I recieved a very nice, very positive rejection for my novel from Canongate (big damn heroes, and yes that would be my choice of publishing house if I could publish with anyone in the world). The only thing that bugged me is that they said they rejected the novel on the basis that they didn't publish romance genre. Uh. I don't think my novel is a romance. Sure, I have joked that the closest thing to definition for it would be experimental chick-lit. I wonder if their answer would be the same if they didn't know I was a woman. Plenty of writers turn in novels that are basically a love story but no one would dream of calling that "romance". So the basis of my book is a romantic/erotic relationship but that doesn't make it of the romance genre anymore than you would consider The Bird Room or Apples romances.
In any case I think I've learned a lesson: I changed the synopsis I'm sending out a bit to include the other elements of the plot that have nothing to do with romance genre (the non-chronological narration, the music, the imaginary construction of the city). And just in case I've only put my initials so that nobody can tell if I'm a guy or a woman at first.
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