Recently I saw a Q&A in which a literary agent said she’s more or less inundated by historical novel queries from writers—but that publishers aren’t acquiring the genre so she’s unable to take them on.
I agree! There are a lot of strange perceptions in the traditional publishing sphere. I find that there’s plenty of interest in historical fiction, but it’s not always recognized. I think agents lean towards genres like mystery or romance where making their author a midlister feels like a safer bet, true or not.
Also, HF combined with other genres is clearly big e.g. historical romance or historical mystery. And loads of award-winning literary fiction is also historical, such as James, Night Watch, Held, The Safe Keep....
Historical fiction is just a time period. Its possibilities are just about limitless. And true, a lot of people don't realize they're reading historical fiction when they pick up the latest Pulitzer winner.
Four of the current top ten bestselling fiction books in Canada are historical (1, 4, 9 & 10):
1. The Paris Express by Emma Donoghue
2. Dandelion by Jamie Chai Yun Liew
3. Etta and Otto and Russell and James by Emma Hooper
4. Finding Flora by Elinor Florence
5. The Life Cycle of the Common Octopus by Emma Knight
6. Watch Out for Her by Samantha M. Bailey
7. The River Has Roots by Amal El-Mohtar
8. The Grey Wolf by Louise Penny
9. The Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
10. The King's Messenger by Susanna Kearsley
I expect similar in the US. This agent's opinion is just one opinion and I'm not sure it's correct.
I agree! There are a lot of strange perceptions in the traditional publishing sphere. I find that there’s plenty of interest in historical fiction, but it’s not always recognized. I think agents lean towards genres like mystery or romance where making their author a midlister feels like a safer bet, true or not.
Also, HF combined with other genres is clearly big e.g. historical romance or historical mystery. And loads of award-winning literary fiction is also historical, such as James, Night Watch, Held, The Safe Keep....
Historical fiction is just a time period. Its possibilities are just about limitless. And true, a lot of people don't realize they're reading historical fiction when they pick up the latest Pulitzer winner.