Publishers and agents view hybrid novels (ones that cross-genre) as too high a marketing risk if submitted to them by a new author. They prefer to stick to safe formulas that sit comfortably on labelled shelves in book shops and only break the rules with their established authors, often begrudgingly.
One of my favourite authors, Dean Koontz, refuses to churn out the same old thing time and time again. Some of his most successful novels have been of the hybrid variety, which his editor wanted shelved. He fought him, and thank goodness for that; to have had all those words buried forever, would have deprived millions of readers of an enriching experience.
This begs the question, how many "word" funerals take place a week involving unknown literature lost forever in paupers' graves?
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