I had the pleasure of talking with not one, but four groups of writers last week. They include a critique group that meets in San Jose, CA, while in the Fresno area I met with the
Yosemite Romance Writers, those attending my book club presentation at the Kingsburg Library, and an eclectic audience of writers attending my mini character development workshop at the Sunnyside Library.
At every event I attend, I ask writers to send questions I can then answer here for everyone's benefit, because if I don't have the answer, I'm sure someone else out there will. So here's an excellent question by Leah:
I write cozy mysteries and there is no market for them in the U.S. I'm been thinking about England, but I don't know the stystem over there. Do you have any idea where I could get info?
I'll challenge Leah on the first part of her question. Mysteries are the second leading genre in books sold in the U.S. behind romance. The cozy mystery is a subgenre defined by Stephen Rogers on
Writing-World.com as "a mystery which includes a bloodless crime and contains very little violence, sex, or coarse language. By the end of the story, the criminal is punished and order is restored to the community."
When I searched the cozy mystery market, I found:
• Macmillan has a
website dedicated to cozy mysteries.
•
The Cozy Mystery List lists slues of new titles.
• The
Cozy Mystery List Blog lists about 15 cozy mystery titles that will be published in December alone.
Judging by what I've found, the cozy mystery market in the U.S. is not dead, but simply going through the same downturn as other genres due do to the present economy and state of the publishing industry, as seems to be the case as suggested by the title of an upcoming panel discussion titled "How to Get Tales of Murder and Mayhem Published in a Deadly Market" on Feb. 23 in New York City (hosted by the
Mystery Writers of America New York Chapter)
So what's an American cozy mystery writer to do? Go overseas?
I'm all for long-shots and encouraging people to try what they want. But I have to pass along what my former agent said when, after she'd made the 18 or so attempts to sell my book,
The Wind Thief, to a large publisher, I asked her what the chances were of getting the book published in another country.
After a moment of shocked silence, she said (more or less), "That's crazy!" Publishers in those countries are busy trying to publish and find readers for authors from those countries. Why would I even think they had time for a foreign author?
So what I'd encourage Leah to do is write back and offer any information she's found about why she thinks the cozy mystery market is dead in America.
Then I'd encourage her to take the best possible path to publication, which is to create the best manuscript possible and do her research regarding agents and publishing houses before sending off her query letters.
What say you, Leah? How about anyone else?
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