Today I will not be popular with many of our authors because I am writing about a problem the majority of guest reviewers on this site, as well as a lot of readers and I are having with their books. I recognize that some of you may not care about this but the quality of the writing in this genre has declined significantly over the years, to the point where many reviewers aren’t requesting books for review. I receive complaints regularly from reviewers about the poor quality books they have been reviewing, a few of them even quit because they couldn’t take the shoddy writing any more, and others have taken a short sabbatical in the hope that things will improve when they return.
Have you noticed the number of 1, 2 and 3 star reviews on the site recently? We love it when we can praise a book to the skies and tell everyone how wonderful it is, but that hasn’t happened in a while except on rare occasions.
When M/M romance first burst onto the scene in 2003 I couldn’t get enough of these books because they were such a welcome change from het romance. It seemed that this new genre, which is actually a sub genre of romance, was well on its way to making a great impact and establishing a well deserved niche with romance readers, despite what the literary snobs said. I loved the stories and characters. Outside of classic gay books like The Charioteer written in 1959 my first contemporary gay romance was Bareback. Subsequently came Caught Running, Faith and Fidelity, A Note In The Margin, Mind Fuck,Wicked Gentlemen, and more recently I read A Hole in God’s Pocket and Irregulars, two delightful books. Adrien English Mysteries, Psycop, Deputy Joe, Cut & Run and The Draegan Lords were a few of the series that I thought were awesome. So what happened on the way to the big party? M/M evolved, but not in the way I expected.
Authors say that the genre couldn’t be more popular, and going by the sales figures they may be right. But not everything is as it appears on the surface. Sure, we buy a record number of books, but as many readers will attest, a large percentage of these books are DNF because the stories are downright awful. Think about it authors: we’re throwing our money away because you’re serving up ground chuck instead of sirloin! We’re stuck with a product we can’t return because books are not returnable. Yet we keep on buying your books because, despite everything, we’re optimistic about the genre and hope that maybe things will improve because we love gay romances. We keep on hoping for a return to those wonderful days of the past when we could be assured of an incredible reading experience whenever we cracked open a book, but all we end up with today is an ereader full of DNF books. You may say that similar problems are evident in general fiction and you could be partially right, but I don’t review much general fiction and I would like to focus my criticisms on one target at a time.
This post is not a castigation of all authors because there are still a few who subscribe to the view that a book must have a coherent plot, engaging characters with whom readers can become emotionally involved, great dialogue and prose and a believable ending. However the majority of books I have read recently are not professionally edited and contain such soul destroying mistakes as shifting POVs, no or very little character development, typos, spelling and grammatical errors, and all the other gross errors writers should have learned in writing school how to avoid. Let’s not even talk about the overused tropes that most M/M authors use in their books because that should be the subject of another post. The quality of the writing has declined markedly since I started reading this genre and the writers don’t seem to care that they are selling a substandard product, and do you know why? Because there is no incentive for them to significantly improve the quality of the books as readers are a contributory factor to this mess. We keep on buying this substandard, defective product even though most of the books end up as DNF!
It used to be that I was one of the few voices complaining about the poor quality of M/M romances but now this has become a chorus. Many of the guest reviewers are threatening to go on strike or quit because the books they are reviewing are so badly written. Some have already quit because they can’t take what’s being served up any more. What happened to the days when we opened a new book with anticipation rather than dread? The standard of writing in many M/M books is so low that at times we can’t find it. In the past we knew the bad writers and avoided them like the plague, but now even some authors who were auto-buys are releasing books that are clearly not ready for release, stories without plots, poor characterizations, horrible dialogue and prose. It seems that because of the current popularity of M/M, almost anyone who has a computer and an idea can pretty well get a publisher to release their stories, and if they can’t find one, they self publish. Whatever happened to taking writing courses and polishing your craft, before calling yourself a writer?
Here is a short list of some of my problems with the genre:
1. Authors are cashing in on what seems to be an increased desire by some readers for books at heat level 5 and are publishing stories with graphic sex – porn by another name. A bunch of graphic sex scenes strung together with no plot is not a story nor is it a romance, it’s porn. Also, do M/M authors seriously believe that what gay men do all day is have sex with multiple partners?
2. Since 50 Shades of Grey I’m so sick of reading abysmal BDSM books from writers who know absolutely nothing about the lifestyle and don’t do the required research, but figure this is their way to a quick buck and fame and fortune.
3. One of my biggest concerns is that most authors are not astute enough to retire a series before readers beg them to please let their series characters go to their eternal rest. I know it’s tempting but don’t give in to the urge for 3 or 4 more books just because that’s a sure source of income.
4. Last, some of the worst books I’ve read recently are the police procedurals. Here’s a tip for authors who fancy themselves as mystery writers. DON’T write mysteries unless you have thoroughly researched this genre, read many, many murder mysteries and figured out what it takes to craft a credible crime story that will hold the attention of serious mystery readers. It’s not about how hot the detectives are or how many times they bang each other. For serious mystery fans it’s about the plot, the investigation of the crime, the clues, the likely suspects, the leg work, and ultimately the reveal which should tie all the pieces together to give readers a satisfying conclusion.
5. Editing! Editing! Editing!
However, it’s not all bad. There’s a light at the end of the tunnel because a few of the smaller indie presses are doing a much better job in terms of content editing their releases. Let’s hope it’s catching.
In case you think this is all my opinion, here are comments from my partner, Aunt Lynn, and some of the guest reviewers:
Aunt Lynn’s Point of View
As you may have noticed, I am hardly reviewing these days (I think I posted three or four all of last year in total and nothing as of yet in 2013). Part of that is a time issue for me; I’m a super-busy person and I have chosen to devote the few hours weekly I have open to (mostly) behind-the-scenes stuff for the site, so instead of two reviews weekly, you see me now as the Giveaway Queen and you don’t see me doing a bunch of other admin-y things from helping copy edit some others’ posts, to acting as the WordPress/reviewer liaison, to being part of the team working to fix the continuing site issues. But another part of that decision was because I have been increasingly disappointed in the quality of what is being released, and if I am going to spend both my hard-earned, precious free time and money on books, I want them to be good, dammit.
I have noticed over the last few years that there seems to be a direct correlation between the sheer number of books being thrust at us readers and the downhill quality I have both experienced first-hand or via the reviews here and elsewhere. My opinion, as stated/inferred/questioned by others here in this post, is that the explosion of the genre (yippee!!) has publishers accepting — and releasing — anything that comes across their virtual desks (boo-hiss!!). While quantity can equal quality occasionally, this is not the norm.
I have been reading books in this genre for about five years now and reviewing for four, and while there was crap available back in 2007, there wasn’t much of it and I found that most of what I picked up was good if not pretty darn great. I discovered pubs that I could count on and authors who became auto-buys. I can no longer say that is the case; those same pubs and many of the authors have let me down. If I were to lay numbers, at least eight out of ten books have one or more major issues (and not just with new authors): horrible editing, poor plots, little to no character development, incredible (not in a good way) and implausible actions, more smexxin than storyline, Insta-Love, tired tropes, and series that continue well after jumping the shark have all made me want to hang up reading altogether and have driven me to do more and more revisiting of Old Favorites, including — yes, I’ll admit it — Harry Potter fan-fiction (laugh all you want, but some of that is waaaayyyyy better than what is being pumped out by pubs for pay). In fact, I can’t remember the last time I read a new release.
But authors and publishers aren’t the only issue: let’s not forget that readers play a part in this. They buy the crap by wheel-barrels full, letting the pubs think they are doing a great job shoveling the crap out.
My feeling is that something needs to change or a revolt will occur among even the most loyal of readers. I don’t expect my rant to be the catalyst for that change, but maybe my voice can be added to others, giving it weight, and perhaps someone out there will listen.
Leslie’s comments
The main issue in my opinion is lack of editing. This is an area that’s always in a state of flux, but basically what most publishers need are developmental editors, not just copy editors. A few years ago, I worked as an editor for an organised and well-respected e-pub. Any book we thought worthy of publishing had to be vetted by the chief editor before the contract was offered. We did five editing passes per manuscript. The first two were developmental, two were grammar/syntax/style, and the fifth pass was the copy edit, undertaken by a colleague. Of course it was time-consuming. Of course we had to be picky. In my first four months, I signed two books out of literally hundreds that were sent in. My colleagues said I’d been unlucky with the amount of crap in the slush pile, but this was not an unusual ratio—overall we picked up less than 4% of what was submitted.
Then everything changed. The market was expanding. We needed to publish more books, and fast. Quality started to slide. We were told to offer contracts on books that only needed copy edits. Developmental edits went by the wayside. It was common for us to send revise and resubmit emails; a lot of manuscripts that were resubmitted, and which frankly still weren’t ready to be published, were now considered perfectly acceptable. Our five editing passes went down to two. We went from contracting a small percent of submissions to picking up around 40%. At that point, I quit—and I wasn’t the only one.
I know publishing is a business and it’s all about making money, but flooding the market with badly-written, poorly-edited books seems counterproductive. And yet it keeps happening (and in the mainstream, too), and we have to buy the mediocre stuff in the hope of finding something good once in a while, thus justifying the publishers’ decision to put out mediocre works. Can the trend be reversed? I hope so. But publishers need to invest time and money in their editors and they need to bring back developmental edits. They need to focus on providing a quality product rather than publishing ten books a week.
Larissa’s Comments
Lately I have become disappointed in the m/m bookworld. Part of it is my own fault. When scanning the weekly list of available books for review (for other blogs as well) several keywords stand out that make me almost immediately skip a book: homophobic (parents), in the closet, rape, dark past, werewolf mates, vampire mates, slavery/slave and BDSM just to name a few. Popular themes, but done to death. While originality has been dead since the monks in the middle ages started copying each other’s manuscripts, the m/m scene suffers even worse. The many common themes and tropes are recycled over and over again One book is almost like reading another, just with a different setting and different names.
Part of it is me (yeah yeah the old “it’s me not you”). I read a lot and when I like a genre I tend to stick to it. Plus I’ve been in this particular genre for 7 years. After a while you’ve seen and done it all. That’s not the only disturbing thing. When I started reading 7 years ago, I was lucky to find one maybe two m/m ebooks per week. Now there are dozens upon dozens a week and the genre has almost become a book factory. Just keep pumping out those books people! And with upped quantity, the quality goes out the window.
While I know every genre, mainstream or not, suffers from bad editing and spelling and grammar mistakes, I’ve come to the conclusion that the m/m genre is just as bad as fanfiction: name switching, twisted POV and name changing are just a few. I know some editors can do only so much, but are the books even sent to editors?
Raine’s Comments
I buy and read between ten and fifteen M/M romance books a month. I review one book a week for Wave and over the last year, I have been struggling to find books I can enjoy, let alone wholeheartedly recommend. I noticed in particular when any writer using an unusual turn of phrase made me overexcited. I had become habituated to the endlessly repeated, lazy language used to describe relationships and sex. One of the reasons I originally valued this genre was it’s vibrancy of feelings translated into strong well crafted language. There feels like a real lack of joy, love and pride in the writing process at the moment. It is becoming much harder to dodge the shallow opportunistic dross that some publishers feel it’s okay to promote. Books that show little care and less imagination.
I know it’s obvious that when a niche genre becomes more popular there is always going to be an expansion of less crafted books. However I am also finding that my auto buys are not making the grade either. I don’t know if these writers are feeling the pressure and/or over producing. All I know is that once I had least ten writers of whom I would buy anything they wrote. At present there are maybe three.
I have no real answers as to what is driving this decline. My unoriginal thoughts include writers simply getting bored writing romance and publishers pushing out stuff that is of an inferior quality just to meet market demand.
Cryselle’s View
I open every file wanting to like the story, and where I am usually let down is the plot. Sometimes I can’t warm up to a character or two (any character who looks like Binky as described by Nicole Kimberling is going to get the hairy eyeball), but generally if a book fails me, it’s on plot. It’s supposed to be the framework of the story, and if the sex wasn’t there, the plot should still be there and still hold together—and it has to be more than “hawt guys want sex, scheme to have sex, finally have sex.” Plot shouldn’t creak along held up only by the suspension of disbelief. Laws of physics can’t be ignored, established protocols have to be worked with, not disregarded. In an AU/offworld scenario, the wordbuilding has to be there and the plot has to fit within the rules established by the author. I’ve seen violations of all of these and rated the story accordingly. Plot is not the dull stuff between sex scenes!
Jeayci’s Perspective
I know something of what Wave is going to discuss, and I agree with most of it. So, to avoid writing a whole post of my own, I’ll focus just on editing. As a beta reader, I’ve learned that the quality of manuscripts authors submit varies greatly. At one extreme, some authors take workshops to improve their self-editing skills and edit extensively before letting anyone else read their manuscript. At the other extreme, some authors obviously don’t even run spell-check before sending it off. The latter are the ones I suspect result in books readers complain about (think silk purses and sows’ ears). To the reader, it appears unedited or, at best, poorly edited. And I’m sure that’s the case sometimes, as I’ve certainly seen some shoddy editing. But I think at least as often the cause is some combination of authorial laziness, arrogance, and/or rush to publish in an increasingly crowded genre. There’s only so much editing can (or even should) accomplish, as it’s almost impossible to provide nuanced feedback on an error-riddled manuscript. Hopefully as readers keep decrying poor quality, more authors will begin to take the time to make sure they’re submitting the best manuscripts they can, and the overall quality will improve.
Sirius’s View
The most unpleasant assumption that comes to mind is that publishers want to make more money and make it fast – thus putting out even more badly edited efforts. On the other hand, surely publishers see that readers are getting more picky and not less? At least I hope that they do.
I rarely buy books by new-to-me authors without a trusted recommendation, I want to try new authors for review, but the blurbs are just so very uninspiring lately and have been for a while. So then I go to the authors whose work I know reasonably well, but even those authors do not always deliver these days.
Val’s Kovalin’s viewpoint as an author
We authors feel pressured to meet demand by cranking out short fiction. But writing anything shorter than 50K words requires skill we may not have. Everything, even the romance, must be tailored to fit. So we prioritize before we start writing. We skip emotional development to work in sex scenes and get Insta-Love. We prune the conflict to a Big Misunderstanding, or neutralize it with a deus ex machina. Or we introduce too much conflict with no resolution. We neglect the vivid details of setting and characterization that can distinguish our work from the blandness of most gay romance books. This is one source of poorly written books: our urge to write short fiction while not knowing how to do it well.
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So there you have it. A variety of viewpoints from some of the reviewers on this site of what we think is wrong with the genre and why we’re getting so many poorly written books. Your opinion might vary. One thing to remember readers is that we are just as culpable for this state of affairs. If we refuse to buy these forgettable, poorly written stories authors would treat us and their craft with respect, something that has to be earned.
Comments?
Update:
This paragraph was included in my weekly update March 10 and since it was relevant to this post I’m adding it below:
“Just over a week ago (on March 1st), I wrote a post about the state of M/M romance from my perspective and that of some of the reviewers on this site. In this post I mentioned a few books and series that I loved however, I don’t want to leave the impression that the books or authors I didn’t mention were on my personal DO NOT BUY list. The danger of naming anyone or book under these circumstances is that people automatically assume that I deliberately meant to exclude the authors I didn’t mention and nothing could be further from the truth. Authors such as Victor J. Banis, Rick R. Reed, Josh Lanyon. Nicole Kimberling, Alex Beecroft, L.A.Witt, Clare London, J.L. Langley, M.L. Rhodes, Sean Kennedy, [Bobby Michaels, Patric Michael and William Neale who left us way too soon], the writing partnership of Abigail Roux and Madeleine Urban, Jordan C. Price, Ethan Day, J.L. Merrow, Marie Sexton and many others are on my auto buy list. If I didn’t single you out it doesn’t mean that I don’t value your writing or think highly of your books. Obviously my list is not as long today as it was say, 2 years or even 1 year ago, although there are many authors whose work I still value, but space and time won’t permit me to mention their names. However, I hope they continue writing the kind of books that will make this genre proud as we need all the quality authors we can retain. My thanks to everyone who commented on the post and still continue to do so today. I understand that many authors were upset, even offended, at the post, and felt that it was too negative. I can only say that I have to speak the truth as I see it. This is not about me – if you check out the comments from some of your fellow authors as well as the majority of the readers who responded, you will see that they agree with most of the opinions in the post.”
THANK YOU FOR WRITING THIS. As both an author and a freelance editor in the genre, this is a subject I’ve spent many hours contemplating and arguing with my friends, and I’m glad one of the highly visible sites has taken the time to address the matter and say the thing so few reviewers and publishers seem willing to acknowledge.
I’m sure I’m not alone in questioning, over the years, some of the material that has made it to print in the m/m genre. As an editor, I sometimes want to cry over the manuscripts that cross my desk and require such intensive rewrites that I might as well have penned the story myself. As an author, it makes me despair because there is truly no value to getting a publishing contract anymore. It got so that I couldn’t even appreciate the congratulations I received from people over my first novel, because it felt like such an insignificant feat to have scored a publisher when you factor in all the other drek out there. It makes you wonder why you bother trying so hard when the end result would have been the same as if you’d phoned it in and called it a day (well, aside from the personal satisfaction).
Obviously romance as a genre has never succeeded at distinguishing itself for quality, not in decades, but it’s sad to see LGBT romance (which, along with “m/m erotica” is not even a terribly accurate descriptor for a lot of the novels in the genre, or at least doesn’t always do them justice or tell the full story) get lumped into the same category, too. There are so many wildly talented authors out there, and this niche is unique in that it attracts a lot of true literary voices that otherwise wouldn’t have a home, and who, if their novels featured straight protagonists, would no doubt be reeling in mainstream publishing contracts by the dozen. But they tend to get lost amidst the rubble when surrounded by so many authors (and publishers) who don’t seem to share the same commitment to quality and truly great storytelling.
Not that its entirely the fault of those who are still learning their craft (we all fall into that category, really, in one way or another… I know I certainly do): new authors don’t get the attention they deserve when publishers are rushing to get their manuscripts out by the dozen, and it doesn’t afford them the hone and develop their skills the way they might do otherwise, and I think that is as much of a disservice to the readers as the authors themselves.
Mal
The thing is, if you give up, that increases the number of terrible books we read and DNF. We need authors like you who take pride in what you do and show other authors how to write a book we can enjoy.
We try to review as many books by new writers as we can, but their major problem is that their blurbs are full of cliches and overused tropes and, not to be mean, but some of them are just boring. They should have their blurbs written professionally because, as reviewers, that’s the first thing we notice.
This is one of the few sites that makes it a point to promote new authors in this genre. I’ve done many profiles of new authors, the most recent time was last fall. However they have to do the work and write excellent stories. Whenever I find a new author whose first book I love I tell everyone and encourage them to try it. We don’t just review books by our favourite authors because, as I said in the post, even they seem to be writing for money rather than for the love of the craft.
I’m hopeful that this post will at least wake up a few authors to do a better job because if they don’t they will join the list of “also rans.”
Thanks for commenting.
I agree with so much of what’s written here. There are dozens and DOZENS of books I’ve mentally thrown across the room. (Mentally because I mostly read on Kindle now. 😆 )
You know what though? I always look at a list of top-selling books that comes out on Elisa Rolle’s blog and it’s ALWAYS these (mostly) crappy books that are in the top spots. Month after month.
I have a small group of favorite authors who not only write beautifully but are bold and daring with plot and character and practically NO ONE ever buys their books, or let alone have heard of them.
So I don’t really know what the answer is. Like really good music, television and movies, the good and daring stuff live in limbo or are never even noticed while the junk gets all the attention. Look at the ratings for Honey Boo Boo or the sales for Boy Band of the Week.
Do we reap what we sow?
Hi Bryant
Your analogy of high ratings for Honey Boo Boo and the top selling books is so on the money. This confirms what I said in the post: we readers are part of the problem because we buy the “flavour of the month.” It’s true we don’t know what’s between the covers until we crack open the books we buy, but it’s a good strategy to listen to word-of- mouth recommendations before we put our credit card down.
Definitely.
YES. THIS.
Hey Chris
Short and on point. 😆
What she ^ said 😆
Chicken. :censorship: :cow: 😀 😯
I’ll admit, this post annoyed me a bit at first. Much talk about the declining quality of the genre, while in the same breath saying that because of it you avoid giving new authors a chance. How do you know you aren’t missing gems?
Then again, I can understand recoiling after being burned over and over, and I admit I do not read the same amount within the genre that I’m sure the reviewers here do. I can afford to be picky and immediately disregard a book that has any of the themes I hate, including the ones you listed. I also have the luxury of being able to check out reviews (some provided by the helpful reviewers here!) and steer clear of a book if its obvious that it has some of my pet peeves.
My biggest beef with M/M lately is the utter lack of genre in M/M that isn’t paranormal or shifter. When I do find a book with a potentially interesting fantasy or sci fi concept, its often filled with info-dumps, poor characterization, or the setting is merely a diorama backdrop for sex. The execution is simply poor.
I like to stay positive, though. I am sure there is just as much good out there now as there was five years ago. It just requires a lot more sifting these days.
There is also something to be said for not only individual tastes, but burnout. A book I would have adored when I first started reading the genre would undergo a lot more scrutiny now simply by virtue of the amount of exposure I’ve had.
Hi Ravon
Please see my response to Mal the first commenter, about the support we offer new authors. Also I indicated why some of their books are not reviewed on this site – their blurbs suck.
Most of the reviewers on this site love paranormal books. I would agree 100% with this comment.
I recognized last year that I was suffering from burnout even though I read other genres as much as M/M, so I took 3 months off from M/M. When I returned things hadn’t changed and the complaints were more frequent, so it wasn’t just me.
Yet those of us who write Sf/F and Horror in the field find that it doesn’t sell.
I write a cyberpunk short. It sells 40 copies.
I do a contemporary, 800 copies. Which do you think I’m going to write more of?
Even if I love a genre, I can’t afford the time to write it if no one buys it.
Angel
As I said in the post, a lot of the fault lies with the readers for accepting what’s being dished out. If we all take a stand and go for quality the authors will go back to the days when they took pride in their work. However, I’m not holding my breath that the readers will put their money where their mouth is.
I’m now buying more regular fiction, and while that has it’s own issues it’s nothing compared with the mess we have in M/M.
I do understand your position. All I’m saying is that the books should have all of those characteristics that make up an excellent read but which are missing from today’s offerings.
I think you’re hoping for a myth. I’ve been in the field since 2004. There were those who carefully crafted each word. There were those who dished it out like it was macaroni and cheese, even in 2004 and 2005.
I write as the muses move me. And try to do my best: plot, setting, characters, sometimes even theme. If it becomes apparent I really don’t have a story, I will abandon the project, as I did with a recent anthology piece.
Buying habits may not be encouraging the production of SF or urban fantasy, but the muses demand it, so I keep writing what I love.
I write exclusively SF/F, so I can’t directly compare that to contemporary, but a 40/800 is split is 😯
I have been told by editors in the past that contemporary sells better, but I didn’t realize it was that stark.
Oh well. As you said, I write what moves me. Contemporary is just not my thing. 🙂
What is the title of your cyberpunk book?
The m/m one is Swimming Through the Net.
There’s a mostly het (some bisexual male content) novel called Hard Reboot.
They’re from Amber Quill.
And a couple of pegging shorts, one out of print, one just subbed in the same milieu.
Mmm, it looks interesting, if a little pricey for the length. I’ve added it to my wishlist. Thanks.
I’ve been reading m/m books almost exclusively for a couple of years now, since I first discovered this genre. Lately I have become more and more disappointed with the offerings, sadly. I have something like 20 DNF books on my ereader. I keep them there because I hate to not finish a book so I tell myself one day I will, but I admit I doubt it. Unfortunately, these days I can hardly find books whose blurbs and excerpts get me interested enough to buy them. I can put up with grammatical errors, but what I can’t stand but I find more and more often are books with basically no plot or under developed characters or stories that are almost carbon copies of books I read in the past.
I’ve seen someone here comment that they mostly stick to well known authors, but while I do have a few auto-buys writers, I’ve found lately that some of them have disappointed me too. So I’m trying instead to look at new authors too, who might not get the same care and attention from the publishers (and often you can notice that already from the covers) but might offer something new. I’ve found a couple in the latest months that were a nice discover.
Speaking of covers, I know they don’t matter as much as the story itself, but is it really so hard for publishers to provide covers that are not the same old-same old that is two naked torso? It’s getting so boring to me that sometimes a different cover is enough to at least catch my attention.
Speaking instead of the stories, probably here it’s a matter of taste, but I feel like among BDSM (often badly writter), werewolves/vampires and paranormal/science fiction, the number of book written about normal, everyday human beings are becoming less and less.
The sex has gotten boring too. I’ve come to the point in which I skip sex scenes almost entirely, because I feel like rarely they really add something to the story.
Anyway, I think the writers are at fault if they writer bad stories with no plot, but I think the major culprits are those who accept certain stories for publishing. I think we all have encountered authors who thought they wrote the newest masterpiece while most readers think they wrote crap, so writers aren’t always able to judge their work fairly. I’m more disappointed in the publishers who, as readers themselves, accept certain books just because they want to cash in.
The situation, for me personally, has gotten so bad that in the latest couple of weeks I’ve gone back to het romance in search of something good. I check the new releases of the most known m/m publishers everyday but I read the blurbs and more and more every day I just pass them all.
All that said, there are still really great books out there, we just have to look more carefully for them.
Hi Manuela
You’re lucky that you only have 20 DNF. I have over 600 and counting. However even one DNF is too much.
Your comment mirrors some of the problems we’re having. Yet authors don’t recognize how widespread this problem is. As for the books with no plots – you’re not alone.
I won’t ever go back to het romance after being away for so long. My solution might be to stop reading romance altogether. However for you it might be a better solution if you checked out some of the older books which at least showed great imagination and the plots were incredible.
I did a few posts on the site about memorable books, and if you email me I’ll send you the links as I can’t remember them offhand.
Good luck!
“There’s a light at the end of the tunnel because a few of the smaller indie presses are doing a much better job in terms of content editing their releases.”
Could you tell me (us) to which indie presses you are referring? I don’t want to miss anything. I’ve only been reading this genre (at least in it’s original fiction incarnation) for a year and half and I already feel like I am scrapping the bottom of the barrel.
Thank you and all the reviewers. Finding this sight has been a real boon.
Hi Helen
I’ll give you three names with an explanation.
First, some of these sites specialize. For example JCP Books which is owned by Jordan Castillo Price. This site releases paranormal books so if you’re not into paranormal it won’t meet your needs. However, if you are there is a pretty large selection of excellent books. Check out the Petit Morts series which includes stories released by Jordan, Sean Kennedy, Clare London as well as Josh Lanyon. Also the PsyCop books which is one of my top rated series, and many other books penned by JCP.
Second, Storm Moon Press. This press publishes books that run the full GBLTQ gamut so I can only speak to their gay releases. While not all their M/M books are tops for me in terms of rating (you can check the books that have been reviewed here under the “search” function) those that I’ve read are well edited and there’s usually a story to go along with the sex. So definitely a recommendation from me.
Third – Riptide. This publisher releases books that run the full GBLTQ range and again I only read some of their gay romances. I would say that those books that I’ve read are well edited. Some of their stories are not what I would read because of the themes but I’m sure that the editing is just as good.
Others readers may have a different opinion, but offhand those are the three that come to mind. I hope that helps.
Very familiar with JCP (and love all of her work that I’ve read) and Riptide. Will look at Storm Moon Press. Thank you again.
Helen in addition to the small publishers Wave suggested, may I also quetly sneak in Manifold Press? I am no saying that I love all their books equally, but to me they are still above and beyong many because they seem to care about story and characters in their books 🙂 I do not remember to be badly disappointed by any of their titles. Some I loved more than others, but I do not think they produced a horrible book yet. JMO of course.
Oh, I second the nomination of Manifold Press! I haven’t read many by them yet, but I’ve been consistently impressed by what I have read. 🙂
Thirding the h/t to Manifold Press. Their books tend to have exciting and usually really well written plots. 🙂
Another endorsement for Manifold Press!
Not only are they pretty strong on the editing process, they’re also very approachable. I’ve had a couple of good conversations with them since I’ve been purchasing their books.
I’d add Lethe press too. Their books always get a second glance from me.
Let’s hope the PTB’s takes this to heart
Better editing, 3D characters, more plot, yes please
Okay Majken. 😀
*applauds*
Couldn’t have said it better myself.
Thank you Theo. 🙂
Hallelujah! Someone’s finally saying this aloud.
More and more, I’m having trouble finding books I genuinely want to read, and I’m getting so bored with the same old same old. I roll my eyes at the tropes, skim the sex, and in general it feels like a chore to finish a story, though I insist on doing so because I spent the money.
As a writer, every idea I have butts up against the unwritten “rules” I’ve noticed in this genre about HEAs and cheating and other such restrictions. I’ll be honest, my first novel length release was in reaction to some of the bad BDSM I’d run across, including 50 Shades. I want to write outside the box, but a part of me fears that because I’m a relative newbie, it might get me blacklisted.
I’m so glad you posted this. It answers a big question for me, and it also has my reader brain jumping up and down and shouting, “This! So much, this!”
Hi A.J
I’m with you up until the point of finishing every story. I couldn’t. I have too many books on my TBR and once I DNF a book it’s hard for me to go back because the same reasons why I didn’t finish it in the first place would still be there.
About those unwritten rules around Romance, many of those, especially the HEA, are areas that other readers won’t give up without a fight. Also the cheating thing. I wrote posts about both of these and got my ass handed to me. 😆 However I have reviewed a few books with cheating and the readers who got over their aversion loved them. I strongly believe that if the story is great people will buy the books.
Bareback is one book I keep recommending to other readers and the majority of them overlook the cheating. I reviewed books without HEAs and most readers loved them.
If you write a good story I think readers who are open to something outside the lines would be happy to recommend it to other readers. Send me a copy of your next book and I would be happy to have it reviewed on the site. However it better be good. 😀
As a reader, I agree with every single thing in your article. Even some of my favorite authors are disappointing me.
Four things bother me the most; shorter books being passed off as novels,novellas that should called short stories, more sex than story, and the lowering quality of editing and plain old proof reading.
Authors who used to be favorites seem to be in a contest to see who can push out the most crap the soonest and I’m tired of it. I now have three favorites and appreciate the time they take to actually write good solid books of a satisfying books.
In the first two months of this year, I’ve read well over 100 books and sadly, about half of these are older ones that I’m re-reading. It’s hard but I’m doing my best not to buy books that are quickly written and thrown out there for a price that goes higher and higher while the length and quality go lower and lower.
By the way, I really appreciate the honest reviews here. Any site that consistently gives sky high ratings is not one that brings me back.
Thanks so much for finally addressing this issue and giving me a place to vent.
Hi Andrea
I totally agree with you about many authors pushing out just any old thing, but that’s because we as readers accept it. If we didn’t, I bet they would stop.
I’ve been re-reading many of my old favourites because the newer books just don’t stack up. This costs me nothing and I know what to expect – well written stories that rock, great characterizations, wonderful dialogue and prose. Can’t beat that.
Thank you for the nice words about the reviews on this site, but that’s due to all of the reviewers who value honesty above all. You’re welcome for the opportunity to vent. 🙂
Ouch. But I can’t argue with any of that, although my DNF numbers as a reader are low. But then I read a lot of friend reviews and free samples before choosing books to read, where you are committed sight unseen to the books chosen for review. (Perhaps you need a DNF option?)
It’s definitely not good for the genre, especially in the long run. An influx of uncritical new readers (which is still happening) does not make up for losing long-term readers because we’re not meeting expectations. I guess both authors and publishers need to be more selective about what we let go out the door and in what degree of readiness. Hopefully that will happen. I really hate seeing readers talk about opening new books with dread rather than expectation.
Hi Kaje
Unfortunately, if we request a book for review the publisher expects that we would actually review it rather than submit a DNF. The only legitimate DNF is for M/M romances with on-page het sex. The DNF numbers for this site could be a lot higher if Aunt Lynn didn’t wield the whip, even with me. She’s really tough.
I, too, hope that will happen but I’m not betting on it. It’s been 10 years since I read my first M/M romance and over the last 5 years it’s been a downward slide. I understand some of the dynamics, but when you buy a book expecting a pleasurable reading experience and it turns out to be a sexfest with no plot you’re not very forgiving.
BTW I’m one of those readers who opens every new book with dread and most of the time my fears are realized.
I think one problem with poor quality is that the majority of readers are not demanding better quality. Some vocal few such as yourselves are, but there are plenty of others who are taking whatever they get and rating it highly and recommending it without demanding better.
Readers aren’t giving publishers a reason to get their act together and improve their product.
Is it perhaps that many of the readers are also writers in the genre and they just don’t rate the swill, or they up-rate it even when it doesn’t merit it? For myself, I know I’m new and virtually unknown in this genre and in order to avoid garnering any unfriendly regard, I try to keep my head down and avoid controversy or giving anyone an unpleasant impression of me. I don’t want a bad reputation or make my peers dislike me. So either I don’t rate and review things, or I ignore some very glaring issues in order to give a less critical rating.
It could also be that I’m a perfectionist. when I self-pubbed my first release, it took maybe a week and a half to two weeks for me to find a review that pointed out there were still a few typographical errors, despite the many, many proofreading passes I had done, as well as my beta readers. Within days, I had found someone more qualified to do another proofing pass, fixed the remaining errors, issued a mea culpa in as many places as I could, and made it clear that any of the couple dozen or so people who had bought the book at that point who couldn’t get a replacement from the vendor from whom they’d bought it were welcome to email me and I’d be happy to replace it for them. I was mortified that I had released a flawed product and did everything within my power to rectify the situation. So I want to thank the reviewers who pointed out those errors from the bottom of my heart.
What’s almost more disturbing than the fact that I released a book with those errors, however, is that by the time someone called me on them, I’d received several very glowing reviews that never mentioned them at all. And one of those reviews came from someone who had given a 5-star rating and was an effusive fan of one of the most badly-written pieces of pap I’ve ever read.
A few months ago, I had a few weeks between projects to catch up on some leisure reading I’d been neglecting, and the books I put at the top of my TBR pile were the ones that were critical darlings, the ones everyone was gushing over and praising to the high heavens, the ones that had dominated Amazon’s Top 100 list for the genre. And I was appalled.
The first one I read, one that was a success by just about any measure — sales, critical response, and reader popularity — had head-hopping POV out the wazoo and a homophone blunder on the very first page. Another hugely popular one (and frankly a lot of some of the most popular books in the genre) had frequent use of epithets. I don’t think these are nitpicks. These are significant, Writing 101 issues that any reader should be using to differentiate quality from chaff.
Why aren’t more readers making complaints such as you’ve made? What incentive do the publishers, press and self-pub alike, have to improve if a sub-par product sells just as well as a well-polished one? My incentive, personally, is pride and perfectionism. But then, I’m not running a press and trying to keep it profitable.
But the thing is…uncritical reader response making poorly-written books into bestsellers is not a problem endemic to m/m romance. For God’s sake, look at anything by Dan Brown. Or The Book That Shall Not Be Named which is presently making people think that one highly mediocre author invented BDSM. Or any number of recently popular novels and series that wind up on the bestseller list.
Most publishers won’t spend more to produce high-quality product when low-quality product sells just as many units for a fraction of the production cost. The editor I contract with for my self-pubs charges almost double per 10000 words than the editors being used by some presses in this genre. I consider the expense worth it, because I don’t want a reputation for poor quality. But then, I’m not issuing several new releases every week.
The point is, unless and until readers in significant quantities start talking with their wallets (and obviously they don’t, not in m/m, not in romance in general, and not even in fiction at large, as evidenced by awful books with amateur mistakes becoming best-sellers) publishers have no vested interest in improving. I wish everyone did as I did and considered it a point of pride to produce the best-quality product possible, but realistically, that’s not going to happen. What we need is more readers to do what you’ve done here and take a stand against badly written books.
I don’t see it happening, though.
Hi Amelia
Thank you for this. As an author I think you’re very brave to point out some of the major issues with this genre that you have personally experienced. I won’t respond to every comment but this one struck a note:
I agree that this happening in the immediate future is a pipe dream mostly because of the influx of new readers into the genre who think this is great “literature.”
If we, as readers, continue to roll over and take what the authors and publishers are giving us, then we have no one but ourselves to blame for the current state of this genre. This is just one site and we can only do so much because our reach is not infinite, but the more the word goes out to other readers that we have a choice we can exercise with our wallets, the better chance we have to be heard.
The best seller list on Amazon is a joke. It’s nothing more than a popularity contest by fans of the authors and I refuse to buy 99% of the books on the list.
Amelia, what a good comment. This paragraph particularly caught my attention:
“What’s almost more disturbing than the fact that I released a book with those errors, however, is that by the time someone called me on them, I’d received several very glowing reviews that never mentioned them at all …”
Why is that? Are people afraid to speak the truth; are they worried they might offend? Do they really not notice typos and possible grammatical mistakes?
I think I’ve only ever once sent an e-mail to an author, whose work I really admired and enjoyed, pointing out two glaring mistakes. I felt uncomfortable doing it, but thought the author might appreciate it in the long run. I never heard anything back from that writer! So I don’t think I’ll be doing that again.
This is where the “uncritical readers” come into play. It appears that the majority of authors are quite happy churning out stuff to make money, since there’s an (up to now) uncritical market for it. As much as I hope things change, I can’t really see it happening. 🙁
I been having a bad go of it this year too. Someone recently pointed out that my ratings have been a lot lower recently, and it boils down to the fact that I am rarely moved. I want to be surprised, shocked out of my pants and left thinking about the book hours later. I most often forget names as soon as I’m done and have to go do re-check.
Books have just been feeling all SSDB (Same Sh*t Different Book) and its these little books with lighter side of stories and next to nothing in the sex department that keeps surprising me and I fall in love.
Thought I would comment because I’ve been feeling the same way. I read between 30-40 books a month so imagine my ever loving frustration lately.
Hi Darien
Recently I have picked up a few books that were surprisingly good and they weren’t by the “popular” authors, just self pubbed books.
We’re all feeling frustrated because most of our authors are following the same formula and we feel powerless. I wish a few of them would show some originality. Even if we didn’t like the book it would indicate that the authors are at least thinking and not robots.
My condolences on buying up to 40 books a month and instead of treasure you get the booby prize. Maybe you should just re-read your old favourites for a few months. If more of us did that revenues would plunge and the publishers and authors would have to listen. We could also write the publishers demanding our money back for the type of product we have been buying lately. Maybe they will change their evil ways if enough readers demand their money back, but don’t hold your breath. 🙂
I think Kaje makes an interesting point re the ‘influx of uncritical new readers’. There are clearly a lot of readers out there who like certain authors, regardless of the quality of their work. It’s like being a fan of the boy band of the month, you uncritically adore every single they release until the band breaks up, the cute one decides to date a man-eating songwriter, etc. People will always have their favourites regardless of what they write. They love every story and I guess that’s their choice.
As an author, I have recently come to the depressing conclusion that being considered a ‘good’ writer does not necessarily lead to being a ‘popular’ one. As a relative ‘newbie’ to the genre, it is very very difficult to make myself heard above the chatter. I have also learnt that writing something that reflects real life rather than sticking to a tried and tested formula doesn’t always endear one to readers. I’m not moaning…well, perhaps just a little, but I write the stories that my head and heart wants me to tell, which I hope include three dimensional characters, a half decent plot and a great deal of research.
So, I guess I’m saying (in a very long-winded way) that there are some bloody good authors out there and you can’t lay the blame entirely at authors’ feet. In the end it’s what readers want the most that sells the best.Good old economics – supply and demand.
With “uncritical new readers” I wasn’t thinking about people who fan a particular author, or who don’t recognize variations in quality from a favorite, as much as thinking back to the days (a whole – wow – 4 years ago or so) when I picked up my first published M/M books. I saw that people were actually writing the stuff that had been in my head all those decades. And I could read it! Lots of it! Everything felt fresh then, because it was new to me.
As the genre expands, we’re getting a lot of people coming in at exactly that point. That’s what I meant by uncritical. I gave 5 stars (mentally, because I wasn’t online then) to books that would be 3-4 for me now, because it was all new and struck a chord. These first-time readers are also probably indiscriminating buyers at first, and so there is not real pressure in the marketplace to avoid turning out sloppy work, because it does sell.
Part of the perception to long-term readers of diminished originality is also because it is easier to seem original in the first few hundred books out there, but much harder once the genre hits tens of thousands, (Amazon lists 12,000+, the M/M group on GR has over 7000.) To new readers their first closeted cop or werewolf-mates story feels fresh and new and wonderful.
Still quality of writing, characters, solid plot – those are what keep me coming back. You can write a very familiar trope, but if you do it well, and I love the guys, I will still read it and enjoy it. Originality is important, but quality of writing and editing are where as an author I will focus a lot of attention. And I appreciate all those new readers finding our genre, even if it does mean a lot of love for books without as much criticism as we would no doubt benefit from.
Kaje, I agree with this. I know that some of my early reviewed stories aren’t as good as I originally rated them, and I have become more discriminating in my reviews in the last 2 years.
I think I made the point in the post that readers are equally culpable for this sad state of affairs.
It’s a vicious circle. If we didn’t buy books that clearly were crap authors would stop releasing them and put more concerted effort into producing a much better product that they could be proud of. The initial story that was substandard was something the author decided to release, despite knowing that the product was below par. That shows a marked disrespect for the readers, no matter how you cut it.
We try to review as many books as we can and to the best of my knowledge our reviews are honest, but sometimes the readers don’t want to hear that their favourite author has put down a dog pile and buys the book anyway. Of course that’s their choice but it compounds the problem if the book turns out to be a best seller because there are so many readers like the first one.
I keep hoping that the best authors (not necessarily the most popular) will get their due eventually, if they stick around long enough and don’t get disheartened by a seeming lack of interest.
I’m not saying quality hasn’t declined. I’m saying perhaps it’s more noticeable because there are more books.
I remember picking up a pair of fantasy novels from 2006/2007 because the blurb made them look amazing. Sketchy worldbuilding that was just a backdrop for new and varied forms of kinky sex is the kindest I can say for them. They also contain the infamous line: “Light the censors.”
Ditto a SF series in 2007 that I was reading. The major plot was resolved in 20 pages and it proceeded to be sex on every available surface for the next 100.
I write as the muses move me. Whether this is gay bikers after the end of the world, horse shifters, space bounty hunters or sexy dwarves, I’m never going to fit the “Two ordinary, extra-sexy white guys meet in some unspecified American city and have a lot of sex” that is the standard in the field.
I had to take a little while to digest this and let it settle. It’s a complicated issue, and I think what I appreciate is the variety of viewpoints you used as input, and I agree, for the most part with them.
Things I think need to be considered…
1. The publishers. This is a business, and there is no shame in making money. To keep up with the demand, some take shortcuts. What happens with shortcuts? Quality declines. I’ve been reading M/M for about two-and-a-half years now, and have seen some great publishers slip, some that I wouldn’t trust tighten up, and the big names be consistent, for the most part.
I’ve read threads that blame one or two of the big names, sometimes rightly so, for putting out certain books that are “inferior”. There is one book out right now that is a bit of a flash point for those who scream for more editing, but I know, having been in this author’s shoes, it’s the author in the end who makes the final calls. Well, the publisher can stop publication, but on the big names? I don’t think it’s realistic to think it will happen. So let’s lay the responsibility where it belongs-jointly with the publisher and the writer.
2. The advent of social media. It has changed the game, even more-so in the last couple of years. Certain writers are “Celebrities” on Facebook, and that popularity translates to sales. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the quality is there, it means that the readers are buying the personality.
Some of those personalities don’t translate very well in the writings. We’ve all read a book or two by people we interact with and <3 on Facebook only to sit there and think, WTF? S/he wrote this???
3. Self publishing. A curse and a blessing. I can't tell you how many wonderful stories I have read that were self-pubbed. I don't know whether the author submitted the story and it was declined, if they went for the bigger paycheck, whatever the reason, they took a chance and used the free technology available to put their writings out there.
And wow, some should have stuck to their day jobs. I only have one book that is a DNF for me. No matter how badly written, how much I hate the characters, the storyline…I finish books. Except this one, and I have it on my Kindle, front page, so I will finish it someday. Just not today. Anyway, hidden among all the weeds, are some major league roses.
4. Reader expectations. I started as a reader, having stumbled upon M/M when, in a whim, I did a search on my Kindle for "gay cowboys" and found Bare Back. I read it and fell in love, then bought two or three more and fell out of love. I started checking reviews then, and didn't trust many of them, to be honest. Either the reviewer was in love with the author, hated him/her and was snarky, or simply left three words. Not much help.
I plodded along for a while, and then started doing reviews myself. My thought was, maybe if I lay the review out in a coherent manner, like some of the reviewers I DID admire, and point out strengths and areas of improvement, it might help other readers. It snowballed and readers and even authors liked my reviews, and I ended up with my own review blog.
My philosophy is, never be cruel or mean, don't review less than a four star book, be honest and keep it about the book. I thought most reviewers did that. And readers? They thanked me privately so many times, I can't even tell you.
And it's because the reader expects to spend their hard-earned money on something to uplift and entertain them, and they are done a disservice by bad publishers, illiterate authors, and crappy reviewers. Let's be honest, we can ALL name five of each.
So…I won't give up. I get pissed off, but I love reading too much. And no matter what others may think, there is WAY too much good going on in the genre to throw the baby out with the bath water. I read about five books a week, and one may be a four star. So what? It makes up for all the two and one stars.
I appreciate you, Jessewave. You keep it real!!!
Tom
Hi Tom
I would like to start with your philosophy on reviews. I agree on never being cruel or mean deliberately, however we couldn’t just post reviews on this site that were 4 stars or higher because then some weeks we wouldn’t post anything. This is, after all, a review site and the readers deserve to know our honest opinion. If we only posted “good news” reviews we would lose the respect of readers who depend on us to tell them the truth about all the books we read, not just the ones we love.
I agree 100%. However it’s up to the people who buy the books to keep their feet to the fire, because if we don’t the books will only get worse and the credibility of the genre, such as it is, will really be in the toilet. Authors and publishers alike complain that M/M is not being given any respect in literary circles. Well is it any wonder when many authors give us books with no plot, crappy characters but lots and lots of sex? Maybe that’s what some readers want, but when I open a book I’m looking for a story and a damn good one. The publishers can still make their money but I want value for my money.
Maybe you could email me about the book that’s a flashpoint for criticism about editing. I think I know which one it is and if I’m right, it’s out for review.
Self Publishing: The funny thing about self publishing is that at first I was willing to write it off as wannabees who couldn’t get published any other way. Then I read a few of the books and was pleasantly surprised. Obviously not every self pubbed book will be a 4 star read but some of them are quite decent and way better than books put out by the top epublishers. However all authors need excellent content editors.
Reader expectations: Not being originally a “Romance” reader (I started out reading murder mysteries, fantasy and sci fi) I don’t have the same expectations. For example I’m quite willing to read a book without an HEA, and I have no problem with cheating, both of which are cardinal sins in M/M romance. If the plot explains the cheating conflict well and makes the hero credible, someone with a lot of integrity, I prefer such a story rather than boy meets boy, they fall in love, have a stupid fight and Big Misunderstanding and then on the last page the big reunion and HEA. 🙁
The only reason I wrote this post is that I still love this genre, but if things continue to go downhill I will probably stop reading these books altogether. There’s only so much poor writing that I can take and there are many other genres to explore.
Maybe I’ve become jaded after 10 years and my expectations are a lot lower than yours. 🙂
Thanks for writing Tom. I enjoyed your comments.
“Maybe you could email me about the book that’s a flashpoint for criticism about editing. I think I know which one it is and if I’m right, it’s out for review.”
Why do I fear an email in my future? “Crys, would you…?”
EXACTLY! I’ve also noticed and been frustrated by this trend (I’m blaming publishers). :2thumbs: THANK YOU everyone who contributed to the article, all very interesting and insightful. Val, I’m not much of a short story fan, for exactly the reasons you mention…but publishers seem to be churning out more and more (poorly done) ss/anthology editions every year. :escape:
IME with increasing frequency, reading a new author ends in a frustration of immature writing, non-existent editing, juvenile elements, and DNF status. :wallbash:
Unfortunately, I fear there are just enough non-discriminating readers buying books and posting 4 & 5 star reviews for this tripe, that publishers will not see any need for higher standards 😥
I hope for all our sake that this state of affairs will not continue. Imagine a world a year from now with 10% more authors and even worse books!
I used to read a lot of shorter books but almost stopped because most of the characters were undeveloped. Writing short stories is an art and very few writers in this genre have nailed it.
I’m a writer, reader and reviewer, in that order. I am also fairly new to the genre. I cannot speak with experience of more than four years. As a reader, I have read some stunning books, worthy of mainstream exposure. I have also read some utter dross worse than the worst fanfic. As a reviewer there have been a few books, even by popular authors, where I have wondered why the hell they’ve been published.
But heres the rub. Some of the most successful authors in the genre are not the best writers, yet they have tapped into the psyche of the readers. I admire them for having the skill to appeal to a wider audience, even as I wonder about their books.
As an author I have a question. There are two types of successful author. One who makes it with one book, and the other who puts out a book regularly, which leads to the accusation of churning them out. What do readers want? To make a living as a lot of us do there seems to be no happy medium.
As a reader, I will take the lesser books, knowing out there are real nuggets, from both the experienced and the new authors.
As a reader I am weary of authors that churn them out. I can think of one author right now. I have enjoyed some of her books in the past but now I can see the quality declining.
At the same time if your stories are consistently fresh and entertaining I don’t mind reading more of you.
Hi Sue
I can’t speak for other readers but what I look for is an enjoyable experience every time I open a new book. I get this rarely now partly because many authors have joined the book-of-the-month-club and put out second rate offerings. This is due partly to the fact that they don’t have the time to research the plot properly, the characters are flat, the dialogue and prose are second rate, and the story is one I have read a dozen times in the past month with only the names changed. If an author can avoid these traps I would be happy to spend an evening or two with his or her books. But that’s just me.
I agree with what you’ve said about the most successful authors not always being the best writers. At times I’ve reviewed books by those authors and have given them a less than stellar review.
Writing takes a lot of skill, talent and hard work, and sometimes they don’t always go together. There are many writers who will never be “stars” but they produce a good product, all they lack is that spark that will appeal to a broad range of readers. There’s no shame in being a mid list author – many writers make a living that way.
I think part of the problem is also the high numbers of fan fiction authors pulling their fan fiction to publish it. Generally, they only change names and a few details, throw it out there and *bam* contract. I know of at least five fan fiction authors who have done this and brag about it regularly.
In fan fiction, you don’t have to world build – it’s already there. You don’t have to describe anything – everyone knows what the characters and setting looks like from canon. All you need to do is set a tiny bit of plot to hang your sex scenes on. Write those sex scenes well and you’re popular – and those readers will follow their favorite authors to pro-publishing if the authors mention they’re publishing now.
When I can read a blurb, recognize the source of the story, I don’t bother to buy it. There are few and far between books that I will buy anymore because so much of it is repetitive… and I can read better slash fan fiction!
One of the reviewers on this site is an expert on fan fiction and she usually informs me when she notices a fan fic conversion so that we can make readers aware that they may have read the story before and where. There is one publisher who has developed a reputation for showing writers how to file the serial numbers off so we usually check their blurbs first.
The other problem we’re encountering is that authors whose books are no longer under contract are self pubbing and reissuing them under different names with new covers and blurbs. So if a reader were not vigilant he or she could end up unknowingly buying the same book twice.
That would be me, the fan fiction expert. You know, I’ve always wanted to be an expert at something. 🙂
I love slash fiction, started out reading Kirk/Spock many, many years ago and currently love me some Sherlock BBC. I don’t mind former fan fiction being published as long as the story is changed enough to warrant me paying for, I have no issues. I have bought many former American Idol RPS stories from authors I loved in fandom because I wanted a sparkly new eBook with a pretty cover. Filing off the serial numbers is not good enough for me, I want the story to be revised, maybe word count go up. But if the story was amazing in fandom, not sure why it couldn’t be amazing as m/m. I’m probably in the minority here, but like Lynn when books are boring in m/m, I head back to my fandom favorites.
I agree and disagree with a lot of what was said here. I almost didn’t comment because I’m not the type to get into a pissing match.
Someone said something about the unwritten rules of romance and that is one of my pet peeves. A lot of those rules are contrary to realistic gay men, but everyone wants realistic characters, right? What is an author to do if those two things contradict each other?
As a reader I agree there is a lot of crap out there. I don’t read near as much as I used to and hardly anything new, though money is the main reason behind that. I have to be very careful with what money I spend and unless I’m sure the book is going to be worth it I won’t risk it. I do think publishers are not critical enough at times and in I do wish they would be pickier, even if it put my work at risk. If my stuff isn’t good enough to be published I don’t want it to be.
I’m almost forty, fat and fired. With a recent job loss I’m faced with a decision about my future. One thought is to become a fulltime author. If I choose that path then I have to look at it as a career. If 30 K novellas are selling best than it would be a wise career decision to write those, right? What’s selling the best should be an indicator of what readers want and its my job to give readers what they want.
Not sure if my thoughts are coherent or not but you have my two cents.
Hey Ethan
How are you. I love your comments regardless whether you disagree with me because it’s always good to see you here. 🙂
I had no idea you were no longer employed. I thought your field was one that was always hiring because there’s no lack of opportunity since your client base is always growing.
I agree with you about the rules of romance. I would much rather stories had more realistic characters but some romance readers seem to prefer the fantasy. However there are authors who have written realistic gay characters (Rick Reed comes to mind) and seem to make a living as a full time or almost full time author. It’s all about the story.
I think your writing is good enough for you to make it as a full time author if you wanted to. In addition you have a big enough fan following.
I don’t understand your comment about book length. I read all lengths but recently I have been avoiding the 7K stories. 😀 Well written novellas are fine as long as they don’t have the typical rushed endings. If an author feels that 30K novellas are the niche for him then that is what he should release. Readers are looking for good stories and I think a 30K novella would contain enough depth to satisfy even the most discerning reader.
I agree with Wave. 30k novellas can be done well as long as they’re fleshed out, not rushed, and not technically flawed.
Hear, hear!
I am a baby-reviewer here, but have read enough in this genre to be thoroughly unimpressed by the blurb lists I’ve received so far. I don’t read paranormal, shifters, vampires or BDSM and seriously, that’s like two thirds of the list each week. And another thing: why all these blurbs for 7K or 11K stories? That’s like asking me to review a bowl of tortilla chips in a restaurant instead of a meal. Not interested.
But I’ll save my real ranting for Monday’s review….
Oh, and Aunt Lynn? Drarry fanfic rocks! I cheated on my review book all last week with a reread of ‘Bond’. So much better.
Hi Lenalena
I can understand your lack of enthusiasm for the recent blurbs. Re the blurbs for 7K stories, some publishers release a lot of shorts because some readers really love them.
I wonder which book you will be reviewing on Monday, as if I didn’t know. 😀
What Lena doesn’t want in the shifter/vampire books up for review, I will happily take. 🙂 There isn’t a werewolf book out there that I probably haven’t read in this genre. They are my thing as Wave knows. :hurrah:
While other reviewers dislike the tropes of werewolf mating, GFY, cops in love, arranged marriages, etc. I eat them up. I like many other readers/fans of the paranormal genre have die-hard kinks and some publishers and authors cater to them. I see nothing wrong with that.
I do not need an author to re-invent the shifter/vampire wheel every time I buy a book. A trope became a trope for a good reason, mostly because readers like me enjoy it. I liked those tropes in my het series romances, so I guess my romance reading tastes haven’t changed in 30 years since I still buy the same now only with male parts!
So, I guess what I am trying to say is I agree with Wave’s post, esp. about editing, but other things I let slide and aren’t as important to me.
Now where that next shifter book I have to review? :biglove:
I’ve been a reader of m/m exclusively for about 3 years now, just over. I buy more books than I could ever read. I now review for a web site, but my reviews are based on how the book makes me feel, not on the content, plot etc, if I’m happy after reading a book then that’s good for me. My review ratings tend to have high, because I’m happy, that may make me a crappy reviewer, I don’t know, I do know that I’m getting very picky over what authors I will review, I’ve had a few DNF books so its rare for me to want to review a book by a new to me author.
I also devour read fan fiction like its going out of buisness, and at lot of that is far better than some of the books I pick up, maybe its because fan fiction is written with love, and authors who churn out multiple books each month are just doing a job. I can understand the need for sales, it drives everything, after all everyone wants to pay the bills, but right now its rare for me to anticipate a new book, or sneak my kindle into the bathroom as I just have to read a few pages when ever I get the chance.
I’m also not a fan of short stories, far too many of them, I like a novel, something to get my teeth into, but then again a novel needs a plot, good strong characters, those take time to develop and to write, so we are back to sales again.
I’m a reader and have been reading m/m for about 4 years now. I read lots and spend far too much money on ebooks. I was so interested in the subject that after reading the article I read every comment.
Have to agree with so much that has been said. I too have started re-reading favourites because it becomes more difficult to find good stories among the many more m/m that are now being published. I am reading more free books and tending to stick with known authors.
A recent short story I read was so badly edited that I stopped reading it for the story and started highlighting all the spelling and grammar mistakes! It was more fun.
I’m sure as an author, I’m supposed to be offended by this post – but I’m not. I agree, wholeheartedly. The gates are open, the market is flooded with mediocrity, and the M/M genre seems to have adopted a quantity over quality business model.
On a personal note, I’ve been a BDSM player for a very long time, and I can’t tell you the number of books I read that make me cringe. That point was dead on.
As a reader I am starting to dislike the short stories. Sure they are easy to read but also they strain the budget. I prefer to pay a bit more for a full fleshed story that will leave me satisfied.
I see a lot of serialized short stories like these. I think this is a strategy by the writer and publisher that could eventually backfire.
As an avid reader I read at least 3-4 books a week. I know the problem. Despite I have about 150 samples on my kindle…sometimes I do not know what to choose next because everything sounds like…”been there, done that”.
So I really think, one reason of the problems is that after reading at least 700 m/m stories in the last years I actually have read several variations of sport jock and nerd, college boys best friends to lovers, cop and suspect…etc. And I may have liked some of the books I dismiss today more, if I had seen them at the beginning of my m/m reading. But I still love and read the same theme when it is delivered in a fresh, unique and entertaining style. What I don’t like is that more and more average and generic books are getting published (is anyone here old enough and brave enough to remember and admit reading Barbara Cartland?)
But it’s only part of the problem. Another problem is – and it’s actually not for us to judge – m/m is booming…and it’s actually also booming because of crappy books like the ones who shouldn’t be named…first BDSM (or what gets sold for it), then threesomes (aren’t we kinky) and the next step m/m (how daring!!)
I know an author, who I really like as a person but her books are….clearly not my cup of tea. Flowery dialogues, heart to heart confessions, harlequin at it’s best (or not so) …ups, and did I mention m/m? Her book is selling, she is on top lists ever so often on amazon, reviewers gush over the romance. Funny, it’s either loved or…clearly disliked. There is no in between. But it’s selling??? Obviously there is a market for generic Cinderella over the top romances. There are readers who love this kind of books. And often these writers are actually the typical “facebook roleplayer” /”fanfiction writers” who do find a low standard publisher and already start with their fans already committed before they even have read the book. (btw. I also have found some awesome authors in between these….)
It’s not my thing, it will never be but who am I to say these aren’t allowed to write or read?
Do I think that this is not quality m/m? Yes, of course….and I’m more than thankful that I can check out books with the sample before I buy them on my kindle.
That’s the reason I seldom get a DNF. If a sample does not convince me….I’m not going to buy it, even if I’ve read enthusiastic reviews on goodreads (actually the bad reviews help me more to decide).
Is a blurb not informative and uninspired….I’m not going to check out the book.
What I’m trying to say is, that there two groups of m/m readers. The ones who love the HEA, the flowers, the sex, the world perfectly set for the fairy tale……and the others who actually want to read the real deal (Yeah, Ethan Stone, some want to read about real gay relationships…the pretty and the ugly and the cheating and whatever) and real books, with believable plots, problems etc. even in fantasy worlds.
I think there are still a lot awesome authors out there, some really not so known and gushed about but they are more difficult to find. Some are known and loved and awesome writers 😉 This is a challenge we readers have to face.
It’s not easy and it looks like that the first thing you have to do to find good books, is to find reviewers with your same taste. This is how I find my books these days.
So – I agree with the article, the genre gets flushed with crappy books, mass produced generic stuff …..but that is the price that must be paid for getting more popular. The same has happened to other genres, too. It just happening faster and more worse now because we can add the perils of self-publishing, which is relatively new.
But I also see that as a natural development that can’t be stopped. So….we have to help each other and hope that our favorite authors do write books we’ll love.
Clearly, poor editing and writing isn’t limited to m/m, and I will say there are some books I’ve enjoyed in spite of the editing. However, my main complaint is the repetitious description that seems to show up in so many m/m books. I guess there are only so many ways to describe things, but I bet we could all rattle off a dozen cliches. I’d list some, but I’m not sure what sort of language is acceptable, lol.
We can all complain about the decline all over the ‘net, but if we don’t complain directly to the publishers, nothing will change. I really don’t believe that any publisher sits down to see what review sites, goodreads, etc. has to say about their books. But if readers start complaining in detail about what was wrong with the book they bought and then ask for their money back, publishers might start having their eyes opened to the problems their policies are causing. It’s a campaign like any other and if we readers — because I’m one too even if I’m also an author — go about making our demands known politely but firmly, we will be heard.
That only works if the publisher in question gives a shit. I’ve complained about several books which I felt where both overpriced for the length and were poorly written/edited. The response I got was a politely worded version of ‘tough shit’.
If badly written stories about cowboys, jocks, gay for you, etc. are flooding the market, it’s because these books sell. Publishers are in the business to make money; they aren’t putting out books on spec. They can’t afford to.
I’m a writer, but I also read, and I admit I don’t read much m/m because I don’t often find something well written that appeals to me. I have a short list of authors I know I can count on. The rest I have to find by trial and error.
I’m also a book editor, so you KNOW I’m gonna spot typos, plot holes, rampant repetition, and superfluous words… in fact, editing has ruined my reading experience. It’s rare now when I stumble across something truly good where bad writing/bad editing doesn’t get in the way of the story.
I once thought you had to write well AND tell a good story to get published. These days, that is no longer a requirement. It makes me sad, because I spent years learning my craft.
“Being published” is no longer something special, something I earned, because anyone can do it now. Oh, a publisher rejected your manuscript? “I’ll just self-publish then, so there!”
Maybe it was rejected for a reason, ever think of that?
No wonder it’s hard to find really good books anymore. The jewels are well buried in the sludge.
Wave the brave! A lot of what you wrote fits M/F traditional & self-pubbed as well as M/M traditional & self-pubbed books. It’s rare that I read a book that doesn’t have at least one minor error, even ones edited by “the boss” of editing. My experience is going to be different because I only read books of my choosing, as one person commented, after carefully checking samples, blurbs etc. I’ve read way more gems than mediocre books. Also I’m more forgiving if I find an error in a $4.99 book than I am finding one in a $9.99 book – you know how unfair Canadian pricing is, even on ebooks. The bottom line is that there are good & bad books everywhere in every genre. You’re fair when you acknowledge that burnout has some part in this. Thanks for posting this & starting the discussion. I admire the authors who weren’t afraid to weigh in!
“The initial story that was substandard was something the author decided to release, despite knowing that the product was below par.”
I have to disagree with this comment. Sure, there are some authors who know their work is substandard and release it anyway, but I think the number is very, very minimal.
The majority of authors believe their work is good and publishable. It’s like being a parent. Your child may be the ugliest kid in the world, but you love him or her no matter what. It’s like beer goggles. Authors see their story as they intended it–a beautiful work of art. Its easy to overlook flaws and even misspellings especially after you’ve looked at it dozens of time.
I don’t know Ethan. I read a lot of these books and I can’t believe that authors are unaware when they release books that should never have seen the light of day. The number of poorly written books that I read on a regular basis tells me that many authors don’t care about quality because their books sell anyway. BTW I’m not talking about spelling errors, many of these books need content editors not someone who spell checks their work.
I understand what you’re saying but, given what they do, I think a lot of your colleagues are much more discerning than you think.
The way I see it is that publishers (and any business looking for a profit) will always be looking for a way to cut down on costs while increasing sales. If there is a demand for it, then publishers are going to want it. And if they can get away with shoddy covers (as with a couple of publishers I’ve seen), or subpar editing, and if readers are still snapping up the books despite this, then I’m sure you can guess what the publishers are going to do.
That said, I think there are some authors who will also try to get away with as little work as possible. I know there are some out there who will maybe read through their manuscript once, do very little work on it other than change a few obvious typos, and then think it’s ready. And there are readers singing praise to these authors, in some cases more than to those authors who spends hours upon hours polishing their work.
Personally, I don’t read much M/M Romance. Mostly for many of the reasons listed above. I’ve come across too many badly written books with more sex than plot, glaring typographical errors, and characters that I want to smash over the head with a baseball bat… the kind with rusty nails embedded in it. I’ve read BDSM books that, as a submissive, I find to be incredibly ill-informed and sometimes offensive. I’m actually sick to death of reading about incredibly beautiful gay men, particularly those that conform to most of the stereotypes. And I’m definitely sick of reading about werewolf mates. Sorry, but for me insta-love is a huge copout, even with werewolves involved. Anyway, rant over. I do have certain M/M authors whose books I love, and I will read regardless. I hope they continue doing what they’re doing and don’t follow the precedents set by a lot of other authors of quantity over quality.
At the end of the day though, readers, publishers and authors all coexist. What any group does is going to directly affect the others. Authors write good books, readers create demand, publishers lower standards in order to meet the demand, authors become complacent… and so on, ad infinitum. That is to say, I think every single one of us, readers, authors and publishers, all need to do our part if we want to start seeing more ‘good’ books out there.
Wave,
I so agree with you about the quality issue, and when I say this, I’m not speaking from a voice of authority or as a literary expert. I am not claiming to be a know-it-all when it comes to writing. I’m still learning, and I’m grateful more than I could even express that so many people have supported me by buying and reading my books. When I say that I’m in agreement concerning quality, I’m speaking strictly as a reader.
However, I do believe we have a tendency to live within a bubble. The very same people we talk to and interact with on social media and through email are the ones who are posting on the blogs, leaving comments, and writing reviews. These participants tend to be very passionate about the m/m and LGBT genres, and they have an above-average degree of knowledge about literary norms and protocols.
This group of people we hear from all the time, however, might not be all that representative of the larger m/m reading audience. In my humble opinion, the vast majority of readers choose their books because of how the story makes them feel. They like m/m because of the formula. They like the HEAs. They like the romance and sex. And many of them don’t care if there are grammatical errors, repetitive tropes, head-hopping, or any of the other problems that infuriate most of us reviewers.
I wonder if you’re sitting there shaking your head and saying I’m all wrong. I don’t think I am, simply because the numbers do not lie. Take a look at some of the authors who crank out book after book after book. Some of them have close to 200 titles. They have thousands of Good Reads ratings, hundreds of fans, and they just keep going and going like Ever Ready Bunnies. There is only ONE reason for this: their books SELL.
We can complain all we want about quality. We can rate the books low or even ignore the books altogether. The publishers are not going to care, not if they continue to sell books. If thousands of copies sell, do you really think the publisher cares that you or I criticized the book? Probably the author doesn’t care either. It’s the same thing I’ve always said about Stephanie Meyers. Lots of critics flayed her Twilight series and excoriated her writing craft skills, saying she had none. Even Stephen King mocked her and said she couldn’t write. She’s probably laughing her way to the bank along with her publisher.
All that we as readers can do is choose wisely. We’ve got to give honest reviews. We’ve got to send a message to the publishers with our pocket books. But I think if we expect to convince them to improve their standards simply because we tell them they’ve gone downhill, they’re going to take it with a grain of salt once they look at the Amazon royalty statements.
That’s my humble opinion.
Great post. Thank you.
I agree with this comment and about the bubble atmosphere that makes sites like this hyper aware of all the flaws in the genre. But there’s a difference between a reviewer who feels obligated to review books on a weekly basis whether they find the blurb interesting or not and your average reader who buys a book only when they feel like getting one. Most readers try to choose wisely so they end up with less complaints than you see on here.
People like the HEA, the tropes, the shifter stories etc or it wouldn’t sell. But one publisher has a line of m/m books without happy endings and I think MLR has a line with books that are more like Gay fiction. I bet they don’t sell as well but there seems to be options for writers who want to go off the beaten path.
I do think some of this nostalgia for the good old days is looking at things through rose colored glasses. Go ahead and reread some of those classic M/M books and you’ll see a lot of bad writing, editing and head hopping. I’ve actually read much better edited books recently so it’s not all bad news.
There’s a glut of new writers and books in the m/m genre now so some of it is bad. I assume if they’re bad enough they just won’t sell. As a reader, I just try to choose wisely as you said.
As usual, Jeff nailed it. We can moan all we want about hackneyed, sex-saturated plots, shallow and derivative characters, editorial oversights, and prose that’s flatter than cups of beer the morning after a frat party . . . but if most readers don’t care, nothing’s going to change. That siren song called “Fame and Fortune” will keep authors cranking out a book a month (or every two weeks) and publishers happily peddling the product.
Keep in mind, too, that writers can be egotistical dumbasses when it comes to their own work — and I’m certainly not excluding myself from this club. Objectivity isn’t our forte. Small wonder, then, that so much crummy fiction is put before the public; guaranteed, the creators of that fiction think it’s brilliant! :cooler:
Hi Jeff
Excellent comment Jeff.
I have no idea what amount of pull authors have with publishers to demand content editing and a better quality of editing overall, but surely they can do something? I know of one author whose books are quite lucrative who left a long time publisher and went to Riptide because their editing was superior. I’m sure the publisher wasn’t happy at losing all that income.
Regarding honest reviews, I only have to look at a very well known and popular M/M reviewer who has never given any book less than 5 stars on Amazon and she’s loved by all the authors and publishers for this reason.
Ultimately it’s the author’s name on the book and when people tear it to pieces they won’t tear the publisher down, only the author. However I recognize that just because an author’s name is mud doesn’t mean that he or she will not be on the best selling lists of the re-sellers.
As I said in the post, a lot of the problem can be laid at the feet of readers who keep on buying these books, regardless. Sure they complain but that doesn’t stop them from taking out their credit cards for the same book they were complaining about loudly just a few minutes ago. Obviously we readers need a spine and a set of balls. If we don’t have enough integrity to refuse to buy books that are poorly written then we have only ourselves to blame.
As for Stephanie Meyers and the Twilight series (which just won a Razzie for its actors), I agree with a lot that you have said. I’m aware that nothing beats popularity, and I know that I probably can’t make even one one small dent in this monster that M/M romance has become. Authors won’t write quality books and take back their membership in the book-of-the-month club until they feel the negative effects in their wallets.
The publishers will not come to the party until they get a hit in their pocketbook and as long as M/M is the new “in” thing, that could be a long time coming. I understand the dynamics of that. However if enough authors are shamed into writing better books that’s at least something. I used to love this genre which I started reading in 2003 and today I wonder where we went wrong and who killed the golden goose. Oh wait – the golden goose is still laying eggs even though they are now black with pockmarks. 🙂
I think you’re absolutely correct and it makes me sad. I think I’m in the wrong field and it may be time to hang up my reviewing shoes.
This has been very depressing because I know that things won’t change. Sure, a few authors may feel a nick in their conscience for a couple of weeks, but after the next book they will go back to their evil ways.
I promise this is the last post I’ll be writing about the shoddy state of the M/M book world.
I know of one author whose books are quite lucrative who left a long time publisher and went to Riptide because their editing was superior.
I’m sorry, but the emperor is wearing no clothes. Riptide claims their editing is superior. And several authors claim Riptide’s editing is superior. I wanted to believe that. I’m all in favor better-edited books. But as a reader, I have seen no evidence of that and have actually seen evidence to the contrary. And I’ve discussed this with enough other people to know I’m not the only one who’s noticed it.
Not only the author you mentioned, Wave, but several others whose books I’ve loved have, in my opinion, put out lesser quality books at Riptide than elsewhere. There’s even one author whose Riptide books have consistently had more major issues than the books I’ve read by this same author published at other houses.
Going back to what I said in the post about the quality of manuscripts submitted, it’s possible all of these authors are carefully editing the manuscripts they send to other houses and merely tossing rough drafts Riptide’s way. But I sort of doubt that.
I believe Riptide edits the hell out of the manuscripts they receive. I believe the authors are seeing more red ink on their Riptide edits than those from other publishers. But doing a lot of something is not necessarily the same as doing it well.
I haven’t read enough Riptide books to be sure, but I’ve been wondering if maybe they actually over-edit, and in the process edit out some of the “voice” and heart of the story. But whatever the cause, that shiny suit the emperor has on looks pretty threadbare from here. 🙁
“This has been very depressing because I know that things won’t change. Sure, a few authors may feel a nick in their conscience for a couple of weeks, but after the next book they will go back to their evil ways.
I promise this is the last post I’ll be writing about the shoddy state of the M/M book world.”
Wave,
THIS makes me sad! Please don’t stop preaching it. Posts like this are important.
I want to add something that is more of a personal anecdote. I had a conversation with a friend last night who also has an m/m review site. She was in complete agreement with your post, which kind of surprised me a little bit. Then this morning I was talking to another author on Facebook chat, and she too agreed with the post.
All of us got choked up a bit when we first read the post, and I found myself squirming a little in my chair. I’m not sure if others are like me, but when I read general criticism like this, I immediately look inward and wonder how guilty I am. Please don’t answer that! I’ll just say that I’ve always questioned my talent as a writer, and I continue to strive to learn how to improve my craft.
That being said, I think a post like this could offend some people, but for the most part, those who are conscientious will examine our own practices. Have I hurriedly submitted manuscripts for financial reasons? Yes, guilty. Have I made egregious editorial errors? More than I can count. Do I think I’m good enough to even be considered in the same league as some of the amazing storytellers I idolize. Hell no!
What you do on this site, and what Michele does on Top 2 Bottom, and what Elisa does on her blog…all of this is so important and so appreciated. But of all the sites out there, this one here is the single location where I know I’m going to get honest (sometimes brutal) truth. Please don’t get discouraged to the point of throwing in the towel.
Thank you.
I’ve noticed the same thing with Riptide and I’m glad to see it’s not just me imagining things. 🙂
I find the books that come from them have a hard-edged feel, like all the softness and nuances have been buffed out. They have a sameness to them. I don’t know what to attribute that to if it isn’t the editors. I’ve read at least two authors of theirs who have published elsewhere and their Riptide books are stylistically different: less relationship development, more obvious humor, lots of fast busy action than their previous books.
This makes me suspect an editor is changing things to match their own style, rather than to develop the author’s unique voice. 😕
I’ve also found plenty of proof reading problems and some continuity errors in the Riptide books I’ve read, so I wouldn’t say their editing is flawless by any means.
I was surprised at the first Riptide title I picked up (within a month of their launch). It had a couple of glaring errors. I had been led to expect something better, but to me it was just same old-same old.
Jeaci, THIS. My Riptide experience so far has been 33% pleased for having read the book. I don’t get excited about their releases. I can’t. I will read, but I won’t delude myself into thinking the story is automatically wonderful because of the imprint. It has to stand on the storytelling, and so far, there have been issues. Though I will say they were very responsive about a defective file.
I think that, in addition of there being a lot more books available now versus 5 years ago, there also happens to be a lot more readers nowadays.
Between smartphones, tablets, hybrids, ereaders and laptops/desktop computers, there is a HUGE market for ebooks. Unfortunately, there are some publishing houses that are all about making $$$ so they publish books with glaring typos and generally poor writing.
It’s a shame, really.
Even though I haven’t come across as many DNFs as you (or any M/M reviewer) have, there’s been a marked decrease in the amount of M/M books I’m buying now versus a year or two years ago. It’s not the repetitiveness of the genres (I love werewolf stories and a ‘good’ murder mystery is A-OK in my book). What’s kept me from spending my money as freely as I used to is the ugly covers (to the point that I purposely stay away from some publishing houses because their covers are hellishly ugly) and (in the occasions I’ve read a sample) the badly written prose.
In spite of this, I still have a few authors who are auto-buys for me and I’m always happy to suggest people to M/M books.
Also, the rating and reviewing becoming stricter nowadays is a reflection of readers’ very valid expectations of enjoying a good story. The M/M industry has grown to the point that, yes, it’s not acceptable to pay for a book that has typos galore and shoddy writing.
I’m not saying that all M/M books have to be perfect. However, once you sit down and think that others (meaning the author and the publishing house) thought it’d be just dandy to for you to spend money on a book you can’t even finish (because it’s that bad), you (or any reader, really) can’t help but feel insulted. IJS.
I was buzzed when I first started reading the piece, though I quickly sobered up by the time I finished. I’m not sure what to make of the comments because I agree and disagree with so many conflicting points.
As a reader, I always want well-written novels, be it general fiction or genre fiction (m/m, romance, etc). I’m going to say the m/m genre has pretty much lost my attention due to the terrible books that’s been published for the past few years. I went from spending on average $70+ USD per month on m/m books to now, maybe $20 or so every few months.
The reason? There are no books worth buying. I regularly review books I’ve bought on GR, but sometime last year, I gave up. The reviews aren’t anything thought-provoking to begin with, but coupled with how boring I find the books, I don’t even want to leave 2 lines.
That’s when I made a decision to take a break with m/m, and I’m still on that hiatus. I check this review site regularly, but even reading the reviews, I don’t have the urge to pick up any of the books. Long-time autobuys are even failing me these days, so I’m torn with wondering if it’s the state of m/m that’s failing me, or if it’s a ‘me-thing’ where I need to part ways with it completely.
I’ve said this before – I refuse to pay for error-prone, sloppy books, and my resolve has only strengthened. I’d rather use my time to read mainstream genre fiction or fic lit rather than m/m stuff being churned out.
If I need my m/m fix these days, I turn to fanfiction. Thank god for that discovery. I hate to say this, but the fanfics are better written than published stuff, and for that, I’m miffed. Why am I paying for stuff that’s worse in quality?
THat said, I believe there has to be some really good m/m writers out there being published. If so, I hope they know how to market their books because now, more than ever, word of mouth and promotions will be needed. Long time m/m readers are disenchanted with the genre, so help us find the gems underneath all the…rubble.
Wave, as always, thanks for providing this site. It’s not easy being a review site, and I can’t imagine how disappointed you must have been with the flux of 1-3 star books lately. Unfortunately, I’m going to continue to ride it out…hopefully something changes and I’ll find good m/m books I want to read one of these days.
Until then, I’m going to read non-m/m mainstream.
I used to spend $100 a month mostly on m/m. I am now down to about $40 and more mainstream genres now. I too am rereading my old books and finding my auto buy authors are not so auto anymore.
The books being produced in the M/M field in some cases are so short that to call them a novella is to be kind. It takes a lot of skill to craft a good short story. Too many books are repetitive sex scenes interspersed with the minimum plot that the author has throw in so the story isn’t quite pure porn.
When I was much younger I used to read (blush) Bills and Swoon books. I read these during breaks at work as I didn’t mind getting interrupted and the “plot” was such you never lost it. This seems to me to be the level (with copious sex) that much of the M/M books have sunk to.
I now check much more closely into the reviews (I have some sites and reviewers that I look at first) I also will download a sample if I’m undecided.
If I buy a book that is well plotted and written but I may not enjoy for a number reasons that’s ok. I bought the wrong book but I would try that author’s work again.There’s a lot of classics I don’t like. But if I accidentally buy a book with little plot, boring sex, badly written and edited that is a crime against my hard earned cash and I will not buy that author again.
I’m just going to agree with the original post, particularly on the developmental edits as well as shoddy copy-editing and too few passes, and the too much sex with not enough focus on plot and characters.
I’ve found myself being much more selective about what I purchase and what I spend my time reading. I have one publishing house I consider worthy of my time, and the rest have been sliding downhill mostly.
Well, Wave, as you would expect, I’m going to agree and disagree with you. I agree that there is a whole lot more (I’m going to be blunt because I’m tired and it’s late and why shouldn’t I?) utter shit out there than there was when I first started reading this genre.
Your post concentrated on talking to the authors about upping the quality of their work. That’s fair. However, I believe the majority of the responsibility lies squarely with the publishers. Just because it’s been submitted does not mean it should be acquired. There was once a publisher I felt I could count on to deliver 95% quality books, with 5% filler, sub-standard rubbish. Now, just a few short years later, that publisher is hitting about 45% quality (hilariously–or not–they’re promoting the other 55% more than the good stuff). They’re publishing so much, from so many different authors that my confidence in them is shot right to hell. They’re focusing on quantity of product, not quality of product. Like many businesses, they appear to believe they can continue to produce inferior work because they’ll never run out of customers. Their editing was never the greatest, but it’s only been getting worse. Intra-sentence tense/POV shifts are unacceptable for anyone, repetition of the same word enough times it grates the nerves is unacceptable for anyone, sex masquerading as a plot device [but really for the sake of sex (or worse, word count)] is unacceptable for anyone.
I’ve ranted about shoddy editing in previous reviews, but I’ve come to the conclusion that even if the publishers are using editors, (many of) those editors aren’t qualified to do their jobs. That’s the only possible explanation. I want to send them all “The Curious Case of the Misplaced Modifier” because they obviously don’t know what the hell that means.
(I can provide examples, if you’d like.) 😉
But here’s the real issue, which you called out, but I fear too many people missed. Readers are a large part of the problem. Oh, I know I’ve probably just pissed people off, but too bad: it’s true. Readers say they want plot, that they want innovative, thought-provoking stories, that they don’t care if there’s a lot of sex because it should really only forward the plot, but then what do they buy? Exactly what they say they don’t want. Take a look at the Top 10 list on Amazon on any given day. Take a look at the writers with the most ratings on Goodreads. They’re the ones using the same tired old storylines book after book after book. Some of them ramp up the angst in each successive book, some turn up the sex, some heap on the shifting. All the while the quality decreases, as you say. But those same readers effusively praise the trash just because “oh my god she writes X and Y so well, so hot!” Can we really put all the blame on the authors and the publishers when so many readers clamor for more, more, more of the same old thing?
Like you, Wave, I have a list of auto-buy authors. Off the top of my head I can think of three who have been demoted because they’re cranking out so much I can’t keep up with them. One of them wrote one of my absolute favorite books, but it seems like s/he has a release every month and they are of inferior quality. So in this case, who’s to blame, the author(s), publisher(s), or the reader(s) who continue not only to buy those books, but to rave about them? That said, there are still a few authors who I’ve read every word they’ve had in print and will continue to do so because they’re simply fabulous writers. (A huge thank you to those writers, you don’t have a clue who you are. :))
Are there a lot of badly-written books flooding the market? Undeniably. But this business rests on three solid pillars: publishers, authors, and readers. Putting all the blame on just one of those three is missing more than half the point.
Hi Buda
I’m sorry I’m only now getting around to responding to some of the comments. I have to leave soon but I wanted to reply to you because I needed to address some of what you said.
I have no idea how much influence writers have with publishers in terms of getting real editing expertise, but surely that’s part of their contracts? To give you an idea how terrible the writing is, an author asked me to look at a manuscript several months ago that she had submitted to a publisher. I returned it after about 5 pages because it was so riddled with spelling errors and typos that I couldn’t read it. She was affronted that I demanded an error free manuscript before I would read what she had written. If that’s the type of document some writers submit to publishers there’s nothing any editor would be able to do to make it better.
I’m not blaming the authors solely for this situation because clearly editing is a significant part of the problem, but surely authors take pride in their work when they submit a manuscript to publishers? Also, what about the final product? Don’t they sign off on it before it goes to press?
I have said time and again that we, the readers, are a major part of the problem and it looks like we’re getting paid back in spades. Until we refuse to buy some of the dross that’s being sold as M/M romances, this problem will always be with us.
I KNOW that many readers love stories where the sex is the plot, and that’s fine because we all have different tastes. However, when most of what we’re getting from our authors today is jerk off material why bother with an editor?
I’m definitely not putting all the blame on the authors. It’s a shared responsibility and readers are just as culpable. I’ve said it time and time again, we won’t get quality books until we stop buying crap.
However that quality control starts with the author and ends with the author. The publishers aren’t doing their job in providing editing expertise, particularly content editing, especially to newbie authors who haven’t a clue what they’re doing. However, if my name is on a book I would make sure that it was the best darned book I could write, not something throwaway like dirty bedsheets.
I can sense your frustration and I’m just as upset at the downward spiral of a genre that I still love. I recognize that it would take a tsunami to turn this baby around unless it blows up in everyone’s faces.
Years ago they used to pay editors in books instead of cash so the quality was obviously on par with the pay. Maybe they still do… it sure looks that way
Last year because I was afraid of burn out I took 4 months off from M/M. I had always interspersed reading M/M with other genres, but this time I stopped cold turkey. When I started back reading these books they were even worse than before, so clearly there’s no quick fix.
We’re in a downward spiral and that tsunami had better come soon.
Thanks for stopping by Buda, and as always it’s a pleasure to cross swords with you sweetcheeks. 😀
Amen to all of this. I only began reading M/M about a year ago, though I have been writing it longer, and I have read at least as much crap in the past year as when I had to grade student papers. I get the impression that readers are demanding schlock and authors are readily dishing it out, maybe for money, maybe for the good feeling you get from knowing people are reading your books, but it is a great consolation for the small following I have. (Hell, we all need some reassurance).
I think catering to the demands of readers is one of the reasons there I find so little truly original work in the genre. (Except a demand for good writing.) Poor writing is only one of the symptoms of atrophy I see in M/M. So many calls for submissions are minuscule variants of the same tired old topics. (Any of you remember “Bread and Jam for Frances”?) So, yes, we need to blame authors, reviewers and publishers.
As for not churning out books, I’d say yea and no. Speed in writing doesn’t necessarily mean carelessness, and taking the time to polish once the first draft is done can compensate for earlier haste. As for how many words per day, I suspect some of the M/M authors I’ve read would be just as poor if they wrote 20 words a day. Of course they’d have fewer books glutting the market if they did.
I wonder if m/m authors really make enough money for me to give them a hard time about quality. I remember one Loose ID author, with several titles to her name, estimate that one of her novellas (around 65k in length) made her about 5$ per hour, if she went by the total # of hours spent writing. I believe time spent brainstorming, revising, publishing, selling were not included in that amount.
You could run a well designed poll to get at on average how much time an author puts into the various phases of a book and compare that against average sales data provided by Emily Veinglory’s site. This would give a rough idea of how high our expectations are for authors compared to how much they get paid.
I write long original slash fiction, and $5/hour is not enough for me to go the extra mile doing a third draft that really restructures issues my beta readers have pointed out. That could be because I’m a slow writer and it would take me a long time. It could also be that $5/hour is not enough to motivate me to get out of bed. Even at $10/hour I would look at you funny. (We’re talking about a job without paid vacation or benefits here.)
My point is, we are truly fortunate to have people writing in m/m at all for money like this.
There are always going to be a few popular authors who sell better than authors who produce what critics say is “good”. This is because the *feeling* that such a hypothetical popular author engenders in his/her readership is more valuable to said readership than someone else’s definition of “quality”. (I’m thinking of the much maligned Twilight here.)
And much as I appreciate good writing, I admit, I’d rather pay for the *feeling* than the quality if I found a writer who really did it for me. Of course, to have both is best.
Hi Kendra,
Honestly IMO, if the writer in your example starts to cut corners based on how much money the novel will make her or not make her according to her calculations, I am afraid I cannot master much sympathy. My suggestion would be to find a job where she will be making above minimal wage then. I am *all* for the writers being decently compensated, but to use your example, if you (hypothetical you, I get that you are writing for yourself) decide that you do not want to do third draft (IF you would have done it otherwise, if you think you would be making more money otherwise – if you do not need it, different story of course.) because the book would not bring you much, I am afraid it would not endear me much to your work.
I worked for two years making the wage just above the minimal (one dollar I believe) when I came to live in the US before I started school. My boss would have fired me in a second, had he found my job performance to be less than stellar. The fact that I had to beg him for 50 cents an hour raise (that was at the end of 90s) did not make him think that I have a right to slack.
So, yes,I am all for the writers making good money as any professionals, but I do not think for a second that not making a good money is a justification for producing low quality product. If you cannot pay the bills with writing and do not have a day job to pay the bills and do writing as a second job, find another job. That’s what I would have done anyway.
I produce a quality product and make almost no money.
The majority of writers in m/m do NOT make a living at it and never will.
If I made $5/hr from my writing, I’d be deliriously happy. As it is, I may be making $.05, but I’d have to do the calculations. That might still be too much. ;/
Hi Theo, oh I know that most mm writers have day jobs, I do! I am just saying that I do not agree that not making money is a reason to write an inferior book in my opinion.
I think writers who take themselves seriously and submit a well-written manuscript will always do this. I can’t see myself publishing anything less than the best work I can produce, every single time.
But there are writers being published that are not ready to be published. They haven’t learned how to write well yet, and writing well is a process. You have to do a lot of it over many years to get to the point of writing well, no matter what anyone (especially your best friends) tells you.
The truth is, a lot of writers don’t realize how bad they really are, and publishers shouldn’t be accepting their submissions.
Everything you said makes sense and agree with it even if I am not a writer :). And when you publish a book the reader considers a great product , then I start feeling bad and hope that this book will make you tons of money :). I cannot tell you how many times I bought the books from the authors whose books I reviewed and enjoyed. I want them to produce more books I will enjoy and I certainly try to support them, but conversation about money should come when the book is finished, not before IMO. That was my only point of contention 🙂
Two days ago, I considered quitting. I didn’t see the point any longer, because the amount of time I put into my books is not translating into any acceptable kind of compensation.
I’m thinking there are many writers like me who have or will consider giving it up.
I tell myself, “Well, you’re not in it for the money anyway,” but then I see someone sell what I consider crap make a ton of money from it and wonder why I bother. Maybe readers don’t WANT good writing. Maybe a strong enough story can compensate for the zillion times the heroine bit her freaking lip.
It’s terribly discouraging.
Yup. Been there. Am there. (And you’re right about the hourly wage being closer to $.05 than $5.00 — for most of us, anyway.)
On behalf of my fellow writers…owwwwwch.
Well, this is the inevitable result of the glut we’ve all been talking about for so long. The ostensible decline in quality is, of course, inevitable.
However, it’s not really that quality is declining (believe it or not). Quality writers still put out quality work. Quality publishers still publish it.
But two things happen in a glut. Not-quality writers and not-quality publishers begin to pump out their brand of genre, so it becomes harder and harder to find the good stuff.
The other thing, the frightening thing for authors, and the thing no one really talks about is the equally inevitable reader attrition. Attrition due to ennui. Reading is cyclical. As a sub-genre we’ve enjoyed the boom that comes from novelty. But many of our readers — including your reviewers, Wave — no longer find m/m new and fresh and novel. They read more critically. Sometimes it’s not a matter even of being more critical, it’s simply a matter of having reached saturation point. We were all like kids in a candy store when we first discovered m/m. But like kids let loose in a candy store, we are now gorged on sweets and sick.
If it was just a matter of quality…well, that’s actually not that hard to fix. But I don’t think it’s quite that simple.
The good news (for some of us) is that after a glut, the market thins considerably. Yep, we will lose many readers, some permanently. And we will lose many writers, definitely permanently, as they migrate in an effort to find readership and sales.
Those of us left, the core readers and authors, will find things a lot quieter around the old homestead, but I think the grazing will be much better again. (I was going to add something about contented cows, but I guess I’ve stretched the metaphor far enough.)
If any of you are old enough to remember the paranormal glut of 20 years ago — and the historical glut a decade or so before that — or the Regency glut — or the…well, pick the romance sub-genre glut of choice. The point is all these sub-genres were HUGE and then went bust. And when the dust settled, you had a few steady performer authors still earning a nice living, and a devoted and loyal readership willing to stick with their genre and favorite authors through thick and thin. And in the case of paranormal, and even Regency to a lesser extent, the boom is back. The audience rebuilt and began to clamor for more stories and books, and the publishers began to publish more which means more authors are making a living writing these books.
*Every* genre and every sub-genre suffers through cycles of decline and popularity.
I personally think that’s where we’re headed. There is going to be a serious thinning of the ranks of both authors and readers in the next couple of years. The mainstreaming of m/m may solve a lot of the problem as well. (Say what you will about mainstream, they still know how to edit and market and, as it grows more and more Wild Wild West here in DIY publishing, a great many remaining readers are going to opt for a known quantity.) Ultimately, the strongest writers — not necessarily the all-round best writers, but the writers readers most want to read — will survive.
So if I were an author — new or established — struggling to gain or keep foothold, my game plan would be to focus a lot harder on my own work and figure out how to make it better and commercially appealing to more readers. Because *talking* about the decline of your genre isn’t going to help you. In the end, the only thing that will matter is the work. And in a few years the only writers who will be working in this genre are the ones telling the stories readers still want to hear.
“In the end, the only thing that will matter is the work.”
Here, I think, is where the confusion lies for so many of us. What kind of work? Original (how original?) or comfortingly familiar (but what type of familiar . . . and what distinguishes familiar from derivative?)
At this point in time, authors are getting a lot of mixed messages. As someone in this thread mentioned, readers will say they want one thing, yet their buying habits indicate they want just the opposite. Less sex? But sex continues to sell — BIG. Less angst for angst’s sake? But that continues to sell. Fewer threadbare plots and overused tropes and character types? People still gobble them up! 😕
The problem for me (and other writers, I suspect) is that we don’t know how to write to popular tastes and aren’t entirely sure what constitutes popular tastes (which, let’s face it, can turn on a dime).
So . . . do we try to hone our craft and hope for the best? Do we attempt to tap into popular trends? Do we gauge our “success” through royalties, or peer respect, or critical acclaim? Finding a yardstick that makes sense is getting increasingly difficult, especially in an environment where craft doesn’t seem to matter.
KZ
It’s late for me because I’ve been up all night packing, but I’ll say this. YOU have no difficulty bucking trends and writing some awesome books. So I wouldn’t worry about the flavour of the day or week or month that the fickle readers buy. Quality always manages to rise to the top just like the cream.
There will always be readers who like the “Honey Boo Boo” books but I worry that they will take over the genre and the rest of us won’t have any option but to move on.
It’s really hard when you open 10 books that are eerily similar and only the names have been changed. I don’t know how many of the same sex crazed protagonists I can stomach but it seems like that’s where we’re headed. I could give you other examples of overused story lines but I’m sure you know what I mean.
Just keep on doing what you’re doing KZ – it looks fine from where I’m sitting. 😎
So . . . do we try to hone our craft and hope for the best? Do we attempt to tap into popular trends? Do we gauge our “success” through royalties, or peer respect, or critical acclaim? Finding a yardstick that makes sense is getting increasingly difficult, especially in an environment where craft doesn’t seem to matter.
Here’s what has worked for me. I write the books I want to write and that I would enjoy reading. Occasionally I’ll let myself really experiment (Blood Red Butterfly is a case in point) but I can’t indulge in too many experiments a year because if they flop, I still have to pay the mortgage.
I already know — and am comfortable with the fact — that I do not appeal to the largest segment of the m/m audience. I judge my success on a combination of things. Sure, royalties (I don’t need to be rich but I need to be able to afford to keep doing what I love), critical acclaim, peer respect, and the simple fact that I never write a book I don’t want to write or that I’m not proud of. *I* know I give it my best shot every time. I judge my success by the fact that I still love what I do — after a year off, I am very cognizant of how much I missed and need writing — and that, so far, I can still afford to do it.
I think trying to write what you hope readers will want to read will make you nuts. But honing your craft? That’s something we should all be doing until the day we go to that big publishing house in the sky.
Hey Josh
Thank you for spending so much time with us and answering many of the comments and questions. I’m wiped out today and haven’t been on the site much but the important thing is that people are talking to each other (except for the publishers) 🙂
You’re right about some of us reaching saturation point. For two years running I stopped reading M/M romances for specific periods because I recognized that I was approaching burn out. There was so much sameness in the stories that I no longer enjoyed them. Even though I read many other genres I only review one, consequently I read more M/M than most people.
That said, there is no doubt about the decline, and a large part of it is due to either laziness or arrogance on the part of some authors. Coming up with new story ideas takes work so why not just use the formula that worked for them before, without changing anything but the names of the protagonists and maybe a location or two. Sometimes I wondered if they were testing us to see if we would notice.
I’m not expecting originality, just a kernel of something different in the stories would be a start; a new twist, anything but a rehash of what the authors have been giving us to date.
Aside from the lack of anything different in these mediocre stories are all those editing errors. At times I feel as if the readers in this genre are not respected because some authors are putting so little effort into their stories. It’s as if they feel that any old thing is good enough for us – why waste the effort when they could be doing something more interesting? I’m not asking them to come up with a new planet, just give us enjoyable stories.
I think many of our authors are in a comfortable niche and they are not prepared to rock the boat. Their attitude says we should just get out of their faces so that they can do some more promos on their book launches. Have they even noticed that everyone is doing exactly the same promos? How many more of those blog hops do we have to endure?
You mentioned all the different gluts over the years. I have been reading science fiction since I was in my teens which is a long, long, long time ago 😀 and it never gets old for me. I think sci fi authors are among some of the best because they seem to have no trouble coming up with new ideas (new to me anyway). They actually love what they do and it shows.
I know that some authors such as yourself really care about the product you put out there, but for everyone like you there are 50 or more who could give a flying fish about what the readers need. No author can ever hope to please everyone. All I ask for is maybe an error free book once in a while – 5 errors, tops.
Now I’m off to bed.
Have they even noticed that everyone is doing exactly the same promos? How many more of those blog hops do we have to endure?
LOL. :nuts: True.
It’s a difficult issue any way you look at it. I review quite a few books and I read even more than I review. I was always the solid 3.5-4 star reviewer because I genuinely liked most of what I read. I am careful to avoid books that contain subject matter that will not appeal to me and I am always happy to try new authors on for size. Lately, I have given more 2 star reviews than ever before and I do feel the need to pull back from the genre to a degree. I try to be patient with editing, but I admit sometimes its just too much (if you are switching MC names four times in the same book, it’s a problem).
I agree with Josh – there are cycles to any subgenre, with people jumping on for a while and then heading to the next big thing. Authors definitely can make a fan base with quality work but they also will get the fade in and fade out readers. It is my hope that those authors who truly care about what they do will keep it in mind that there are readers who care about what they read as well. I am one of them. I will be even more choosy about what I decide to spend my time and money on, but I will always be a reader.
It is my hope that those authors who truly care about what they do will keep it in mind that there are readers who care about what they read as well. I am one of them. I will be even more choosy about what I decide to spend my time and money on, but I will always be a reader.
I think that’s why the most practical thing a writer can do is focus on the work. On the writing itself. For some reason this seems to almost always be the last resort. Promotion, marketing, finding a bigger publisher, getting people to like your FB page…these things always seem to be at forefront of author concerns.
Is it because everyone feels they’re already writing at the top of their game?
“But many of our readers — including your reviewers, Wave — no longer find m/m new and fresh and novel.”
Sorry, but I don’t agree with this. Not entirely. Yes, you can reach saturation point. Which is why I make sure that I read other genre’s and types of books in between. What they do is often make me realize the lack of originality in the m/m genre.
I agree with you on the cycle of rise in popularity and decline.
I guess what we need is more gunslingers. Or maybe a sheriff.
It’s just hard to find books that hold my attention, because all of them are more or less the same. If they are not based on fanfiction – as Elizabeth pointed out – is the upteenth pleasure slave, or abused/stalker/mystery plot. Then there are the chicks with dicks with the hurt/comfort plot and sorry, but I’ve come to notice that one paranormal story or one mystery/murder/contemporary is very much the same as the other.
What Larissa said, well almost anyway. Yes, the trope can become tiresome, but as Larissa said the moment it does, I make sure to ignore this trope for a long period of time. At the same time, no matter how many nerd/jock romances I have read before, “Social skills” that I reviewed recently felt fresh, exciting, fun. No, the writer did not bring any new twists in the trope, but she wrote memorable fun characters and it made interactions between them feel fresh and new enough for me. What I am trying to say that I am not tired of tropes in general, it is easy to take a break from one for a while, and then jump with joy when new interpretation or simple well written same old comes along. Bad writing however is unavoidable :(.
Anyway, the rest of is what Larissa said 🙂
It’s just hard to find books that hold my attention, because all of them are more or less the same.
That would be my point. 😉
There are only so many plots, regardless of sub-sub-genre or even hybrid genre. And every genre has its tropes. Which, if you love amnesia, etc. is a selling point. And if you don’t, it’s grounds for tearing your hair out.
Once you’re widely read within a genre — which is a whole lot of us at this point — you can’t help but see the similarities, and you begin to need more. You do get pickier. You need an author with a different spin on the same old same old. Or an author who brings something else to the story — characters you love, or maybe it’s the writing style or the blazing hot sex like no one else writes it or whatever that special little twist is that makes that story the writer’s own.
What that particular something might be is going to vary for all of us.
And for a percentage of us, there is nothing that can make it all feel fun and fresh again. That percentage of readers will move on.
But sometimes the moving on IS the cure and they eventually come back.
True and I understand what you’re saying, but why is it that I’ve been reading Urban Fantasy (mainstream, YA or not) for a lot longer and I never get tired of that genre? You can have many of the same tropes and I admit that I love some hurt/comfort and the ocsasional pleasure slave story. However they are all treated the same. Read one and you have read them all, while there are many directions you can take. You can have a story about a pleasure slave and make a comedy out of it. You can have a revenge angle even an adventure angle. Hell you can have a pleasure slave who is a detective on the side. Yet you never see those things because the angle 97% of the time is dub or non-con with the slave just lying back and thinking of England.
That is more or less what I’m trying to say, but it came out a little wrong. I like angles 😀 Angles are good. Angles can give even the most milked out thrope a refresher.
For me writing is a hobby that pays for itself when I deduct con expenses from my taxes for what is an enjoyable vacation. But that it’s a hobby doesn’t mean I don’t take it seriously. The person who takes pleasure in preparing elaborate meals for friends lavishes more care into that hobby than does the cook at the greasy spoon for whom it is the only source of income.
I don’t think how much money a writer earns is a guarantee of anything.
I don’t think how much money a writer earns is a guarantee of anything.
To clarify — literary snobbery is no guarantee either. Not every fulltime or commercially successful writer is a hack and not every writer passionately scribbling away in obscurity is an undiscovered genius! 🙂
I’m glad Wave did this post because it was needed. I know some authors may take this a slight to them; but unless it was dedicated to you and you truly believe you aren’t one of “those” authors I wouldn’t feel offended. I think it was also great to see some authors being openly agreeable to this post as well; I think that was a stand up thing to do.
Everyone does have a “blame” badge in this story. The author, the publisher and the reader. I have no problems with publishers making their money or authors wanting to make money off the nearest hot-selling trope/genre. As long as it is well done and the writer respects his/her craft and their readers then I am there.
You can compare this to reality television why do people insist on watching it? Or manufactured auto-tuned pop music? It’s the same here: easy, cheap and quick. I have no problems with these existing in the genre, but when it takes over it makes me apprehensive. If that’s all writers write and publishers sell, then what else can readers do but hope? Maybe this BDSM novel won’t make a mockery of the lifestyle, maybe this contemporary novel won’t act like a fantasy novel instead.
I’ve contacted publishers and they weren’t interested. One publisher “tried” to make feel guilty by stating that authors needed the money. That’s not my concern just like the kid working minimum wage. I don’t walk into a store and buy clothes thinking I better do this so the store makes money so the kid can keep his job. To me writing is no more harder or riskier than any other job in the world. You are delivering a product and like any customer you want it be edited, critiqued and someone actually caring.
It’s all subjective as well and what I like someone will hate. That’s cool. That’s just art for you and I wouldn’t change it at all. I would say though publishers have to pick up that red pen a lot more – because some surely don’t.
Weirdly I have been going to new authors because I am finding my auto-buys are writing the same books with different character names.
I know the formula but the originality incased within said formula is nonexistent. I don’t believe there are no new ‘ideas’ as I, within the last few months, have found at least 4 new m/m authors with a completely different voice and some really well written and engaging books.
I don’t believe m/m is dead but it is becoming tainted. 🙁
Tash
I’m always amazed that so many people want to be writers. I do love it and don’t want to do anything else, but man, it’s a hard kind of love. There will always be those who think creative work isn’t real work and doesn’t require effort, but then again, there will always be those of us who really care about our work and who wouldn’t dream of putting out books like these. I’m glad to see so much openness toward new and self-published authors here. It’s not easy to get started when you’re on your own, and it can be difficult to know what you can do yourself and what you need help with (I really should have asked for help with blurbs months ago), but gradually finding your audience is an interesting experience. I agree with Val Kovalin about short fiction, it can be exceptionally hard to get right. Going on to a much longer project has been such a relief for me. 🙂
Guys
This post was not an attempt to demonize any particular author or publisher. In fact, I have many favourite authors who are still my favourites because they produce quality work.
What bothers me is the consistency with which the standards of this genre have been on a downward curve. It’s like being on the Titanic wondering if I should jump, or standing on a precipice with no rope or other safety net as I watch a car careening toward me at 100 kilometers per hour.
I hope this genre doesn’t implode because of the bad decisions made by people who are in a position to influence the outcome. I know that authors have to make a living – after all they are not in this business for their health or for fun. Sure it’s a creative field, but crass as it is they need to make money or the best will leave. Authors have mortgages and utility bills to pay just like the rest of us.
But is it any more difficult to write a book with engaging and believable characters and an actual plot than it is to write what’s being released today? I know that sex sells but do we need erotica instead of erotic romance? How much further can authors test the boundaries around sex before the entire genre gets tainted as porn. A few books that I have read recently are, in my view, teetering on the brink, if not over the line. I’m not judging anyone, but do we really need this in most of our books?
I’m sure I’m not the only reader who is looking for memorable stories and not something that’s reminiscent of soiled bed sheets that you want to get rid of as soon as possible.
The reviewers of this site represent a cross section – both newer and older readers of the genre, and in terms of age we range from the very young to middle aged, so our views and tastes are quite varied and run the gamut of all genres, yet most of us say what amounts to the same thing – we have a proliferation of books that few of us want to read. The reviewers have different tastes in literature, general fiction and genre fiction which is part of the reason for our success. As for me, I’m definitely not a prude – I watch and read porn, so when I talk about the limits that are stretched beyond breaking point in M/M, and sometimes go over the line between porn and erotic, I know of what I speak.
If the majority of readers want these books to be porn then I have to bow out because that’s not what I consider to be “romance.” Sex is a part of life but is that all gay men do 24/7? Many of the books characterize them as sex machines and they seem to have no life outside of the bedroom.
I want memorable characters who I can fall in love with and cheer for when they overcome life’s brickbats, not protagonists who are flat and one dimensional. Maybe I don’t reflect the views of most of the readers in this genre, and I’m beginning to think that that’s a possibility, because most readers continue buying the books I don’t consider to be romance but just a bunch of sex scenes strung together without a plot.
We’ve talked on this thread at length about the editing problems that plague this genre which could be attributed to a number of factors – poor editorial oversight which goes back to the publishers; new authors not being given sufficient guidance; some publishers taking every manuscript without consideration as to the quality of the offering; and authors just not caring sufficiently about their product. We readers are an integral part of this problem and I think we’re all on the way to destroying an industry genre that could have been great.
This used to be a wonderful genre with authors who gave us actual stories, (some of them memorable and uplifting) about gay men. Now what I’ve been reading are stories about their sex lives. Is that what we want? When I first read some of my favourite stories like Caught Running and Faith & Fidelity, which admittedly were flawed but were just so memorable, and had characters who spoke to me. I re-read these stories and many of my old favourites to remember what this genre was like when we cared about writing and the characters and the authors who gave us something that we don’t get today. Can you remember the last time you read a memorable story that was written in the past year? Hard to find isn’t it? I can only think of a few and they are on my list of Top 10 books in 2012.
I’m not trying to preach to anyone because we all have different tastes and authors have to appeal to a broad cross section of readers in order to make a living, but if we continue to go down this path I think we’ll end up destroying something valuable we all helped to build.
I don’t intend to write any more posts like this one because I’m just tired of bitching and complaining. Some of you appreciate what I say but still buy the crap we’re being served, so there’s no point in further posts. Someone else will have to hold the authors’, publishers’ and readers’ feet to the fire.
One last point, I was remiss in not lauding Blind Eye Books for the quality of their books. If you have ever read any of their books you will know what I mean, and if you haven’t it’s a pleasure that you have to look forward to at some future date.
This post was not an attempt to demonize any particular author or publisher. In fact, I have many favourite authors who are still my favourites because they produce quality work.
I rarely come back to follow up on a post, but I feel strongly about this point. Based on the discussions here, I do not think anyone is demonizing any particular part of the Trinity.
Publishers aim to sell books, and readers are pointing out that what they’re selling may not necessarily jive with what they want to read. However, blaming the authors for writing what sells is a bit harsh because, clearly, those books we complain about so much garners a huge audience. They sell like hot cakes!
For readers, we can only pick and choose more carefully, but we shouldn’t begrudge writers for writing what they think are best for their careers/livelihood/whatever. And the other part is, publishers are the ones choosing to publish, if we are to lay the blame on writers, the publishers need to share the burden.
As a reader, I know there are certain publishers I just won’t buy from, and even if we don’t discuss it here, there are platforms where we talk about these things. Publishers and writers are closely linked, you can’t isolate and blame the writers for writing a certain story if the publishers are eagerly eating the manuscripts.
I came back to this entry several times this weekend as I digested the various points of view covered both in the post and the comments.
There is no doubt that the number one issue is the inconsistent demand for quality works from authors. Readers and reviewers at the receiving end of the publishing process, but also publishers, editors, agents even must demand better quality from authors.
Sadly, what possibly none of us do, or at least do to a small degree, is carry through with that demand. As a reader, I look up to reviewers to help push those works that merit to the front of an audience. Most of the time though, the blog hops you mentioned, the reviews on GR, the Facebook posts point to many of the same authors / novels guilty of the precise mistakes you mentioned. Book clubs, ARCs offered on NetGalley or Edelweiss, all are geared towards the same quick, superficial satisfaction of heat levels above plot or characterisation. And while content is something that each reader appreciates on their own, most of the time the same heat levels override editing, proof reading, formatting and even spelling.
There may not be huge money involved in the MM genre today, but an artist lives on reputation and feedback too. So why not live to our potential, as readers or reviewers, and provide that constructive feedback?
A second comment I would make also – give fresh voices a chance to shine through, they may surprise you with their accomplishments. I noticed the comments about fan fiction and I second that, not just in MM genre, but YA etc., but that’s not really the point. Many writers shied away from traditional publishing because of the difficulties of getting a book deal. When so much depends on word of mouth and reviewers in self / indie publishing, it would be a pity if history repeated itself and we blocked the way for some potentially phenomenal authors.
Sorry if I rambled for too long. Thank you if you’ve read so far.
When I went to read Sirius’ review of my latest release, at first I was like, “What? You’re reading my serial because you’re feeling desperate for something different?” This post explains some of that feeling.
I completely understand your stance as reviewers: you read a lot of this genre, and it should be a process you enjoy more often than not. That doesn’t seem to be the case right now. For a lot of people, reviewers become the tipping point between deciding to buy a new book/try a different author or not. I almost never buy a book without reading reviews of it first, so please keep in mind that even though this task you’ve set yourselves can be onerous, we do appreciate it.
I try to publish with people who will take editing seriously, not just rubber stamp whatever I give them. I hope that new authors keep in mind that the goal isn’t simply to get published; almost anyone can do that. The goal is to produce something that you’re going to be proud to have your name on, that your publishers are happy to promote and your readers can’t wait to read. Yeah, there’s an ebb and flow with effort and engagement, but I think the vast majority of us write because we love storytelling, and want to do the best we can with it.
Thanks commenting and for your thoughts Cari.
I started reading these books because I was sick of what was being dished out in het romances. At first the books were great – not all – but most of them were good and the rest that were below par were for reasons such as a lack of writing experience. Now I really dread opening the next book and the next because there seems to be no escape from books that should never have been published. A lot of authors now have a script and it’s present in almost every book I read: very little content, undeveloped characters, crappy dialogue and prose and boring sex scenes that go on ad infinitum ….. I could go on, but you get my drift. Sirius wasn’t kidding when she said she requested your book to escape from books that are duplicates of each other.
If writers would try to be original in terms of their characters and plots and not duplicate what their colleagues are doing, that would be a start.
Thank you for this post. I’ve been wondering about just this thing myself for a while, but wasn’t sure if it was just me and having been raised on classics in both literary genres and scifi/fantasy, or if my gut was right. What this means for writers is that we have to keep up with the newer books being published, because you can’t count on a pub maintaining the same standard over the years. The only way to protect yourself from being left on your own to edit is to make sure that the publisher has the same goals as you. For me, I want developmental edits. I’m a new writer–I know I have lots to learn. And I know that will cost me in terms of number of releases per year. An acceptable trade-off, in my book. But it means I have to be pickier about my publishers, or be prepared to hire an outside editor to do a developmental edit, after the story has gone through my writing group and my betas. I find this incredibly frustrating, as someone who finds this genre fun to write in and wants to treat it like a serious business, and my readers as intelligent people, who deserve my best work. It’s depressing to realise that I may not be able to depend on my publisher to help me give them what I feel they deserve.
Hi Kate
It was a difficult post to write because I have many author “friends” and we’re all concerned about upsetting our friends about problems in their industry to which they may be contributing. However, the readers who support the authors deserve a lot more than we have been getting lately – we want professionally written and edited books not what is being dished out. As I said in one of my comments, I find that new writers are much better overall than established writers who feel they can just cruise and give us any old thing because they already have fans so they don’t have to work hard – just recycle their characters with a new name and world. It’s much better to have a few quality books rather than join the book-of-the-month club.
I don’t know that there are many publishers who provide developmental edits. That costs money. 🙁 Samhian is probably the only publisher that does but it’s very difficult to be accepted by this publisher as a writer.
Let me start by thanking all of you for writing this post. Truly.
Roughly four or five years ago, I too began to read M/M novels. It wasn’t because of dissatisfaction with hetro romances (never liked those), but rather because it dawned on me that I had never really even thought to read novels with gay characters. So to learn more, to see even if the genre existed- I began this quest. And a quest it has been.
At first, I fell completely in love with the genre. I found some incredibly funny, touching, and sweet reads. So enthralled, I began buying two-to-four books a week. Yet little by little, I began to notice a shift in the types of books that were being published. Instead of novels that dealt with the human condition, or finding what our hearts want, or even learning to live without what we want most- I began to notice that most of the novels were simply bad. Instead of rich plots, enticing characters (and I don’t mean sexually); most of the authors seem to think that all readers want to do is read sex scene after sex scene, or characters that seem to come straight out of a bad hetro romance novel. That isn’t what I signed up for. Note to authors: I wanted to learn something, to be caught up in a good story, to feel for the characters. Instead, I found myself rolling my eyes- being completely disgusted with the sloppy writing, lack of plot and/or direction, incredible amount of sex scenes- and simply getting so incredibly frustrated that I’d give up and not finish them. So I’ve stopped buying. Period. I’m sure I won’t be the only one.
Finally, while I truly believe women can write about the opposite sex, it would be lovely to see more men write in this genre. To read about experiences from their point of view. To read about real men, and not thinly veiled novels about chicks with….
Anyway, thanks again for writing this post.
You’re very welcome Gigi. It was tough to write but I think that the readers deserved to know that it wasn’t just their imagination, feeling that the genre had slipped a WHOLE lot to the point it was unrecognizable.
Yet little by little, I began to notice a shift in the types of books that were being published. Instead of novels that dealt with the human condition, or finding what our hearts want, or even learning to live without what we want most- I began to notice that most of the novels were simply bad. Instead of rich plots, enticing characters (and I don’t mean sexually); most of the authors seem to think that all readers want to do is read sex scene after sex scene, or characters that seem to come straight out of a bad hetero romance novel.
That’s the way I feel every time I crack open yet another regurgitation of what you described.
I feel disrespected and many times I, too, roll my eyes at the improbable situations described in contemporary books. At least in fantasy, paranormal and sci fi I KNOW that they are not supposed to reflect anything believable in our world but some of the tripe in contemporary books makes me go “I paid for this?”
There are many excellent female M/M writers, starting with Jordan Castillo Price who is one of my favourite authors, and if you haven’t read any of her books you should try her PsyCop series – but you have to start at the beginning. I could give you other names but you would have to email me. 🙂 About 25% of the writers in this genre are male or genderqueer and some are good but others have fallen into the same trap as the female writers, and though they don’t write chicks with dicks, they do other things that annoy me and they could be just as lazy as their female contemporaries.
Thanks for commenting.
Thanks for writing this post. Like the saying goes, the truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off… not that I was pissed off or anything, since I agreed with pretty much everything.
I would not have thought as much about this post before I decided to go through a publishing process myself. Though I sort of wished I could get more developmental edits, personally I think my editor was quite professional (quite good at catching POV slips and various other things) and I’m also thankful to the publisher for accepting my manuscript, even though they probably knew it would not sell that well and put up with all the trouble I gave them during the editing stage. So…I’ve come to think of it as publishers cashing in from the numerous cliché/formulaic but popular stuff that sells to sponsor us nobody authors who write experimental/unpopular stories that don’t sell. Of course, this does not excuse the authors/editors/publishers from the grammatical mistakes, improbably situations, and editorial atrocities of the novels out there, since that’s just disrespectful to the readers who paid for the stories, but still. That’s one way to think about it. As a reader I expect published fiction to have quality, and I get really pissed off if I open something that clearly is not ready for a price tag and something I felt was not worth the money I paid.
A long-ass note on the done-to-death, formulaic storylines: I agree with some commenter that you awesome reviewers/widely-read people probably feel this harder than anyone else, since you’ve read so many stories and are now approaching a burn-out. However, there are many new readers to this genre who probably start with newly published novels, so to them the over-used tropes that are over-used because they sell well are new to them and they still find joy in reading anything they can get their hands on, so there will always be a market for those same-y stories. M/M probably has a high reader turnover or whatever you want to call it…there will always be new readers, just as there will always be old readers who bow out of the genre. I think it’s sad that the M/M romance genre is failing to take measures to keep old readers, but as many pointed out before, originality is quite hard to come by nowadays, though certainly not impossible. We are at year 2013 when stories and tropes have been around since humans could use language, I think, which is quite long ago. For example, Cinderella has been around for a long time (tracing back to 1st century BCE) and people still write and love that rags-to-riches trope, no? I can’t speak for other genres/forms of entertainment, but I watch a lot of anime/read a lot of manga and the lack of original stories nowadays is just as bad, if not worse. Don’t even get me started on music.
Still, many people love formulaic stories…that’s why there’s actually a formula. Mindless entertainment are mindless…I’ve sat through enough unoriginal movies to decide that all I needed to do was clear my mind and marvel at the humor/action/special effects…because plot? What plot? Most of the time I can already predict the entire story from the premise alone. Still, many people I know prefer stories that don’t require any thinking–they just want to relax and enjoy mindless entertainment, unlike reviewers/critics who are looking to analyze things and finding that there is nothing to analyze, hence why those unoriginal stuff keep churning out.
Again, I don’t think that originality is impossible and also believe that angle is the key. Still, I think there might be a case where people who can write well might not necessarily be able to come up with new spins on tropes, and some people who have great ideas might not be able to write well/engagingly.
Furthermore, everyone has their own tastes. There are some with a wide-arrange of tastes who can read just about anything, some who care more about writing technique than the story, some who care more about a good story than writing, and some with rather limited and/or specific tastes with tropes. I don’t deny that I am of the latter (specific tastes for tropes), so I always write about what I personally want to read (mostly because I can’t find what I want to read. I believe many authors are like me, but rarely will we hit it big because we can’t find what we want to read for a reason–what we want to read is not popular and does not appeal to the mainstream). For me, at least, similar themes, tropes, or characters are bound to come up again–perhaps we authors should challenge ourselves and write outside of our comfort zone, but really, if we have no interest in what we’re writing about, there will be no love in our work, and we won’t feel connected to what we write. And if we can’t even feel what we write, how can readers? I think stories that are written without love/passion will be a disservice to the readers as well.
Of course, there are some amazing authors out there who have a wide array of interests and can write just about anything–every story they publish is different and new, with interesting and memorable characters, and I respect those authors greatly. That is a kind of talent that frankly, not many in the world have. Though, to have the ability to appeal to the mainstream readers and write things that sell well is a talent by itself, even though we may never understand why those stories sell. Authors who have both the talent of writing original stories and the talent of reaching out to the mainstream are the rarest, but they do exist and are loved by reviewers and average readers alike. Every author in the world wishes to be them, and readers want more of those kinds of authors, but alas.
Sorry for rambling and all and getting totally off topic, but those are just my thoughts =) Believe me, I understand your frustration very well.
For something different from your usual reads, you might want to take a break from published M/M again and look into online fiction, since authors there don’t have monetary pressure and thus don’t always feel the need to stick with ‘safe’ plots/tropes. Especially with fanfics, since there is already an established fanbase, so authors feel less pressure to write ‘safe’ plots/tropes for readership so they’d be more open to experimentation. Personally I don’t read or write fanfiction but I have a feeling that’s how stuff rolls. We authors thrive on readership, recognition, and feedback, especially if we don’t write for money, so I understand why some fanfiction writers who have great storytelling abilities and writing techniques don’t write original fiction.
Writing is a very lonely and frustrating journey if you don’t feel like anyone’s reading your work…you begin to question your worth as a writer, question yourself…etc. Worse if you write a bland story with pointless sex as an experiment and it’s more popular than the story you poured your heart and time into…we get quite bitter indeed, lol. So…yes, all three (readers, authors, publishers) are responsible for state of M/M, though unfortunately as stated waaay earlier in my extremely long essay (rant?), I don’t see improvements happening any time soon, especially since the M/M market is still expanding with many new readers. It’s kind of sad that people are actually abandoning published fiction for free online fiction, but yeah.
Hi
Thanks for writing this post. Like the saying goes, the truth will set you free, but first it will piss you off… not that I was pissed off or anything, since I agreed with pretty much everything.
It’s a bit like asking the question “do these pants make me look fat?” Authors don’t want to know the answer, the same way many of us dread hearing the answer to this question. Sometimes we need to hear the ugly truth for as you said, the truth shall set you free.
I had been debating writing this post for at least a year and put it off because I knew it would piss a lot of authors off, some of whom I respect, but then I realized that I was doing a disservice to the readers, those people who pay their hard earned money for these crappy books that authors were shoving down our throats without any regard for the quality of the product. Many of the readers can’t afford to buy a lot of books so when they do buy a few it’s a big deal to them. When they are disappointed, as is often the case, this is not like a department store where they can return the merchandise. They have to suck it up. Authors don’t seem to care that their fans, more often than not, can’t afford to buy even two books a month because to them it represents a meal for their families. It adds insult to injury when the book(s) which they buy is so bad it’s a DNF.
What you said makes a lot of sense about writing what you want to read. Many authors do that and end up hitting it big or just barely making it. I don’t know the key to appealing to a wider audience. I usually try to find different types of books to read because one or two tropes would drive me wild and I like books with lots of plot and well developed characters. I can read most anything but I have my triggers and I won’t read books with those themes. Over the last 2 years I recognized I was approaching burn out because the quality of the material I was reading was so bad, so I stopped reading M/M for several months in both years and read biographies, genre fiction, and watched a whole bunch of movies. I don’t know when I came to the realization that our authors were showing disdain for the readers because the majority of them didn’t seem to care what they released. Why should they? We were still buying their books. They were on to a good thing and for the readers it was like a drug – they kept on buying because they couldn’t seem to help themselves, until they realized how many of the books they were buying ended up as DNF.
I don’t know if there is a solution because there will always be new readers who will look on this genre as the best thing since sliced bread, until they become disenchanted and figure its time to move on. But newer readers will take their place and so the vicious circle will continue and the writing will get worse. I recognize that my days of reading books in this genre are slowly but surely coming to an end because I can see the downward curve of quality and I respect myself too much to read some of the stuff that’s coming down the pipeline.
I might take you up on your suggestion to try free online fiction. It can’t be any worse.
I had been debating writing this post for at least a year and put it off because I knew it would piss a lot of authors off
You know, I actually suspect you’re ranting to the wrong group of authors here. Most authors who have commented on this entry more or less agreed with you about the lack of quality and originality, and they are all a little bitter because they are being buried by those substandard works. I also think the authors who don’t care about quality or their readers aren’t the type to look at review sites for any for pieces of advice…
I might take you up on your suggestion to try free online fiction. It can’t be any worse.
Naturally, it will be a grueling task to search for the gems as well…all I can say is that you’ll have a bigger pile of shit to dig from. Mainstream is the same everywhere…it’s mainstream for a reason. You’ll also find that the stories with a lot of chapter-to-chapter sex and brutal rape/torture the most popular, at least on a certain site they are. Juvenile characters abound, along with 2d characterization, done-to-death tropes, bad yaoi-esque fiction, etc. Don’t get me started on what the hell M-Preg is about. And the editing atrocities, they’re probably worse. Still, they’re free, so you won’t feel as pissed off when you DNF. All you have to do is back-button or close the tab. And there are some quite well-crafted, free original stories out there, I believe–some better than published fiction (the point). Some pretty outrageous ones, too…just have to throw your logic out of the window to read those, because those crack fics are definitely not going to be something you’ve read before… In a sense, they’re very fresh…and interesting…and original 😆 It’s probably safer to stick with completed fiction or stick with authors who are known to finish their stories, since nothing is more painful than jumping into a WIP that will end up abandoned.
However, I think a lot of free original slash authors who have put time and effort into crafting their work will eventually step into the publishing realm, whether self-published or through a publishing house. After all, they spent so much time and effort into writing, they’d wish to have a more concrete return and recognition to their work? A lot of authors are already doing that, though clearly some aren’t ready, and yet they get contracted or self-publish and flood the market, burying everyone else and dragging the quality down… Making the point of publishing pretty much moot, as someone pointed out early in the comments.
Personally I only wanted to go with publishing because I wanted it to be improved through professional editing, for it to have a nice cover, and well…have more exposure and recognition. Did not get the exposure, and the only recognition I got was from the fact that it got contracted and my editor liked it, and maybe one glowing review, but at least I enjoyed the process, and I am more or less satisfied with how it all turned out. I already knew it would not sell anyway, because the genre, themes and triggers pretty much dissuaded 95% of potential readers 😆 Not to mention, I’m not exactly the best prose-writer out there, so my blurb is one of those boring blurbs, with an uninspiring excerpt to go with it :ugly: Would I publish another work, despite all the things I’ve said against publishing and despite knowing that it’s a wasted effort? Yes, I think I will… 😕 And here I am, suggesting you to take a break published fiction… :nuts:
Not doing new authors like myself a whole lot of favors here, am I? :crazy04:
Still, it is better to take a break than force yourself to open published books with dread and finally abandoning the genre with a bitter taste in your mouth. I find it sad that a respected reviewer such as yourself is no longer finding stories worthy of your attention, but alas. I personally can’t imagine myself ever stop reading/writing/being a fan of M/M, but I’m a super picky reader anyway.
Good luck~
As an author this was a hard post to read, but I understand the reasons for it. It took me way too long in life to find the MM genre as a reader, let alone as a writer. And not being a native English speaker had its drawbacks. One can only hope that both readers and reviewers remember that serious authors do try to improve their skill. No, not everyone does. Sometimes it’s all about the accumulated profit. But… if I, and a lot of others, were writing just for that quick buck, we would have chosen a bigger genre, right? MM readership might be growing, but so does the number of authors. There’s bound to be both good and bad in the mix. We can choose to be supportive of our fellow authors or trash in the hopes of gaining their readers. I don’t think any self-respecting writer would choose the latter.
When reviewers choose a specific genre they like to review, I think the expectations run a little high, probably because there’s an inundation of similar types of books. I know as a reader it’s hard for me to distinguish between what the book is and what I would have wished it was after finishing it. I believe the review should be based on the first and not the second view.
That said, thanks for the post. It was thought-provoking.
-Susan-
Hi Susan
There’s bound to be both good and bad in the mix. We can choose to be supportive of our fellow authors or trash in the hopes of gaining their readers. I don’t think any self-respecting writer would choose the latter.
I have been reading this genre off and on for 10 years and it gets worse every year since about 5 years ago. Now everyone is writing M/M, and new and more experienced writers seem to be suffering from the same ailment – they don’t care what they put out because people will buy it. New readers seem to regard M/M as the pot of gold and it doesn’t matter the quality they just eat it up. For someone like me who has been reading this genre for such a long time the downward trend in the quality of these books is very hard to see – it’s like watching someone die.
I know that there are authors out there who really do care about what they release and most of them are my favourites. But they are not the majority who thrive on being members of the book-of-the-month club. One author whose work I used to love I won’t even read her books now if she gives them to me free because the quality has reached such a low level.
I know as a reader it’s hard for me to distinguish between what the book is and what I would have wished it was after finishing it. I believe the review should be based on the first and not the second view.
I have always review the book the author wrote, not the book I wished it could have been, because I realize that my wish for a different book was not what the author intended to write. I know that some reviewers get upset when they feel a book should have gone in a different direction however that is not the right approach to reviewing.
Thank you for commenting Susan and have a wonderful day (or evening).
Thanks for the reply 🙂
It’s strange for me because I have wanted to write since I was a kid, but the stuff I wrote was, well, wrong because I wrote about two guys or two girls at a time when that kind of literature didn’t exist—much, and certainly not in Finland. I was in my early thirties when I discovered the MM genre just two years ago, and I’m trying to catch up. There are some great authors out there, and I still get that thrill knowing I’m reading something I like, and I get to share that enjoyment with other like-minded readers.
I’d certainly like to think I’ve grown better as a writer, but it’s ultimately the readers who decide that. I am sorry for all you reviewers who have found a literary genre you love, like me, and then found out it’s not all so great. I honestly don’t understand why anyone would write a genre they don’t really care about. I know I’m not in this for the money. If I were, I’d write the new Da Vinci Code, and retire in style in Italy 😀
In any case, I wish you all the best, and I hope new great MM stories rekindle your passion for reading and reviewing :biglove:
-Susan-
It’s deja vu all over again. I read and heard much the same back in the late 60s and early 70s, when gay fiction first took off. It was exciting to have a new (for us) genre in which to write, and yes, publishers wanted material and more material, and a lot of crap got published – with, here and there, some really good stuff.
So, is there a decline in the quality of m/m fiction today? I honestly don’t know. I don’t read as much as I should but much of what I read on excerpt blogs and on publisher’s sites does not encourage me to want to buy the books. And I do indeed get frustrated when I pick up a book from a writer I’ve previously enjoyed and find that he hasn’t goten better at it, or in some cases, seems to have gone downhill. Some talented writers that I used to follow seem now to be churning them out with little care for the craft of writing.
Still I don’t think any of this is new., though with the increase in books being released, it is surely more difficult for a reviewer to find something worth reviewing. I was recently asked if I couldn’t do more reviews, and my immediate reaction was, “of whom?” I don’t do negative reiews, and I don’t often find anything that I feel sure I can give 4 or 5 stars to. But I haven’t stopped looking.
Happily, however, there are still good writers still producing, and some of them seem to get better with time. And I am willing to forgive a really talented writer a cow patty here or there if I know eventually he’ll get around to serving me a porterhouse. Some writers are dependable. If I pick up one of their books, I pretty much know what I will get. Dorien Grey comes to mind, though there are others. Some writers are like heat lightning, brilliant but intermittent. That would be Erik Orrantia. I’m fine with either.
Yes, there is a lot of dreck being published these days – but that’s not really news. I don’t know how one is to avoid that, except, as I hinted earlier, by reading excerpts – there are any number of sites that post them. And if you belong to one or more publishers’ websites, you should get some clue from reading the posts there. If a writer tends to blather on a website, he will probably do the same in a book – at least that’s been my experience. I’ve eliminated a lot of books that way.
And, finally, yes I do think editorial standards are down from what they once were. I’ve been fortunate to work with some really great editors, but I’ve also been stuck with some who were not so great. In that case, the writer just has to work that much harder himself. Hey, it’s your name on the cover. The editor isn’t going to get the blame – or, for the most part, the credit either. Clean up your own back yard.
And I guess I may as well add (if I am cutting my own throat) I don’t think the quality of the reviews I’m reading these days is as good as it used to be either. Maybe that’s because the material isn’t so hot – or maybe it’s…well, that’s another story, isn’t it? And, again, maybe I’m just not reading the right reviews, in which case, I apologize humbly to all.
Hi Victor
It seems that no sooner a genre attracts quality writers the swarms buzz in and spoil it for everyone. I started reading M/M to escape from het romance and what it had become and now, as you say, it’s deja vu all over again because the writers and publishers are releasing any piece of crap. And you know what? We readers are partly to blame because if we refused to buy the dreck that’s released they would stop.
The first few years we had quality writers who really cared for their readers and considered writing an art form. A few of them still do but alas not enough. Now there’s a new breed of writer, or as I call them, the book-of-the-month club. They are more concerned with quantity than quality. No writer can produce quality work in the short space of time that these writers are putting out new releases. Unfortunately, there are so many new readers in the genre that they look on M/M romance as manna from heaven and eat up whatever is the flavour of the day, and quality goes out the window. We are all giving the genre a bad name.
Not so long ago authors and publishers were complaining that M/M was being ghettoized by New York publishing houses as well as re-sellers like Amazon. Whose fault is that? Most of the books resemble porn and not even well written porn. Don’t get me started about the lack of plot in these books and characters who have no appeal. I said in some of my responses to comments that if authors renege on their responsibility and produce substandard work theirs are the names on the books and people will remember them for as long as this genre exists.
I don’t think there’s a solution. The readers who have high expectations will leave, and newer readers will replace them. It’s a vicious circle. The newer writers receive no mentoring and produce badly written books, and the more established writers figure they already have a fan base so they don’t have to make much of an effort.
A lot of the problem can be laid at the doors of publishers who refuse to hire developmental or content editors and feel that proof readers are all they need. I have news for them, many of the people they hire as proof readers can’t spell and grammar is a foreign language. As for the authors, they don’t seem to care about editing their books because they sell anyway. Readers are just as culpable because we buy this mix of poor writing, no editing to speak of, no plot and characters who need a lot of development before they see the light of day.
And I do indeed get frustrated when I pick up a book from a writer I’ve previously enjoyed and find that he hasn’t gotten better at it, or in some cases, seems to have gone downhill. Some talented writers that I used to follow seem now to be churning them out with little care for the craft of writing.
This is exactly what I, other reviewers and readers face every time we crack open a book. The only solution for me is to leave just as I left het romance. I know that things won’t get better because the authors and publishers won’t improve their product – smaller indie publishing houses are doing a much better job, but they are a mere drop in the bucket in terms of numbers.
Re your comment about reviewers, I can only speak for this site. We try to get the best reviewers we can because we feel that is only fair to both the readers and the authors. We have a range of ages and experience and we do mentor the younger reviewers to ensure they understand our quality standards. No one is perfect and we don’t expect perfection from authors. My expectations of an author is for a book that has a credible or coherent plot, engaging characters and a plot without too many holes and of course dialogue and prose that make me want to continue reading. I’m not looking for much – just stories that I read way beyond my bedtime because I can’t put them down. As for the editing and everything else I complained about in my post, that goes without saying.
On a personal note Victor, I wish you would write another story in the Deadly series. Tom and Stanley were two of my favourite characters in this genre and I really miss them.
Wave,
I have been stunned to have authors tell me they have no interest in honing their craft (one of them very popular with your readers) or getting better at their writing. How can one have any pride in what one does? With all the years and all the books under my belt, I never stop wanting every story – heck, every line – to be as good as I can make it. So, if the blame is to be laid anywhere, I’d say it’s with lazy writers. Publishers can’t sell second rate books if the writers don’t send them in. I judged books for an awards competition a couple of years ago, and I was appalled by nearly everything I read.
On another note thanks for your comments about the Deadly books – I actually have been working on a new one, but health got in the way. But it’s mostly my fear that something new won’t measure up, won’t be up to my own standards, that holds me back. I am trying to get back on the horse, so to speak. Without writing, my life seems very empty. But I also have to be realistic, I’m not the writer I was even a few years ago.
Hey Victor
I have been stunned to have authors tell me they have no interest in honing their craft (one of them very popular with your readers) or getting better at their writing.
This is what we have to deal with every day: authors who are in a rut, lack the necessary skills, but refuse to upgrade and just getting by with the bare minimum of writing knowledge. I would bet, going by the product, that very few of them even bothered to take writing courses when they first started out. I have no doubt that many of them are still popular because tastes vary, but eventually their skills will atrophy and they will continue writing the same old, same old when the rest of us will have moved on.
So, if the blame is to be laid anywhere, I’d say it’s with lazy writers. Publishers can’t sell second rate books if the writers don’t send them in. I judged books for an awards competition a couple of years ago, and I was appalled by nearly everything I read.
I keep saying that it starts with the authors and ends with the authors because it’s their names on the books. Sure, the publishers are also to blame because they don’t provide the appropriate level of editing resources and some of them think that proof readers are really editors. However the readers are just as bad – if we didn’t buy these poorly written books the authors would have to clean up their act.
I really hope that you will release the next deadly book. I’m in sore need of a book worth reading, something that will keep me up all night because I can’t put it down. 🙂 It’s been 18 months since A Deadly Kind of Love Victor – time for the next one. You keep saying that you’re not the writer you used to be: IMO at your worst your writing is WAY better than most of the books we’ve been reading.
I’ve given more thought to this question and now have this to say: There is a lot of crap out there, and I do mean a lot. However, I began reading M/M only about a year ago so I’m in no position to say if there’s more of it than there used to be. Not everything I read was newly published, and some of the worst I read had been out a long time and re-released more than once. Popularity does not assure quality. And so much of the stuff is just like the others that it’s hard to find “one of those things that doesn’t belong”, but for all I know, that’s always been the case.
Anel
I could give you a list of books that I feel are a credit to this genre. Of course those are my personal recommendations but many readers could give you similar recommendations and then it would be a matter of your personal taste.
I don’t agree with you that the level of poor writing I’m finding now has always been there because I wouldn’t be reading these books if that were the case. This started about 5 years ago when the genre exploded. I’m not an expert on writing techniques but I’ve read enough books on writing to know that what we’re getting is way below the standards a reader should expect; also many of the people who call themselves writers and authors need to take courses on how to write.. I also read genre fiction, non fiction and biographies and the percentage of poorly written books is WAY below compared to M/M. I have definitely noticed a change in the quality of the writing and this permeates the entire genre and is at the point of turning me off most of the books. However that’s just me
I started reading m/m books a couple of years ago and luckily, Josh Lanyon’s Adrien English series set the bar for me. After that, it’s hard to be tolerant of lesser writing. I still buy tons of titles but it seems I’m paying more for shorter books and not so great writing. There are still authors out there who really deliver (j.f. Smith, Brad Boney, Dani Alexander, Alexandr Voinov, Heidi Cullinan), but there are publishers who are pushing out mediocre stuff and charging way too much. I’m a writer so I believe writers should be paid a living wage, but not for rushed, barely edited mss.
Thanks for a very enlightening and informative post. I tend to agree with you on a lot of the points you’ve raised as I’m like most people here probably, both a reader of MM Romance and an aspiring writer. I normally write M/F Romances but since reading MM I’ve got hooked and want to write one of my own. But wall to wall sex, bad plots, the need to simply thrill with sexual descriptions and bad editing doesn’t do it for me. I want a great story, real relationships both with the good and the bad, I want great, hot and sensual sexual chemistry and some tenderness, humour and depth to what I both read and write. So maybe one day when my book is published with my publisher, you can read my offering to the genre and tell me honestly what you think and whether I achieved what I set out to write. I love this genre. And to me a writer should constantly be striving to better themselves, learn from others and make their work more exciting, more polished and more attractive to readers and reviewers. There’s no such thing as a writer with nothing to learn in my opinion.
Perhaps its also because you are so used to reading the same genre that you’re kind of burned out – I am not saying the standards haven’t gone down by the way – but maybe you’re kind of also burned out? I get bored quickly so read a pretty wide variety of genres and cast my net fairly wide when I read romance. I will read m/m (my absolute favorite) m/f and m/m/f or m/f/m. Pretty much the only genre I’ve not read is f/f.
I tend to find after a m/m jag I’ll return to m/f romance or maybe paranormal etc.
Having said that there are some very weak books in the genre but then I’ve also found some terribly weak books and writing in the m/f genre (Fifty shades of Grey is one horrendous example). What I do notice more in the m/m books is simple editing mistakes etc. But then I blame the publishers for that not the writers. If they can’t be bothered to hire good copy editors and line editors then it’s not on. We pay good money for the books and they should be properly proofread and edited before publishing.
As for fan and free fic. Yeah there is some amazing stuff out there for free but there is soooo much bad stuff. Unless you know the writers/fandoms to avoid you’ll spend hours and hours sorting through rubbish and much of it is pure PWP (not that there’s anything wrong with that now and again but you know… it can be endless).
This post is already a few months old, but I was extremely glad to find it (and this site as a whole!) I am currently in the process of writing an M/M romance, despite the fact that (outside of fanfiction) I’m not exactly intimately familiar with the genre. While that may possibly make my story unique (??? which would be a good thing, or maybe it’s already been done and I just don’t know about it?), I also thought it would be a good idea to start reading some other popular books in the genre before I start ripping into my first draft and churning out a second one, just to get an idea of what readers like and expect, and try to figure out whether I’m going to try to self-publish for free, self-publish and sell, or try to get picked up by a traditional publisher.
However. I have been very disappointed in a lot of what I’ve found. I’ve read some decent books in my searching. (and I appreciate the “must read” authors mentioned above) but I’ve also found a lot of titles that just seem to be… porn. To be honest, I was starting to worry that there wouldn’t BE any market for my story, which is more about the characters than the sex. So I am INCREDIBLY glad to see that there are others out there who would rather have a strong plot and characters (not calling my own plot “strong” or anything, it needs some of that EDITING too) instead of sex scene after sex scene without much to hold those scenes together.
I was beginning to wonder if this whole genre (or at least, recent offerings) wasn’t just porn in very thin disguise. It’s nice to know that there are readers who prefer something more character-driven, and authors that are providing it. I will check out some of the titles mentioned above, and explore the rest of this site as well!
Who were those authors of 10 years ago who wrote such great books? They were the courageous and sensitive writers who wanted to use their creative talents to promote gay rights through high-quality works which described m/m relationships as equally human to straight relationships, no matter that “they were committing career suicide”, or that “this genre would never take”. They wrote those books because it mattered to them, because their hearts were in them, even if it meant never making a living out of it. They wrote out of PASSION.
Where are they now?
– Some of them are still here doing just that.
– Some of them have quit the writing career for whatever reason.
– Some of them have lost their passion and devolved to writing cliched story after boring story.
– And many of them have moved on to promoting QUILTBAG rights through high-quality works which describe ALL relationships as equally human to straight relationships. Because the work is far from done. Because the fight is far from over. Because gay and lesbian romances may be becoming mainstream, but not so for bi, trans*, intersex, asexual, and all other forms of queer romance, and so those authors are expanding to include these relationships as well into their works. Because they STILL write out of PASSION.
And in their place, now that it’s somewhat safe to write gay and lesbian romance, you see the usual rush of sub-par writers whose job is to churn by-the-numbers, pre-formatted romances. The era of Harlequin-style gay and lesbian romance has started, and if the example of straight romance is any indication, things will only get worse, not better.
You can choose to stick to cismale/cismale fiction and face that Gay Harlequin deluge – with always a few truly talented authors in the mass, of course. Or you can follow the inspired trailblazers as they push ever forward into the unknown, into the QUILTBAG Frontier. Your choice.
Thank you for publishing your comments, Wave. I agree with many of them and many of the responses. From a writer’s perspective, I would like address Victor’s comment that says:
“So, if the blame is to be laid anywhere, I’d say it’s with lazy writers. Publishers can’t sell second rate books if the writers don’t send them in. I judged books for an awards competition a couple of years ago, and I was appalled by nearly everything I read.”
I was an editor for an international, non-fiction publishing house for 25 years. I am also familiar with the M/M romance genre and its foundation in fan fiction. After three years of workshops, research, writing and professional editing, I submitted my first M/M paranormal novel, Eternal Samurai, (definitely not Gay, Harlequin Lite) to one of the major M/M publishers. The editor stated the book has a “unique plot, exciting characters, emotional connection and arousing erotica” but (wait for it) is “not what our readers expect.” Three publishers later, I was still getting the same response. But no insight into the changes they required. Were they telling me that only a story that follows the same formula with the same tropes and idioms found in many recent M/M novels today are all that is accepted?
What does a writer do when you have been informed that your novel has all the elements of good M/M fiction yet cannot unearth the Holy Grail of “what the readers want”?
I got off the query-go-round and self-published. Now, I realize a self-published work is often interpreted as the action of the desperate. Readers have even come to expect mediocrity from most independently published works. However, my novel received several four- and five-star reviews from M/M review sites and readers, and was the BOM for Goodreads LGBT Fantasy Fiction.
Perhaps it is, as mentioned above, publishing houses no longer have development or line editors but require a book to be print-ready-perfect with no in-house editorial input. Thus, they do not take a chance on nurturing new authors but continue to use only those that are established. A sensible business policy. However, over the past two to three years, I have bought far too many DNFs from those same publishers. Without considering new works and assisting new writers, where will all these publishers be in another ten years?
Certainly, my dream is to be accepted by one of the traditional publishing houses. But not by writing a sub-standard work that follows the same overworked formula that is inundating the M/M market recently. I don’t think that is “what the reader wants.” It is certainly not what I want.
I agree with Del that there’s a missing element here now. When I first stumbled into the M/M genre, five or six years ago, I remember feeling rather stunned. There was a sense of something heretofore forbidden being discretely and beautifully brought into the light. I was holding my breath while reading some of my first M/M books. Back then, finding and reading these books felt a bit daring…naughty…”out there.” I imputed a kind of daring and courage on the part of the authors…they were the pioneers…the trail blazers…and they were simultaneously legitimizing gay romance as a valid, honest and normal kind of love and acknowledging, out loud, in print, right there on the page, that women have a natural, biological urge to watch two men together as much as men like to watch two women, albeit in different ways.
I think we forget just how revolutionary those first writers were…it was so subtly done…the door opened so quietly…but I really think the effect has been profound. By taking the hearts and dreams and heartbreaks of fictional gay men and placing them squarely in the laps of women readers, unsuspecting “real” gay men everywhere gained a silent, growing army of advocates and defenders who have been raising sons and daughters, pushing back against hate and ignorance in their communities, and helping to level some of the mountains between GLBT’s and equality.
I know I was profoundly changed by the first M/M books I read. Those books were written by men and women who HAD to be good…who had to stand among the best writers, with a grasp of their art and respect for their craft. They had to distinguish themselves from “mere” fan fiction and carry the banner of equal worth to publishers. I remember the first publishers were small, web based, and many felt slightly seedy when I visited their online store fronts. But the stories were so compelling…so good…that I was virtually addicted to that sense of elation when I would find a Lanyon/Owen/Sexton/Maxfield/Cullinan/Hill tucked away behind a dark, slightly ominous web storefront. And I walked around feeling hollow inside when I didn’t have one of those gems plucked and stashed in mid-read at any given moment. My heart got bigger, my tolerance stretched nearly to infinity, my perspective widened, and I became a better friend to the gay and lesbian people in my life. And I’m sure I wasn’t the only one.
I watch the enormous changes that are taking place in our culture today…legislation and policy changes, activism and poll numbers shifting, and I’m breathless all over again. Even five years ago, no one could have predicted that we would be where we are today, post DOMA, mid-right to marry, pre-Russian Olympic protests. And while I don’t mean to lessen the incredible faith and effort of every single group or individual who has fought and endured to get us this far, I really do think that the quiet explosion of M/M popularity and the sudden widening fan base associated with it has had some role to play in this. In a way, romance novels are the ultimate grass roots campaign for the hearts and minds of half the population.
And like every movement, large, loud and public, or quiet and virtually unnoticed, the pioneers eventually subside. The message becomes ordinary. The sense of mission fades to maintenance. The crusaders become the corporation. It’s inevitable. So yes, the oceans of dreck being thrust upon us are disappointing and disheartening. Yes, the well has run nearly dry at times. Yes, the sources of literary conflict and drama that were so real and so heightened even five years ago have become less and less compelling. Being out five or six years ago somehow carried a bit more risk and thus perceived courage in a protagonist than would be true today. That’s not to say it’s not still very difficult in many places to be out and proud…but in the M/M world, authors are having to resort to more melodrama and fantastic situations to keep the fires of interest stoked.
But at the same time, I try to see the new waves of “second generation” readers as a sign of something remarkable. If M/M romance has gone mainstream in quality, it means that the idea of two men in love, building lives together, raising children together has gone mainstream to its readers. It may just be escapism. It may satisfy low expectations for a quick mind fuck. But it’s also a huge success story.
Pioneers and the people who follow the path they carve are a certain kind of personality. Pioneers that don’t keep moving on and exploring, looking for new things to compel and fascinate and dare their followers will stagnate into dullness. I think a lot of excellent authors get stuck at this point, and maybe that’s okay. If one lightning strike is all they get, hey, it’s more than most of us dream of. Every book from those early days is, and continues to be a gift for which I”m grateful. And it’s my responsibility to keep looking, keep exploring and pushing my own reading boundaries, looking for the next breaking taboo, the next verboten realm. there may be deserts in between the oases, but they’re out there.
I miss those heady days. The 2nd generation readers will never know what they missed.
I think homework for these MM Romance writers would be NO.1 Put the damn pen down (or stop typing); NO. 2 Find a novelist who has stood the test of time (Faulkner, Hardy, Tolstoy, whoever); and NO. 3 Analyze their sentences. If you want examples of contemporary writers who are phenomenal, try Junot Diaz, Jhumpa Lahiri, YiYun Li, Alice Munro, William Trevor, James McBride, Marilynn Robinson.
The prose in MM Romance sounds juvenile. None of the sentences beg to be re-read. And I’m not talking about flowery writing, I’m talking about evocative and thought-provoking prose.
The problem with MM Romance is it is painfully clear that the authors are not reading good quality fiction, or not employing what they’ve learned from the literary greats.
Everything is IN SCENE! BIG PROBLEM. Only showing what a character is doing in that particular scene is only ONE piece of the puzzle to fleshing out a character. We need to know what the character was like in the past as well. Read great literary authors to see how they incorporate the past into their narratives. They’re always experimenting with this stuff (not always with great results), but you’ll get some ideas and can try them out.
I don’t mind switching POVs, as long as it’s done seamlessly.
I’m not an MM Romance author so I look at this from a different lens. What I was hoping to be was a potential new customer to the genre, but not at this point. Let me see if I can explain how horrific the writing is … it’s like chewing hay. Page after page of dry, uninspired prose. When I can have a sirloin, why the hell am I going to eat hay. Who would eat hay anyway? You get my drift?
Some of these sex scenes should be condemned.
For those who want to write about sex, Junot Diaz is a must read. I dare you to read him without becoming aroused. I dare you. And there’s no mention of private parts, no mention penetration, or holes being stretched out. Try him, I dare you.
Length: A lot of this stuff is around 99 to a hundred or so pages. That’s called a NOVELLA people. If you want to know how it’s done, read Jim Harrison. He writes stories that are 100 pages long. And the characters are fully fleshed out. How does he do it? It’s called compression people! Not everything is in SCENE. But then half the writers won’t waste time with Harrison anyway because every other page is not a sex scene. Heaven forbid somebody should write about the human condition.
Enough said. For now, I’m done with this genre. It’s a mess.
Even the go-to authors that were pointed out in this post are lightweights on a prose level. Get it together folks. All sizzle and no content never lasts.