The editing is getting to me. Not just copy, but real, true content editing.

I think Voinov is a prime example of an author who started out with a strong voice and was different, but was waylaid by desire to earn fast royalties which led to the serials with L.A. Witt. This has put out as public knowledge on the pages of Goodreads for all to see. My fear is that this will be the trend. Authors who want to be different changing over time to try to earn the fast royalties and gratification of romance reader squees and gifs. Or authors being too afraid to go in a different direction at all.

What has to happen for that to change? I have no idea, but recently I've been tired of trying new books and spending the time and money on reading when everything is the same.

Reply to post #3 (show post):
Well or even take S.a. McCauley's series The Border Wars. The novellas are good (to me), but they always end in a way that I'm like well, you could have just combined things, yes? But what really irritates me is they are $6 for 80 pages and they are to be a 5 book series. I mean come the fuck on.

There there. I also hate the lack of editing capability.

@Little Fish I can't much discuss Voinov (it's well known I dislike his early works as well as what I read of his later books), but I agree that he seems to have found a niche and decided to cling to it.

Part of the samey-ness certainly /has/ to do with the genre rules, which in m/m are at least including a HFN instead of just the HEA. Still, many authors don't use it. But m/m now not just has loads of former m/f rules and tropes, it has its own as well. Hard to navigate those and do something new.

If readers keep buying it, they'll keep writing it. There needs to be revolution! Open war! Blood in the streets. Errr...I got ahead of myself.

It can definitely be done, Kate. Authors just need to be brave and go for it if they truly want to write anything else. But then it returns to what Steel said and whether they are writing to earn a living or writing because they enjoy writing. Writing for the love of it is the only reason a prolific author has reason to change their formula.

Reply to post #6 (show post):
LOL. I'm currently buying a serial at £2 a piece, 30-35 pages each instalment. O.o

They are absolutely SF lite. In fact, in book 2 there is a shaving scene that was so close to the one in SF; I had deja vu.

Reply to post #9 (show post):
I'm not sure that isn't taking place, look at Cut&Run and those commercial series. CP has gone commercial. But I see no great difference between the series you mention and mainstream contemp m/m. If, then the difference is merely the basic quality of the writing. Not the content or plotting.

Reply to post #8 (show post):
Did you ever read Marion Husband's books?

Well and also they managed to drag out the "I love you"s for several books. It's similar to how Shadow of the Templar or ICoS or any other book with that fandom. You make people earn it, and it's going to get a much more rabid or stronger following, IMO.

Reply to post #15 (show post):
But isn't that also e.g. Josh Lanyon's formula, a mystery main plot with gay characters thrown in?

If you take the sex out of the series you mentioned there's not that much left standing. If you OTOH take the second plot line out of those books, they are quite the same as the rest of m/m.

It's not really that which disenchants me.

I haven't read so many of his, only half a dozen or so, and to me he always comes over a bit like Agatha Christie with a dose of romance and gay. Cozy mysteries is the term I believe within the het mystery sphere and I like them. Just the right thing for a rainy evening or afternoon.

I guess that's where our expectations differ and why our likes often as well. I dislike the (current) standard romance arc. This may be one reason why I don't see that much of a difference between the series and books you cite and the others. I agree that some of them have better writing on a craft level, but to me that's just window-dressing in a way. Where I look for things to entice and amuse me almost all of them are naked emperors.

good lord, i love this thread!!!!!!!

just my quick 2 cents as I am supposed to be doing something else, lol!

formulaic romances have their place. sometimes i want that . . .a light quick one night read that just makes me smile. its like watching a cheap rom-com only i suck at watching tv. gosh i forget whom, but someone on GR stated Cut & Run series was like reading Bruce Willis' Die Hard series and I completely agree. just fun escapism reading with characters that had some charisma.

as for SF, ICoS, and CP . . . in my mind, they are different. as kate stated, they have romantic arcs, but certainly are not traditional romances.
i have not hard the heart to read SA McAucley's series. I want to, it looks like I could be entertained, but I fear the price and the sameness of a few other series will keep me away.
Perhaps my thoughts and feelings are just my own immersion in m/m romance the past year. I have read enough to be jaded and disappointed. Though I have read some great stuff.

Reply to post #21 (show post):
"as for SF, ICoS, and CP . . . in my mind, they are different. as kate stated, they have romantic arcs, but certainly are not traditional romances. "

In what way are they not traditional?

The prices in this genre are out of control. I realize that large publishers expect readers to pay more but the sad reality is that small press found in M/M cannot compete with the quality of large publishers. They can't due to money, but they also should not expect readers to spend over 50$US for a "series" that amounts to a novel. I respect self-published authors who produce work that is comparable to the small press in quality and charge 50% less.

Cynics state that self-published authors do that since they "can" because they receive more of a cut in royalties, but that isn't the case. They still receive a relatively minor percentage.