Notice something? Although my title addresses the appeal of male/male erotica, the cover of my Midnight Soldier shows a hetr couple (granted my hero came back from the dead) which is what I write.
But I'm a curious soul and when the powers that be at LooseID sent out its bestseller list, I did a little digging. Almost overwhelmingly those turned out to be m/m. So what's the appeal of that sub genre I wanted to know. For the answer, I turned to LooseId_community@yahoogroups.com. As expected, there was no one response and in that variety I learned a lot. Many of those who answered were writers but a fair number of readers (and writers are readers) were represented. Because I didn't ask permission to quote or identify the responders, I'm going to grab a few short takes.
What impressed me was the respect readers gave m/m. Examples:
"I read M/M because of the emotions - they feel somuch more "real" than M/F, if that makes sense! PLUS I have yet to find"purple prose" in M/M and that is a serious hot button for me!"
"I read m/m because I like Romance (initial capital deliberate) and relationship "stuff" playing out alongside a greater story - blame early exposure to SF/SFF and then to murder-mystery. :)"
"I purchase often, with enthusiam, and am thrilled with LooseID's (and other publishers)m/m book choices. I don't want to read m/m/f or any other possible combinations (not my thing) although I would never think to limit the choices of those who do as some people want to do with m/m books, even to the point of not letting some authors display at conventions or be dismissive of the genre. How narrowminded, how homophobic."
"I started reading m/f romances at 14 but about three years ago, I discovered m/m romances and while I still read m/f, I find the m/m genre a lot more satisfying for me. I like men, I like reading about them, and every time I had picked up an m/f novel, it's the hero I find far more interesting, not the heroine. The heroine could have the most scandalous, the most exciting, the most mysterious past ever, and still it's the hero I want to learn more about and who I want to read more about."
As for those who write m/m:
"I read and write both, and I think we all have our feminine side and our masculine side; its fun to take them both out to play sometimes. I like strong women who can hold their own with an alpha male. I enjoy putting two strong males together in a scenario, and not have either put into a feminine role. There's a whole different chemistry there for both reading and writing m/m. Different challenges, a different mind-set."
"I write both m/m and m/f - and for several publishers.Altho the number of m/f books I've had published is much smaller - I'll compare them to the same number of m/m books published.M/M sells much better - way better.Now, that being said, I think since there aren't that many writerspublishing m/m (as compared to all the thousands of m/f romanceauthors in print and e) that e has become the place to get thosebooks - since in most mainstream bookstores across America, the shelves for GLBT romance is non-existant - and you can go into any WalMart, B&N, or online at Amazon and pick up a m/f romance.So, in reality, it only seems like sales are more for m/m and that it's taken over the world. (I wish)We m/m writers only wish we had the chance to take NY by stormand have 10K print runs/sales of our books. So, if we tend to overpower the e market, that's not a bad thing. It's the perfect venue for us. (secrecy, and all) And its a very small share of a very biggenre (romance)."
Am I going to stretch my creative wings and give m/m a try? Right now I can't give a no-nonsense yes. I love wallowing around in my fav BDSM/bondage/capture and paranormal like what's in Storm Howl. Still, I love a writing challenge and trying something new gets my juices going.
Can we get some more dialogue going here? I'd love to hear what you think of m/m or the other sub-genres that LooseID is so successful at.
Vonna Harper www.VonnaHarper.com
5 comments:
I read and write m/m and m/f. Read m/f for many years before I started reading m/m. Like one of the quotes above, when I read a m/f book, it's the hero that I am most interested in. It's the same when I write m/f.
It's the relationship dynamic that really draws me to m/m books. It's completely different than a m/f (at least I think so) - it's like with a m/m relationship, the men can be stronger but also more vulnerable.
I write m/m because I really love to write those stories. And I also love to write m/f, so I do (under another pen name - the whole 'branding' thing). I'm a firm believer in write what you love, because I think it shows when an author is simply writing for the money. Bestseller charts at a variety of pubs seem to be populated with contempories and paranormals (m/m and menage and m/f), but while I like to read those stories, I simply don't have the voice to write anything but books set in Regency England. Even a Victorian wouldn't suit me. So I stick to what I love and write the best stories that I can.
On a side note, I think the quote about how m/m is pretty much restricted to e-pubs and small press, and why it is restricted, is quite true. In actuality it's a small subgenre with a limited market segment. It thrives in e-land where pubs can afford to put out books that can't support a 10k print run. Whereas with m/f and menage, those markets are spread out amoung e-pubs, small presses and NY pubs. If a reader wants a m/f erotic book, they have more choices, whereas if a reader wants a m/m, they pretty much will go to the e-pubs. It's all in the numbers and how those numbers are distributed across the markets. So it may seem like m/m is taking over erotic romance, but really it isn't. :)
Loose Id has a lot of the top m/m authors. As a m/m author, I'm quite honored to be with Loose Id and to have such well respected company. When a top author m/m releases a book, of course it's going to top the charts. Over the past couple months, a lot of those top authors had releases. So when you look at the bestseller lists for the past month, they are all over them. If you go back further, you'll see the charts aren't so heavily weighted toward m/m, but more a mix of m/m, m/f and menage that reflects the mix of subgenres that LI releases.
Darn, I'm chatty today. LOL. I'll stop now and quite hogging the comments on your post. ;)
I write gay historical romance - I don't really like the term m/m, to be honest - and I feel, that with all genres, you need to really love what you write. I see so many people jumping on the m/m bandwagon (or YA, or Dan Brown-itis)because it's "the thing" but I think that it shows if one isn't really truly invested in what one writes.
I probably could write m/f if I wanted to, it's certainly an easier sell and more commercial but I feel that I wouldn't do my best if I tried it.
I have to agree with Ava. M/M is not, by any stretch, the best selling romance or ebook sub-genre.
What M/M does have is a dedicated readership and a comparatively small body of authors producing it, so the sales might appear disproportionately high unless you really analyze.
I also agree with Erastes. You have a lot of writers trying their hand at m/m merely because they think it's a bestselling genre. And, inevitably, they aren't the writers who do brilliantly because they just don't have the "feel" for it. And it shows.
I do, however, like the term "m/m" to differentiate works of a different tone and sensibility from traditional gay romance. Though many m/m authors can -- and have -- successfully crossed that line, m/m tells a potential reader exactly what to expect in the same way that "categroy romance" does. These labels are for the convenience of readers. A great many of our current m/m readers would have been much more tentative about trying stories specifically labeled GAY FICTION OR GAY ROMANCE. M/M emphsizes the romantic themes and nature of the book. I think it also defuses the notion that m/m writers are pretending to something they are not -- for one, that they are capturing a realistic depiction of gay life or gay men. Not that m/m writers cannot and do not do this, but it is relatively rare in the sub-genre.
I agree on the comments with why m/m is often on the bestseller list. It's a question of numbers of authors to readers. You're not alone. I asked the same questions when I started writing for LI and even more so, because oddly enough the first story to ever pop into my head was m/m and it wasn't something I had considered writing before. There's an article on my website owing to all the responses I received. I am hoping to write more het titles but I find m/m more satisfying and even easier to write because I find more 'new' reasons for conflict, which works well when you have two individuals who are socially equals. Maybe not emotionally and maybe with the same or similar hang-ups as a man and a woman but I often find some scenarios are more difficult to relate to a woman without making her appear too weak or too neurotic. Oh...there are all sorts of reasons, actually, and it would probably make a book by itself. LOL.
When I interviewed Trace Edward Zaber recently, Executive Director and Creative Diretor for Amber Quill Press here's what he had to say about M/M sales
Currently, the breakdown of sales for the company goes something like this...Amber Quill (non-erotica) sales make up less than 5% of our business today. Amber Heat ("straight" erotica or erotic romance), which used to comprise more than half of the business several years ago, has now dropped to only about 20%, and for the most part, that number continues to decline. Amber Allure (Gay Fiction and Erotica) now comprises approximately 75-80% of our business.
The surprising factor in all of this is that several years ago, almost en masse, our customers (mainly heterosexual women) decided, as if overnight, to shun "straight" erotica/erotic romance in favor of Gay Fiction & Erotica (more specifically, M/M Gay fiction as opposed to F/F fiction). The change happened so suddenly, not gaining momentum over a year or two, but over the course of only several months. Even stories featuring ménage relationships (be they M/F/M or M/M/F with bisexual content) lost popularity in the past six months...extremely fast. Of course, demographically, after we began the Allure imprint, our customer base expanded to include the gay community, yet heterosexual females remain our chief customer base.
As to print vs. ebook in terms of M/M, here's his comment in response to my question on this topic:
We will definitely continue, no question about it! From day one, we've put all of our novel-length titles into paperback and released them simultaneously along with their e-book counterparts (albeit with a 1-2 week delay based on the schedule of our printer). I don't foresee this ever changing.
In fact, at AQP, not only do we release all of our novel-length titles in paperback, but we also encourage our authors--when it comes to their short stories or novellas--to plan ahead for paperback collections. Once an author has enough stories where the combined word count is high enough, they are free to send me a request for a paperback collection, and I'll happily work it into the release schedule.
I'm sure that this publisher is very interested in a return on investment and would not continue to print M/M books if sales did not justify its decision to release all of its M/M books in print.
As someone whose website reviews only M/M romances I can understand and relate to the dedication of M/M readers to their favourite authors and to the sub genre. M/M readers can't wait for the newest releases every week, including LI releases. We can also usually tell when an author is writing books in this sub genre just for the money and we tend to avoid them when buying the latest releases.
As to the fact that you can't find M/M print books at Walmart or many bricks and mortar bookstores, the reason is pretty simple. Het "romance" readers have complained pretty consistently and vociferously to the management of these stores and have demanded that M/M books be removed from the shelves next to "their" romance books. They have been partly successful in their campaign by having Transgressions by Erastes and False Colors by Alex Beecroft, which are print only M/M historical books released by NY publisher Running Press, removed from the "romance" section of the stores' bookshelves. However, as the genre continues to grow I don't think that het romance readers' voices will continue to be heard when the book stores realise that they are losing money by not selling print M/M books.
M/M may be only a small sub genre but it has grown exoponentially over the last 3 years and will continue to grow. So while it may be "a small sub genre with a limited market segment" it is thriving at many online booksellers who are always selling out of my favourite books becuse they can't keep up with the demand.
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