cj Sez: At the bottom of
this post are a few sites where you can find some general information on the
different subgenres in fiction writing.
They are generalized definitions because genre definition is
fluid…changing as stories overlap and become redefined by authors looking to
create a hot-selling (read that “unique”) niche. Ergo, the specific
requirements of a fiction genre are subject to further tweaks depending on the authors/editors/agents/publishers.
Mysteries usually start with a murder, but thrillers or
suspense can also. It’s what happens next that helps define the book’s genre. The
bottom line is that genre selection is all about marketing your wonderful words
to the right audience, and you should take the time to identify your potential
audience early on in the process.
You need to have at least an idea of what genre that you’re
writing and/or about to publish because you have to tell Amazon what it is in
order for your audience to find it. That means either you’re writing the genre
you love to read and know it backwards and forwards, or you’re going to have to
start reading in the genre you want to write so you can study and analyze the
methodology.
Question: If your book were on a library shelf, what
author/what book would it sit beside? Who do you think would buy your book: Someone
who likes Robert Ludlum’s Jason Bourne series, or someone who likes Edith
Maxwell’s historical cozy mysteries or someone who enjoyed “The Trouble with Poetry and Other Poems” by Billy Collins, or John
Meacham’s “american lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House”?
Each of those books is catalogued in a different genre. If
one of them is the one your novel would sit beside, then it is that reader you’d
write for and that reader you’d focus your marketing on.
Resource sites:
http://bit.ly/2c0rYWy (A PDF from MooreSchools.com)
If you’re in the Mobile, Alabama, area, here’s a wonderful
literary festival taking place October 15.
Thom Gossom, Jr., and Watt Key are slated to appear. I’ll be there, too, with a dish full of chocolate kisses. Yeah, I know, that's bribery, but stop by anyway and say hello.
Okay, you-all guys keep on keeping on, and I’ll try to do
the same.
cj
cjpetterson@gmail.com
PS: Be sure to stop
by Wednesday, Oct 5, for a guest post by best-selling author Kathy Aarons.
Love the comment from Vonnegut. Thanks for the references. Genres continue to get more and more confused as authors cross over the boundaries, so looking towards your target audience and marketing is a smart idea.
ReplyDeleteI appreciate the comment...thanks for stopping by, Mahala. And Vonnegut is too funny and true.
ReplyDelete