Authors Behaving Badly: A Little Author-on-Author Crime

We're getting into conference and convention season here and I recently listened to a panel of YA and MG authors talking about their books and their writing experiences--you know, stuff I subject my blog followers to on a semi-regular basis. ;-)

Everything was going along smoothly (a little discussion about how hard being an author can be--which I think is a good reality check from time to time) until one author turned to another and grinned, saying, "I guess we all could've made a bunch more money if we'd just written paranormals. Just add a vampire!" Everyone chuckled.

Except me.

My right eyebrow raised. But I kept my mouth shut. What the author's words didn't convey her tone and delivery did. That writing paranormals is somehow far easier and more lucrative than writing straight fiction or non-fiction.

It's the same attitude I've heard adult fiction and non-fiction authors use toward YA and MG authors (and picture book authors--oh, boy!). Like whatever they do is so much more difficult because they have adult readers (let's not dare point out that many adults never progress in reading level beyond eighth grade so it's not heavy vocabulary we fail to use that they're weilding). And, I'll be honest--condensing a story down to a picture book level that still conveys to an artist how they might best illustrate that kernel--that's skill.

But this is typical of every career path and job. Whatever I'm doing has got to be harder than what you're doing, right? Blech! And surely those paranormal authors are just tacking paranormal or supernatural aspects onto what could otherwise be a decent fiction read--just to make more money, right? Building worlds? Ha!

This, is obviously one of my literary peeves. I value all authors. We all struggle to dump the contents of our brains onto a page in some coherent form. We all delve into worlds other than our own to build interesting books. So a little respect? I think we've all earned it regardless of genre or target audience.

What do you all think? Have you also heard or read stuff like this? Have you heard any author say something nasty or belittling about any other genre? Am I the only one who thinks it hurts our entire profession?
~Shannon
PS--As a result of the panel's conversation I started wondering if I should leave one story I'm researching as straight non-fiction. I even argued it back and forth with my brother and my husband. I have since made up my mind about that particular tale's genre. Paranormal, baby!