After working in the commercial fiction industry for over 20 years, there isn’t much publishing consultant and author Kate Cuthbert hasn’t seen. But what makes a story a commercial hit and what can we learn from commercial author greats?
Writers Victoria’s Steph Duthie sat down with Kate to chat through commercial fiction shifts, how book covers communicate more than we realise, the potential impact of AI, and what to expect in her upcoming workshop Tricks and Tools of Commercial Fiction.
Where did your love for the written word start?
I was a precocious reader, which means I learned to read at a very young age. And reading remains my favourite pastime – a way to de-stress, relax, and to enter the world. When I was young, I must have read Black Beauty hundreds of times. Now as an adult, the authors I love and come back to are Melissa Lucashenko, who topped my recent 100 Australian books list, [Canadian author and poet] Michael Ondaatje, and [American novelist] Barbara Kingsolver, and I’m always here for a new Ashley Poston novel. Then there’s some great Australian writers like Dinuka McKenzie who has a new crime book out, She Lied First. Currently, that’s my ‘reward’ book for when I finish all my work for the day. My favourite book is Slaughterhouse Five by Kurt Vonnegut.
You’ve been working in the book industry for 20 years, holding senior roles within publishing as well as working as a consultant. What has been the biggest shift you’ve seen over the last five years and where do you see genre fiction headed?
It’s been really rewarding. I’ve been jumping up and down and yelling ‘what about genre fiction!’ in a way that has really defined my career in publishing. The biggest industry shift is actually having people start to sit up and take notice, and it’s really exposed how it can help tell stories about the world and who we want to be. For example, the Emerging Writers Festival had their whole opening night built around horror. What a joy that was! I could never have expected that 5 or 10 years ago. We saw R.F. Kuang headlining Sydney and Melbourne with people lining up for hours to get their books signed. I think that there’s been a real shift in recognising that readers read widely, and that there is, in fact, no divide between genre fiction and literary fictions. There are so many conversations, lessons, experiences and growth that genre fiction brings
I think that there’s been a real shift in recognising that readers read widely, and that there is, in fact, no divide between genre fiction and literary fictions. – Kate Cuthbert
Commercial fiction is a world of its own, with hot genres coming and going. What are the top genres the commercial world can’t get enough of right now?
I know Romantasy has dominated the conversation for the last six years, but it’s not a new genre at all – we are starting to see it splinter down into subgenres. There’s been enough Romantasy published that (A) the term doesn’t mean anything anymore, and (B) people are able to specialise more. So, we’re seeing dark academia; we’re seeing the return of paranormal romances with shifters and vampires; we’re starting to see light-hearted, cozy fantasy. I think we’ll continue to see the romantasy umbrella term fall away and these subgenres grow.
I also think the horror world is having an incredible moment, with subversive subcultures of horror written by women for women. We’re starting to see horror combine with other genres – like romantic horror – and the real risk-taking of writers trying to make sense of the world around them through the subversive nature and tropes within horror.
Your workshop covers everything from using point of view to where to start your story. What areas are you most excited to cover?
I really like teaching this workshop because we go through the narrative building blocks: we look at all aspects that a good story should have and we take a really short but sharp deep dive into what each of those building blocks can do through commercial writers who’ve done really well. It’s a great opportunity to have a top-down approach to what makes a story a story and what elements as writers you can play with. As an example, what can you draw out of setting to enhance your themes? What kind of point of view is really going to help make your story resonant? Each narrative building block is important, and they’re all so fun to think about on a craft level.
It’s basically a course for everyone. We’re going to pull examples out of commercial fiction, but it’s very much a workshop to help you write and craft your story.
It sounds like it’s not just about the basics of storytelling but more about exploring and teasing it out. Do you find a lot of people get stuck into either the methodology and they miss the playfulness behind their writing?
I know that writing is painful. It always is. I mean, any act of creation is painful, but there should be play to it. You don’t learn anything or grow as a creative if you’re not playing and exploring. Where can you break the rules a little bit? What can you learn from the foundations and then just subvert a little in your own writing? These questions allow you to move away from the mechanics and into the art of it. That’s why I think play is so crucial. There’s always going to be one aspect that needs to take centre stage. There’s simply no space in a story for all of areas to have equal billing, and it would probably be quite a confusing story if you were doing it that way. So, there always has to be one thing that is driving your story, and then everything else supports it as best as it can. Play can uncover what that drive should be.
There’s always going to be one aspect that needs to take centre stage. There’s simply no space in a story for all of areas to have equal billing, and it would probably be quite a confusing story if you were doing it that way. – Kate Cuthbert
Often, we think character development or plot is what carries stories forward. But why is story momentum or pace important?
Momentum and pacing are crucial, regardless of the genre you’re working in. Even if you think you’re telling quite a methodical or quiet story, the pace is what keeps the reader reading. It’s what happens and how it unfurls, the consequences of the actions. You don’t want the reader getting bored on the page or putting your book down to pick up their phone. You want your reader to be so deeply engaged in the story that they forget that they’re reading. And that’s what momentum and pacing can do for you.
A lot of crime stories, some horror, even some of the science fiction stories have breakneck paces where you are just flying through the book to try and find out what happens. And I mean, that’s a specific reading experience that can be quite exciting. But too much pace can mean you get to the end and don’t remember anything about the story because you’re being carried along in a whirlwind without any time to touch ground. So, there needs to be a balance, and the pace needs to suit your genre and the story you’re telling.
Your book How to Judge a Book by its Cover was released last year and focuses on the impact of book covers and titles. What’s your biggest piece of advice when it comes to covers and titles?
There’s always been conversation about what a book cover is. Is it art or is it purely commercial? Or perhaps it’s just book ‘packaging’? The reality is the elements that go into a cover communicate with the reader.
I’m going to get a bit technical on you for a second. There’s a theorist called Hans Robert Jauss that talks about something called the Horizons of Expectation – and this is really fundamental in genre fiction. The basic theory says we tell stories constantly, regardless of whether we’re reading or not. Our whole existence is telling stories to communicate, to elaborate, and to explain. So, we carry around all the stories that we’ve ever heard or told, and this affects how we step into a new story. For example, it often gets boiled down into tropes – such as a Cinderella story. If you think the story has this kind of narrative, you carry certain expectations. So Jauss essentially argues that you can’t enter a story clean and without pre-conceived expectations.
I wanted to talk about whether these expectations start at a book cover, and whether we start building our horizons based on what’s happening there. And, in turn, if this influences how people enter books, because the cover’s already communicating the kind of story they want to read. This also raises the question of whether a cover can stop people from picking it up in the first place. For example, even if you don’t read horror, you know what a horror book looks like. So, if you don’t like horror and the cover is communicating that genre in some way, you won’t pick it up regardless of what the story is.
Our whole existence is telling stories to communicate, to elaborate, and to explain. So, we carry around all the stories that we’ve ever heard or told, and this affects how we step into a new story. – Kate Cuthbert
Talking on book covers, this AI era is creating a bit of a divide with authors when it comes to cover artwork. Some are comfortable using AI generated covers, and others feel that it using it could lead readers to question if their writing is also AI generated. Do you think using AI for covers could impact readers feelings about a book?
I think it’s really important to make a distinction between AI tools and generative AI. Designers have been using AI tools for decades. Those are the kinds of tools that are in a designer’s toolkit, and help a designer create their work. This is quite different from generative AI images. I think when we start to move into this space, we move into the unethical. This is anti-environment and anti-artist. As a creative, I don’t touch it and I would expect the people that I work with to be ethically aligned on that. But the reality is there aren’t any great tools for figuring out what’s been AI-generated and what isn’t. Unfortunately, the more AI generated covers we see the more, it gets normalised. I think the best thing for creatives is to call your MPs and let them know what you feel about generative AI and data centres. This is one of the ways we as creatives can fight back and refuse to let it be normalised.
After working on a piece for years, it can be tempting to send your manuscript to every publishing house under the sun as soon as it’s finished. What advice do you have for writers at this stage of the journey? (any pitfalls or common mistakes you see?)
This is the part that I think is always heartbreaking and kind of hard to hear. But your goal is not to be published. Your goal is to develop a relationship with a publishing partner. And it can feel like an absolute slog. There’s an urge to just jump in and get it done. But you want to be very, very careful, because publishers are just people too. They are going to be tied to you, and hopefully your future for some time. You want to make sure that you’re getting what you need out of that relationship as well. So, it’s important to be quite careful about who you choose to get published with. Look at the kind of work that they’ve done in the past and whether they hold similar values to you. Speak to other authors about the realities of working with them, but not just the blockbuster authors! Find out what the marketing and sales support was like. Try and get as much information as possible.
There’s a lot of different aspects to self-publishing that can be quite attractive and quite lucrative in terms of building a long-term career. However, working with commercial publishers can give you access to amazing people who really want to be there because they love books. But within that commercial sensibility, there are trade-offs. So, being quite deliberate and asking questions and not worrying too much about whether asking questions is going to make you unattractive, I think is probably one of the key things that I would really recommend.
What’s on your nightstand or a current read you’re loving?
I have just finished the last Heartstopper graphic novel, Heartstopper 5. It was very sweet, and it really rounded out the story nicely. And I’m just about to start She Lied First – the brand-new book from Dinuka McKenzie. I think Dinuka is one of Australia’s smartest crime writers, so I’m excited to get started on that.
Feel like your story’s pace needs some where or are not sure where to start or end your story? Join Kate for her upcoming workshop: Tools and Tricks of Commercial Fiction.