There are many subgenres to romance and why books can fall under the romance genre. However, I keep asking myself why science fiction seems more complex to sell.
Let Your Nerd Flag Fly High, Girl!
I am a nerd. I was always a geeky and nerdy kid and never thought about it. Back then, it wasn’t an adorable term as it is today.
When I started reading books, I became addicted to losing myself in someone else’s world and words. I read fantasy, horror, and sci-fi. Those were the three genres that captivated me the most.
In my school days, I was often referred to as ‘Belle’ from the 1992 Disney movie Beauty and the Beast. Light brown hair, medium length, hazel green eyes, blue was my favourite colour, and I always had my nose deep in a book. So, the terms nerd and nerdy Belle were often used to refer to me.
Years passed, and I became obsessed with Star Trek: The Next Generation and Voyager. I watched The Original Series, Deep Space 9 and Enterprise. It made me a trekker! I became a fan of Stargate SG-1 and Battlestar Galactica 2004.
Science Fiction Has Many Subgenres To It
Science-fiction is a vast term encompassing anything from fantasy, romance, and horror to gothic and high-tech. Each of the series I mention is different from the others.
The beauty of science fiction is that it permits us to look ahead and far away. Movies like Event Horizon inspired me to write my own science-fiction novel series. I didn’t know it would qualify as a romance at the time, but it does.
It has a solid action-driven pace and some horror in it, as well as a romance interest. The series takes place in the twenty-fifth century and revolves around a twenty-first-century woman taken from her timeline and moved to the future onboard a starship.
Why Can’t Aliens Be As Cool As Vampires?
Despite my novel winning a prize and people leaving excellent reviews for my space novel series, I questioned many things.
My sci-fi was never sold as much as my Lord Impaler series book, Mrs. Blackwood, a vampire romance. Yet the storyline was intense and action-packed, with some torture, sex, and romance; what could a reader want?
When I created my space series, I ensured it had hooks and strong characters. I wanted to create something I would love to watch if it was on screen and needed to be read as a novel series.
The villains, the heroes, the atmosphere, and the emotions driving the story forward are pulled by a common goal of freedom. I wanted to understand why it didn’t sell as much.
How My Space Novel Had Me Quit On Sci-Fi
But mental problems surfaced, and I took everything down before I could investigate the bug any further. Everything I created and made myself for three years was deleted and gone.
Yet often during those years, I wondered why my science-fiction story was a miss when selling, but if people read it, they enjoyed it. Perhaps people don’t like sci-fi and prefer more straightforward novels and less world development. I wanted to forget about my sci-fi novel forever.
Now that I’m reborn and doing much better, I want to re-release my novels, including my space novel series. It is remastered and ready to hit the shelves.
But I want to make sure the same bug doesn’t occur. I’m counting the first release as white-box testing, where I study the operating system and ensure all bugs and problems are fixed.
Is It Possible That The Category Itself Is Too Broad?
When saying science-fiction or sci-fi, we think of movies like Alien, The Terminator, Predator, The Thing, Star Wars or series like Star Trek, Doctor Who and Farscape. The romance genre does not surface at the top. We see high-tech, fantasy, space opera, and horror among the titles mentioned.
So, right off the bat, science fiction and romance don’t seem to be a popular combination on the small or big screen. I talked to my friend and fellow author, Dora Esquivel, who also has a fantastic sci-fi novel that doesn’t sell as much as her other work.
That’s when I started thinking about how to make my sci-fi romance rise to the top without using sci-fi words. I did some research on other categories.
Sci-Fi Is More Than A Testosterone Genre
Their names stick out from the crowd while remaining in the right pool. I came across many different ways to call the genre I write and appeal to a wider variety of readers.
I have yet to re-release my space novel series and test the new category names to see if it will help me sell my book. I want it to be read because I believe it to be an incredible story. It is geeky, nerdy, techie and action-packed.
It has a female lead who is the nerdiest badass one would ever meet. Aliens, spacecraft, advanced weaponry, secret villain society, space, cannibals, battles, futuristic tech, and more!
Can Sci-Fi Be Just As Addictive As Vampires And Paranormal?
Science fiction, as a romance genre, is very much underrated. Because the sci-fi genre was marketed for men for so long, women learned to look the other way.
But now we know there are kickass gamers and hacker girls out there. Women are just as wise, if not more, in some cases. It’s about breaking the stereotype of what sci-fi used to be.
Outlander is an excellent example of soft sci-fi romance mixed with historical romance. But the book itself, though fitting in historical and sci-fi under the romance umbrella, checks all three boxes.
My novel is more of what we know sci-fi to be: futuristic, space, aliens, androids, high tech, etc. But it also falls under romance and is meant for any reader to enjoy.
Let’s Fight The Stereotypes Of Science Fiction
Because of the stereotype sci-fi has fallen victim to since its creation, women tend to look for other terms. It is quite sad because we belong to science fiction, too.
We’re nerds and geeks, too. I was born a nerd and a geek, a techie and crafty girl, and I am proud to be. My space romance novel series is science-fiction, but it’s for everyone to see read and enjoy!
There’s a void where nerdy, geeky, techie, hacky girl heroes should be. I want to fix that and have women of all ages finally get some representation in that genre.
We deserve a moment in the sun and be proud of how nerdy and geeky we are. This girl, though I’m 38 years old, haha, will never stop being a geeky child at heart. So, I’ll keep those sci-fi stories coming!
IVY WAYNE 