Writing in More than One Genre

I was following links recently, reading reviews of mine and my wife's books. I know, I know, never read reviews, even if they're not yours. Still, I was curious to see what people were saying, especially since the ones I was reading of mine were for an old book that had recently gotten some new attention.

One reader said, of a historical, that the book was fine, they just didn't like historicals.

Instead of getting hysterical, as I am wont to do, and screaming, "It's clearly marked as a historical! Why would you do that?" I got to thinking how this is what happens when you write more than one genre, in our out of romance. I write contemporary, paranormal, historical, western, and then drill down to m/m, f/f, menage and more. If you're a fan, you might buy a book just because it's me, (flattering!) and then find out you don't love the theme/genre.

Hey, it could be worse, I could be my wife, BA Tortuga, who gets accused of letting her best friend Sean write her books when she does BDSM, and who also writes non-romance horror O.O

What I'm saying is as a writer, I have to understand that a reader can read one of my contemporaries and love it, and grab the next book and go, ah man, that has spanking! Hated it.

This is what I get for writing in more than one genre, and I remind myself that I should be grateful for it. The ebook age has really allowed authors to explore what they love to write. Back in the day of the big six only, you often got pigeonholed into one genre, and if you switched, it was a huge career move.

Now it just leads to an occasional baffled reader, and that's okay. We all love what we love.

So, do you read in more than one genre? Will you follow an author to an unfamiliar one just because it's their book?

Thoughts?

XXOO

Julia