What is a book genre?
Sage Kay
Writer, reader, outfit repeater.
The concept of genres originated from an attempt to sort literary writing topics into separate, more orderly groups but has evolved over the years due to writers adhering to certain genre staples and readers coming to expect particular content from their favorite genres. Self-fulfilling prophecies, am I right?
Because of this shift, it’s more important than ever to know not only what a book genre is but what exactly your readers expect from your plot, characters, tone, and everything else in between. If you mess it up, they will let you know and you will regret it. No pressure!
What is a book genre?
A book genre is a categorization of a story’s plot structure, style, and overall theme. It’s one of the first things you should be able to identify about your writing project, and what you’d use in story pitches and marketing materials to lock in your demographic.
Think about how much information you glean from learning a book’s genre. Fantasy? Magic, politics, some sort of war. Romance? Likely a meet-cute, hijinks, and a happily-ever-after. Historical fiction? Easy—history but make it fiction.
Before your readers even get to judge your book by its cover, they’ll look at what genre it is, so make sure you have a firm grasp of what your project’s genre and market it as such to snag those single-genre reader votes.
Why do genres matter?
Genres help us categorize what kind of story we’re about to read by a simple word or phrase, sure, but behind that cutely decorated bookstore sign is an entire world of expectations that, if you’re not familiar with the genre’s qualities, will shoot your debut dead on arrival.
The romance genre is probably the best example of this. In this genre, if your love interests do not end up together in the end, guess what? It’s not a romance novel! That’s right, a single (albeit important) detail can make or break your place among the great romance novelists of our time.
So, in short, genres tell readers what to expect and writers what to write.
There’s still plenty of room for you to flex your creative muscles, but if you’re worried about sticking to genre rules, check out some of our posts on genre staples!
How do subgenres fit in?
A subgenre is basically a smaller, more specific genre within a genre. They allow you as a writer to better target exactly what demographic you’re writing for. It can also take some of the pressure off of fitting your story neatly within a genre’s description; have a romance story between a human and some sort of sexy ghost? Call that a paranormal romance and watch the profits roll in.
A few other examples of subgenres could be romance fantasy (romantasy for those in the know), dystopian fiction (a subgenre of sci-fi), or horror comedies.
Top book genres
If you’re a write-to-market author or just a writer who wants to ensure their story has a wide and willing audience, it pays to know what the current top book genres are. Here were the top five book genres of 2024:
1. Romance
2. Fantasy
3. Self-Help/Memoir
4. Young Adult
5. True-Crime/Thriller
While genres like romance and fantasy have dominated top genre lists for years now, others like self-help and true-crime are what you would call on the up and up. Outranking genres such as historical fiction and sci-fi is no small feat, but I have a feeling the success of these genres has quite a bit to do with recent world events… which brings me to my next point.
Not only is it a good idea to keep your eye on market trends in the reader world so you can plan releases and such, but sometimes it can be even more helpful to keep your eye on the world around you. What’s the socio-political state of the world right now? What are people complaining about? What elements of everyday life are people trying to escape? These questions can point you in the right direction of what topics will be poppin’ later and provide some explanation for why some topics are poppin’ right now.
In conclusion, surprise! Genres have way more going on than simple peeks into what a book will be about—in some cases, they may just make or break your release! But have no fear, NovelPad is here. Check out our posts on genre rules and staples so that you never have to worry about readers DNF-ing your book for not including their favorite genre element.
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