring those readers with you
into your new section of the bookstore.
Will they follow? Maybe, maybe not. Some readers are adventur-
ous browsers, but most are timid and comfortable creatures of
habit. "Fiction" on the spine is not the be-all solution. It may not
even be a good solution. The greatest number of potential readers
for a crossover novel may not be browsing the fiction section;
indeed, they may be somewhere unexpected.
Consider P. N. Elrod, author of a very popular series called The
Vampire Files. These are vampire detective novels set in gangsterland
Chicago and written in a snazzy, hardboiled style. In the first book,
Bloodlist, reporter lack Fleming wakes up on a beach one night to dis-
cover that he has been shot through the heart—but the point is, you
see, he wakes up. He has become a vampire. He goes on to solve his
own murder.
Now, in which section of the bookstore would you put Bloodlist?
Mystery? Horror? Since the overlap between those readerships is
not great, it seems that The Vampire Files, rather than straddling gen-
res, should probably fall into a crack and die.
But that is not what happened. Elrod's publisher, Berkley, published
the books in the Ace imprint as fantasy. Lo and behold, the novels
found an enthusiastic readership. Six in the series are out, and four
related novels are also in print. As you see, the right label for a
crossover novel is not always obvious. And what if you are aiming high?
For many authors, hardcover publication and mainstream status
sound like the magic answer to all of their problems. In mainstream,
they feel, they will soar above the crowd. Genre will become irrele-
vant. Are they right? As I suggested in the last chapter, every main-