Avon, Kensington, Spice, and Berkley Oh My!

I write erotic romance. Most of the time it's futuristic, but occasionally I'll write something earth bound with a werewolf or a ghost or something like that. I like paranormal, because I find that real-life earth can be so tedious and constricting. To allow my imagination to soar, I need to change things up. That's not to say that I don't enjoy contemporary spicy romance - I do. I just find I can't write it with any enthusiasm. Which is a shame, really, because print publishing was slow to jump on the spicy paranormal romance bandwagon that is thriving in e-publishing. When I wrote a futuristic spicy novella called STASIS about this guy who is trapped by a new type of chemical warfare in a bizarre state where he can feel, but not move except in reflex (of course the heroine takes care of him - grin), my agent four months ago said she wasn't interested in it because there would be no place to sell it.

But all this seems to have suddenly changed over night. Shazam! Avon just bought Liz Maverick's spicy futuristic novella, Kensington bought a spicy set of werewolves and has already bought some vamps (I don't write vamps, they just seem kind of boring. I'm ducking as readers throw rotten fruit at me - I know you guys love them!) Berkley has been buying paranormal spicy too. Only Spice, Harlequin's new line, hasn't announced (to my knowledge) buying paranormal. I suspect that will change.

This brings me around to the observation that writers need to write what they love and not jam themselves into the box that is selling in today's market. My agent asked for STASIS a couple days ago. Someone wants to take a look at it. For those of us who love a good futuristic spicy read, things are looking up!