Genre and Category
5
Imagine yourself in a local bookstore. What do you do after you’ve poked around the front display and, if you’re me, the discount table? You probably drift toward the area of your favorite genre. Bookstores, local and online, organize their books by genre and category because that’s how readers look for them.
Genre and category trip up a lot of querying authors. These classifications can seem mysterious for good reason—many of the opinions you’ll read will contradict each other. Your query needs to include both genre and category so the publisher knows how to sort your submission and because it shows you understand where your book fits into the marketplace. You wouldn’t be querying if you didn’t want to sell your book.
A cautionary word. Writing in a query that “every age will love this book” or that “this book is so unique it can’t be classified in a genre” tells the publisher you don’t know your book and you haven’t taken time to research the book market. With hundreds of potential books waiting in the slush, there’s little motivation for a publisher to choose an author who begins by essentially proclaiming themselves difficult to work with.
Here’s what you really need to know:
Genre and category are not the same thing, although you’ll often see them lumped together. Don’t get hung up on that. Know your own book and move forward.
Genre is the type of story you’ve written. Most fiction queries are for commercial fiction: mystery, fantasy, horror, romance, etc. If your story is a genre blend, note the dominant genre and explain more in the letter.
Category is a marketing term referring to your target audience. Young people want to read about main characters a couple of years older than themselves, not the same age. Take a bit of care here, especially with the distinction between MG and YA. Here’s a basic breakdown of categories: Adult, NA(18-30), YA(13+), MG(12+)
Children: BB(0-3), PB(4-7), ER(5-7), CB(6+)
Please remember not all publishers accept all genres and categories. Read each publisher’s guidelines before submitting. It only brings you unnecessary grief to submit a query that must be rejected automatically because the publisher simply doesn’t publish your genre or category.
Check out these articles for some more clarity.
Commercial, mainstream, and literary fiction defined:
https://www.writersdigest.com/write-better-fiction/commercial-mainstream-and-literary-fiction
Good list of genres:
https://literarydevices.net/genre/?utm_content=anc-true
Kindle genres—a must-have list:
https://thinkclickrich.com/authors-amazon-kindle-categories-list/
Kidlit categories:
https://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/how-to-choose-the-right-age-category-for-your-kidlit-work-in-progress
More next time,
Cindy