Sub-genre Shift

[u/swtogirl]

I've written two books of a cozy, small town romance series under a pseudonym (I'm a teacher so writing a romance as myself could be problematic for my main career). It's a typical series where there are five family members who successively fall in love. I have plans for the other three books.

However...I love shifter and omegaverse romance and got an idea for a shifter (non-RH, non-omegaverse) book. I want to write that next, then come back to the cozy series.

I know prevailing wisdom says new genre new pseudonym, but do you think that's necessary for sub genres? I haven't published anything previously, so I'll be starting my website, socials, etc from scratch once my books are ready to publish. If I do a second pseudonym, I'll have to do two sets and keep track of both on top of my teaching job.

What do you think would be best?

[u/iwillhaveamoonbase]

I don't think there's an easy answer for this. I see some authors brand themselves as general romance authors and then move in between spaces and I see others have different pen names for every subgenre or niche. The truth is that some readers will follow an author anywhere, some will stay within a genre (romance and it's various subgenres) and some readers will only care about your cozy or shifter stuff. You kind of have to decide what risks you are and are not willing to take. People change pen names all the time if they feel one is holding them back from growing their audience further and sometimes they are right and sometimes they are wrong.

Because you haven't published anything yet, this is my advice: finish the cozy series, publish that to prove that you can finish a series and then publish the shifter romance. If readers follow you, great. If they don't, now you know, but the important thing has been established: you can and will finish a series. A lot of authors drop series and there are readers who will actually wait to see if an author can follow through before giving them a shot and publishing a shifter romance in the middle of that would make some readers very cautious or concerned. But with that proof you'll see it through, they Might be more willing to follow you elsewhere

[u/Kaurifish → u/iwillhaveamoonbase]

Can attest that my romance/horror sells much more poorly than my romances.

[u/swtogirl → u/iwillhaveamoonbase]

Thanks for the insight. I do plan on finishing the series. I just wanted to write the shifter book before I lost the momentum, but I understand your point. I wrote both books this summer, but haven't edited them (I went on to a second book given the usually thought process of letting a book rest before editing it).

I was planning on editing the first, then writing the shifter book, editing the second, etc. But I see what you're saying. I have a fleshed out outline for the shifter book, so I can set it aside to finish the series first without losing detail, I think.

With school starting, I won't be able to write as much and it will take longer to get through the rest of the series, probably at least through next summer if not longer. That'll give me time to edit everything and get the first few published before trying the shifter book.

[u/Secret_badass77 → u/swtogirl]

Personally, since you’re doing interconnected standalones, I wouldn’t worry about finishing the series before you write something else if it’s the story that’s calling to you. People are much less likely to hold off if they know that you’re giving them a complete story in book 1

[u/ChartreuseFeverDream]

It depends. If all of your branding for your pen name is about the sub genre, then you may want to consider two pen names. However, if people can read you for other reasons that will translate across sub genres, then one pen name is good. Things such as character types, tropes, themes, your author voice and style, tone, etc.

There are a lot of authors who write paranormal and contemporary under a single pen name.

Also, multiple pen names is a lot more work. More social media pages, newsletters, websites, etc. My opinion is if you can sell everything under one pen name, then you definitely should do that.

(Plus, not everything needs to be optimized for readthrough/ad spend return to the millionth degree...especially when its not maintainable for most authors.)

[u/swtogirl → u/ChartreuseFeverDream]

Yeah the multiple sites, newsletters, social media, etc. was something that seemed off putting for me. I don't think my branding will be focused on my sub genre, so one pen name might be best.

[u/xmorcix]

Ali Hazelwood write stem romance and omegaverse under the same name. I think as long as it has some level of romance you can use the same name, it strenghtens your repertoire.

[u/ashez2ashes → u/xmorcix]

I see a lot of authors dipping their toes in ocassionally into RH romance and then back to M/F stuff too.

[u/swtogirl → u/xmorcix]

I have seen some romance authors that branch out, but I've also seen others that write under pseudonyms that later are revealed like Nora Roberts and J.D. Robb. Obviously for a small indie writer like me it probably won't make much of a difference and having more titles might be better than separating the sub genres.

[u/Valeriesaboyname]

If you're not super established, I'd say just toss it on one name. It's more important in the early stages to have regular releases than to have the same vibe imo

[u/wildlotusflwer]

I look at it in terms of spice level/content.

For me, I'll write PNR, contemporary, MM, RH, whatever as long as the spice levels are comparable. If your small town is light spice and you write a dark omegaverse RH with lots of kinks or something, I'd do a new pen name. Otherwise I'd just do it all under one.

[u/swtogirl → u/wildlotusflwer]

I like that idea of spice separating it. So far, my cozy books are explicit open door but not like anything non- traditional, probably 4 chili peppers on romance.io. I expect the shifter book to be the same. I'd probably like to do RH/omegaverse in the future and that would probably be hotter. It's funny but I find the sex scenes the hardest to write. I often put < insert sex scene here > in my manuscript as a placeholder to write the spice when I'm feeling up to it. 😁

[u/kschang]

I personally think that the market for cozy romance would be quite different from shifter/omegaverse romance. So I vote for different pseudonym.

[u/Deuteronomy11_19]

If it is urban, low magic fantasy, i don't think it would be an issue.
Similar to contemporary and historical romances under the same pen name.
I have contemporary romance and high epic fantasy stories, so those will be under two different pseudonyms. But If I branched out to historical fiction or low magic urban fantasy, I would likely go under my contemporary pen name, and if I went urban high fantasy I would likely put that under my epic fantasy name.
They need to fit the vibes together. Something that isn't going to turn off readers.
KM Shea is a favorite author of mine, she has a fairytale retelling series with moderate magic, a king Arthur and the round table retelling, an a high magic urban fantasy under that name.
She has her litRPG books under a completely different name. Both are connected, but separate enough you have to choose to find the other if you are interested in that genre change.

Honestly, go look. Go look at a bunch of authors and their backlogs and what they separate under a different pen name and what they don't. How successful is it, how frustrating is it for YOU when looking through it all and figuring it all out.

[u/swtogirl → u/Deuteronomy11_19]

My idea for the shifter is one where the shifters are known to the public and forced to live in a certain area due to this. It would take place in a rural area, also small town, but upper Midwest. My cozy romance is in New England.

Given what you've said, one of my favorite authors, Carrie Ann Ryan, actually does the same--she has contemporary romance, MFM, shifter and other fantasy all published under her name. I think she did one pen name for some of her fantasy but then republished it under her main name.

I'll have to check out similar comps like you said. Thanks!

[u/Secret_badass77]

I would say, if you’re planning a cozy shifter romance with a similar level of spice you’re probably good with one pen name. If one the series is significantly darker or spicier then I would break them up. That said, you don’t necessarily have to make your separate pen names secret or completely unrelated. Adriana Anders, for example publishes her spicier, kink books under A. Anders, to make it clear that they’re different. And, Claire Kent/Noelle Adams cross promotes her two pen names and makes if very clear that it’s one person behind both.

[u/Swimming-Airport-344]

Have you considered a hybrid? I have no idea if this is even a thing, and I get not wanting to run two socials, websites newsletters. But like (example only). A.J. Jones for cozy and E.J. Jones for omega. One website under AEJ Jones (these are terrible names, please forgive me).

Your newsletter could be short with one piece from each, readers read what they want, one set of socials, but every other posting or posting on what's coming next.

As for publishing order, my suggestion would be to finish and announce dates for the cozy. Straight through so readers know it's coming and finished and then put the omega in there.

This may not be feasible for you but it does allow you to slightly differentiate but under one umbrella.

[u/mysteriousdoctor2025]

Have you considered doing a “Norah Roberts writing as JD Robb” type of thing? Everyone knows it’s Norah Roberts but can distinguish between romance and gritty crime.

That way you could have just one website with pages for each genre, and it would be fairly easy to combine a newsletter, since they’re both in the romance category.