Julia Quinn wants to do away with the term”Avonization”
But can it ever die? Avon/Harper Collins has branded itself as the go-to imprint for historical romances of the predominantly Regency persuasion that don’t fall on the “meaty” side. Not to say the novels lack emotional depth, but they aren’t all, say…Marsha Canham deep. Whether you love the variety offered by the imprint or bemoan the dearth of variety, you must admit that Avon has subtly become synonym to “homogenization”. Call it the result of having such a large roster of talented (Regency) historical romance authors–and very, very popular ones to boot.
Not only does Avon boast of Julia Quinn, but Eloisa James, Stephanie Laurens, Adele Ashworth, Laura Lee Guhrke, Teresa Medeiros,et al are fellow Avon Ladies, and in the past, the imprint has been home to Lisa Kleypas, Sabrina Jeffries, Christina Dodd and Karen Hawkins. And though some people may shake their heads in denial, Avon used to publish Laura Kinsale, and does still carry Karen Ranney & Judith Ivory in their ranks. Unpublished authors of (Regency) historicals jump for joy at the thought of becoming a bona fide Avon Lady. Readers can spot an Avon(whether they are aware of differing imprints or not) a mile away for Avon is one of the last publishers to regularly feature clinch covers.
Everyone knows that an Avon (Regency Historical) romance promises the light-hearted, neatly drawn, somewhat “wallpaper” romp readers have favored for the past six or seven years.
These books sell well, and since Avon is in the business of making money, they of course will buy what they have a hunch will sell. Because of Avon’s roster, we then see other imprints who haven’t branded themselves the way Avon has acquire authors in the “Avon” mold in hopes of seeing some of that shining success spread to their authors. Then we get into the tricky subject of the chicken and the egg: do readers truly only want (Regency) historical romps, or are they buying them in droves because that is all that is on the shelves?
Is Avon, among others, confusing author popularity with the period and tone with which they write?
I think so, which is why the term “Avonization” exists.
After googling the word “Avonization”, this tidbit from Plot Monkeys in particular caught my eye:
The editors all say writing to “trends” is, basically, stupid, because publishers don’t create trends. And that it is not the publishers who are demanding only Regency-era historicals with xyz plotlines, it’s just all the authors are giving them. They say they’re not publishing other things because authors aren’t submitting those types of things. They all sounded like they would love for a fabulous, juicy western to cross their desk.
Other blogs weigh in:
2 comments July 23, 2007
