The Future’s Bright, The Future’s…
Well, if I had the answer to that question, I would probably be a very rich woman! Being able to predict which way the market is going to head would be a very handy trick to have. But ,as I don’t have such ability, (clearly, by my impoverished life as a writer) I will use other means.
As the old chinese/Tibetan/ or maybe-I-just-made-it-up proverb says; ‘in order to see the future, we must look to the past (or something like that). So my way of looking at how our genre may progress in the next five years is to look back to 2005 and see what the paranormal genre was doing then.
In 2005 nearly 20% of all romance novels had a paranormal story line, compared to 14% in 2004, according to Romance Writers of America figures. Back then vampires were one of the hottest trends and they have just gone from strength to strength. I can’t see that stopping any time soon, though the craze will end. Anything that is this hot will eventually burn itself out.
In 2005 Twilight had only just been released. This came as a huge surprise to me. I assumed it had been released about the same time as the whole hype started around the movie, but of course I was wrong. It is also something of a comfort. It took a good few years for the novel to really take off. Still hope for me yet!
The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova was a big hit in 2005. It is a more intelligent look at the paranormal and 
vampires. I enjoyed this book, though it was a bit slow in places for me. It was a big hit in the UK because it was reviewed on the Richard and Judy book club (a tv show, for those in the States who have no idea what I am talking about).
There is no getting away from Harry Potter. It was at its height back in 2005. However, this does seem to be a craze which has died a death. I’m sure there are still some die-hard fans out there, but on the whole you don’t really hear about it any more.
So what have I learnt by looking back five years? Well, YA fiction is still hot stuff, even for the grown ups, and vampires are even bigger news thanks to Edward and his crew.
Personally 
I hope that the future of paranormal and fantasy will get darker and scarier. I’ve had enough of all these ‘nicey-nicey’ vegetarian vampires, and adults reading children’s books. There are certainly some things that are hot at the moment which I would love to see more of (True Blood, for example. I had to mention it just so I could get a gratuitous picture of Eric in the post!), though I hope they focus on Team Eric, rather than Team Bill!
And finally my winner for The Lost Boys DVD is Ingrid! Congrats. Email me at marissaelliott@hotmail.com with your address and it will be heading your way!
C.J. Ellisson
Marissa Farrar
Kerri Nelson
Liz Pelletier
Suzanne Johnson
Boone Brux
Dawn McClure
Liz Pelletier loves to write dark paranormal romances, although they tend to turn into black comedies by the time she's done. 
In her spare time, she co-owns and manages two fabulously popular sites dedicated to writers and readers.
Dawn McClure is a multi-published paranormal romance author. She lives in BFE South Dakota, where the nearest mall is a depressing 80 miles from her house. 
Between the ice storms and the tornados prevalent in her area she works at an elementary school as a paraprofessional by day and writes humorous, snarky paranormals by night.
C.J. Ellisson lives near Washington DC with her husband, two children, two Staffordshire bull terriers and a young cat to whom she’s newly allergic. 
After spending most of her working life associated with real estate, she’s now pursuing a new passion of fiction writing. Her Erotic Urban Fantasy series stars a smart, strong, and slightly sarcastic female vampire running a resort for the undead in Alaska.
Suzanne Johnson grew up in Northwest Alabama in the shadow of Elvis Presley, Bear Bryant, and the annual Mule Day festivities. A finely honed sense of the absurd was inevitable.
A longtime New Orleans resident, she exorcised her Hurricane Katrina demons in Royal Street and River Road, first installments in a new urban fantasy series coming in 2011 from Tor Books. Suzanne lives in Auburn, Alabama
Kerri Nelson- After an education and career in the legal field, Kerri began to pen romantic suspense novels with a legal or law enforcement theme. Kerri is a multi-published author of romance in many different genres and her latest paranormal 
“Vegan Moon” will release from Eternal Press in September 2010.
She is a true southern belle and when she’s not reading or writing, you’ll find her baking homemade goodies for her family.
Boone Brux lives in Anchorage, Alaska, where there’s never a pesky sunshine problem during the winter. Living seventeen years in the bush gifted her with valuable life lessons like, 
Marissa Farrar, born in Devon, England, loves to travel and has lived in both Australia and Spain. She now resides outside of London with her husband and two children. 
She has a degree in Zoology, but her true love has always been writing. Marissa writes horror as well as paranormal romance. Alone is her debut novel and her second, The Dark Road, will be released soon.
Wow, I’m with you. I didn’t know Twilight came out that long ago.
I love all the paranormal shows on TV. Eric is hot, but right now I’m hooked on Dean from the Supernatural show. Good Lord, that man is hot. (But sshhhh, he’s a just a human. He’s not a bad ass vampire.) lol
Had no idea about Twilight being released in 2005. I think this speaks well for series, when it is good and people talk about it, it goes viral. Remember reading about the movie, slated to be a B teen soft slasher film, but soon it began to take on a life of its own, and how it saved a struggling studio. I read I think it was in PW that 28% of the books sold in 2008 were in the Twilight series.
Team Eric. I’m definitely on his support staff. Bill got a little too skinny and pale for my tastes (pun intended). I love the line, “Is Bill not up to snuff?”
I hope paranormal is a wave that only gets stronger. Don’t know about the vegetarian vampire thing, and I do like good alpha vampire males, but breaking some of the traditional rules (perhaps darker, perhaps not) brings some fresh air to stories, IMHO. I never liked it that the vampires in Anne Rice’s books couldn’t have sex. Well, the market corrected that one in spades!
Great post.
Wow, 2005, huh? Thought Twilight had come out sooner than that.
Great post.
And GO TEAM ERIC!
I knew Twilight had come out way earlier than it’s popularity indicated, but hadn’t realized it was 2005 either. Great angle on the post, Marissa. In order to succeed one must always look to the past (if only not to make the same mistakes!)
I was so glad the Charlaine Harris’ books got Sookie away from Bill and I’ve been reading the series since it came out nine or so years ago. I’m looking forward to see the angle they take things for HBO! Team Eric!! But I also have to admit that Alcide is incredibly hot and I’d certainly like to see more of the shirtless shifter on screen!
Not to mention he could grace my book cover anytime!
Thanks for the comments, ladies. When Twilight was first released do you think Stephanie Myer was wondering if anyone would read it? She had never written anything before Twilight and only wrote it because of a dream she had. Just amazing.
As for True Blood, well I’ve read the first eight books and my favourite parts are always when Eric is in it. The novel where he loses his memory is just hot!
Dawn – I get you on the Dean thing. He may be just a mere human, but you sure wouldn’t kick him out of bed for eating biscuits!
My husband was teaching at a University in FL in early 2006. We had gone into a B&N and it had a poster of one of Meyer’s Twilight books and he said it was all his students talked about, so maybe it really sparked on the college level–and probably high school–back then.
Has anyone been to the new Harry Potter Theme park? That looks really fun.
Great trip down memory lane! I was way into Harry Potter then–never had a clue I’d end up writing a book about a wizard. Of course, if my book sells a millionth of HP, I’ll be happy
The Twilight books didn’t make my radar until after the whole series was out. I missed everything between August 2005 and most of 2006 (Hurricane Katrina and aftermath–pop culture didn’t exist for a year).
Hi Suzanne. I think Katrina is a pretty good excuse for missing out on pop culture! I was in Spain when the whole Twilight thing was kicking off, writing my own vampire romance. I came back to England for a visit and it was everywhere and I thought ‘oh shit, someone has already written my novel!’ Luckily I managed to convince myself to read a copy and breathed a sigh of relief as they were completely different. Anyway, what I am trying to say is that the whole thing passed me by as well!
With you on all of this Marissa but The Historian left me cold, I don´t think I even got to half way through before giving up.
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