The Art of Selling Out

April 27, 2007

Why risk being lumped in with books like Thug’s Life, Thug Matrimony, and Cash Rules? Why not take the literary highground or at least stick to more established and arguably more respected genres like Scifi, Fantasy, and Horror? Why? Because this is what sells. This is what the publishers are screaming for. This is what is flying off the shelves. Because it is difficult for a black author writing about black experiences to make a name for himself in regular genre fiction and Urban Romance is wide open. It is the equivalent of what horror was in the 80’s. You’d definitely get far more female adoration as an Urban Romance author than as a horror author and in the Black community you’d get far less criticism.

Today I recommend going and reading all of my fellow horror writer’s, Wrath James White, blog, Selling Watermelon:  Ode to Marquis Styles.  Don’t get me wrong, Marquis Styles has not seen print yet, but Marquis is submitting urban romance projects.  Marquis may also gain a sister, to be named later, who will be writing paranormal romances. 

Why?

To paraphrase Public Enemy’s Chuck D., the whole point is to sell out - and by "sell out" (in this case) we mean reach the widest audience possible.  As professional writers, if we’re truly wanting to make a living at what we love to do, we have to write what people want to read.  This may mean writing an urban romance a paranormal romance, novelizations of movies (or other media tie-in work), or any of a number work-for-hire projects.

We sometimes have to make compromises in the balancing of art vs. commerce. We talk about being artists, writing for the love, and there is a measure of truth to this, after all, we HAVE to write, that’s who we are and that’s in our blood.  However, if it were just about the joy of writing, we’d write and then bury our manuscripts in the desk drawer.  Instead, we send them out for a reason: we write to be read.  We begin with the hubris of assuming 1) we have something to say and 2) we have something to say worth people investing their time (and money) in reading.  And sometimes it is the commercial projects which give us the freedom to do projects from our hearts/muse.  Think of how Steven Spielberg has made movies: one for "them"/one for "me".  For every Jurassic Park or War of the Worlds, he makes a Munich or Schindler’s List.

While part of me feels like one of those overly defensive self-published writers trying to justify themselves and the decisions they’ve made for the course of their career, I shouldn’t.  Actually, it’s the flip side of writers who have been pigeon-holed.  The Stephen Kings or John Grishoms who can’t write outside of what they are known for because of the demands of their market (read:  fans).  They can’t stray too far from what they write for fear that their fans won’t go with them. 

Again, I think that’s also when pen names come into play.  Sure I may be using a pen name for any romance writing, because I worry more about "brand" confusion.  (Oddly, I don’t worry about "Maurice Broaddus - horror/fantasy writer" and "Maurice Broaddus - Christian/non-fiction writer".   That confusion I can live with.  But romance?  I have to draw the line somewhere.)

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