Genre. Oh the agony!

Tripper · Aug 15, 2013

I just published my book on Amazon, and the single most worrisome part (aside from wondering how it will be received) was picking the two genres that you're allowed to pick. I agonized over the decision for a week or so while I was finishing up the manuscript.

I don't know that I'd call my book Romance or not. I can only say that it's a bit Nicholas Sparksish (for better or for worse). I ended up going with Contemporary Fiction and Contemporary Romance, but the thing is, when I look at all of the books in the Romance category, there are SO many with steamy covers which is a far cry from what mine is.

Now, it's debatable whether or not my book has a happy ending, so I don't know if it fits in within the Romance "rules" or not, but I think it's a romantic book. I'd certainly call it a love story (actually, two love stories...one is more of a mother-daughter thing) but it seems like there is a genre missing for that...or at least a sub genre in Romance. Where do sweet love stories go?

But, when I look at Goodreads, all of Sparks' books and books like Bridges of Madison County seem to be categorized as romance. Do you think there's a disconnect between the "Romance Genre" (HEA) and what the rest of the world thinks the Romance Genre is?

I admit I tend to overanalyze, so it's probably not a big deal.

One last thing: Sparks puts his books in Literary fiction on Amazon. That sort of took me by surprise. (But let's avoid a Sparks bashing, shall we.

) Although I think my book would appeal to his readers, I don't think I'd consider my book Literary Fiction by a long shot.

JulianneQJohnson · Aug 15, 2013

Qualifying exactly what genre a book is can be difficult. Certainly there are criteria to be met in any genre, but those criteria have a certain amount of overlap, and there are books that bridge genres. You can find the same book in many different sections depending on what bookstore you go to, so it isn't just writers having difficulty deciding what genre something is.
The difference between supernatural mystery and paranormal thriller, for example, can be squishy and vague, depending on the many sources available for defining them. I got to a point where, after much study and frustration, I said "My novel is this! I have decreed it!" But the questions still remain.

Cranky1 · Aug 15, 2013

I think it's fairly standard that a romance novel has to have a HEA. I believe that is even a requirement for a RWA award. If the rest of the world thinks a romance novel is purely about the romance, and not about the ending, then there is a disconnect.

I think Sparks' books are commercial fiction with a romantic element. My fear is that you may catch heck from readers who stumble across your book, expecting a traditional ending.

If the story focuses on the mother and daughter, then it may fall within "women's fiction".

sunandshadow · Aug 15, 2013

Cranky1 said:
I think it's fairly standard that a romance novel has to have a HEA. I believe that is even a requirement for a RWA award. If the rest of the world thinks a romance novel is purely about the romance, and not about the ending, then there is a disconnect.

I think Sparks' books are commercial fiction with a romantic element. My feat is that you may catch heck from readers who stumble across your book, expecting a traditional ending.

If the story focuses on the mother and daughter, then it may fall within "women's fiction".

Yeah. If the ending isn't HEA or HFN, it's not a romance, and romance readers may be upset if they feel tricked into reading it. Sparks' stories are not genre romance. Wish you had asked us before choosing your genres.

Tripper · Aug 15, 2013

sunandshadow said:
Yeah. If the ending isn't HEA or HFN, it's not a romance, and romance readers may be upset if they feel tricked into reading it. Sparks' stories are not genre romance. Wish you had asked us before choosing your genres.

Thanks for the comment! It's interesting that you say tricked into reading it. On Goodreads, Bridges of Madison County (here's the link) is classified by readers, 4 to 1, Romance to Women's fiction, yet it doesn't have a HEA or HFN ending either. So is Spark's Dear John. That's why I'm thinking there's a big disconnect between what the "rules" are and how the public defines the genre.

It's not too late to change my genre, I just can't think of a better one that Romance. Maybe Women's fiction, but that doesn't feel right for the book. Maybe I should just leave it in General Fiction...but dang, that's broad.

Again, thanks for commenting!

virtue_summer · Aug 15, 2013

Tripper said:
Thanks for the comment! It's interesting that you say tricked into reading it. On Goodreads, Bridges of Madison County (here's the link) is classified by readers, 4 to 1, Romance to Women's fiction, yet it doesn't have a HEA or HFN ending either. So is Spark's Dear John. That's why I'm thinking there's a big disconnect between what the "rules" are and how the public defines the genre.

Here's the question: What do you gain by labeling it romance?

Only answer I can think of: appealing to those seeking genre romance.

Meanwhile these are the people familiar with the definition and the conventions of the genre. They're the people likely to get mad if you tell them you're giving them a romance novel and don't deliver. Narrowing your focus might be a good idea if you narrow it down to the people most likely to love your book. But is that what you'd be doing here?

Cranky1 · Aug 15, 2013

Tripper said:
Thanks for the comment! It's interesting that you say tricked into reading it. On Goodreads, Bridges of Madison County (here's the link) is classified by readers, 4 to 1, Romance to Women's fiction, yet it doesn't have a HEA or HFN ending either. So is Spark's Dear John. That's why I'm thinking there's a big disconnect between what the "rules" are and how the public defines the genre.

It's not too late to change my genre, I just can't think of a better one that Romance. Maybe Women's fiction, but that doesn't feel right for the book. Maybe I should just leave it in General Fiction...but dang, that's broad.

Again, thanks for commenting!

Did you read the comments for the book you linked? There were many, many readers who were angry because the "romance" label was a marketing ploy to tap into women who do like romance.

gingerwoman · Aug 15, 2013

Frankly it sounds like you are someone who should have tried for an agent rather than self publishing since from what I've read some agents are looking for love stories written by men that don't have happy endings in the hopes they are the next Nicholas Sparks. (Purely my own opinion)
The one Nicholas Sparks book I read I really did not enjoy and I did not think it was literary and I have two degrees in literary fiction so I think I have some idea of literary when I see it..... even though I write naughty menage.)

gingerwoman · Aug 15, 2013

Cranky1 said:
Did you read the comments for the book you linked? The were many, many readers who were angry because the "romance" label was a marketing ploy to tap into women who do like romance.

Yes. I see why Sparkes uses literary although I don't think it has those qualities. General Fiction is the appropriate category for The Notebook which is the one I've read. I think Sparkes is kind of lumped in with Anita Shrieve who is literary.
I am sure the marketing people all wanted Sparkes to be romance since romance sells. Sparkes books come up as Romantic Suspense on Amazon when I'm looking at Best Selling Romantic Suspense on there.

Tripper · Aug 15, 2013

Cranky1 said:
Did you read the comments for the book you linked? The were many, many readers who were angry because the "romance" label was a marketing ploy to tap into women who do like romance.

Thanks for the comment! No, I didn't read the comments...until now. Brutal, some of them were. I read it in my early 20's and remember liking it at the time.

gingerwoman · Aug 15, 2013

virtue_summer said:
H

Meanwhile these are the people familiar with the definition and the conventions of the genre. They're the people likely to get mad if you tell them you're giving them a romance novel and don't deliver. Narrowing your focus might be a good idea if you narrow it down to the people most likely to love your book. But is that what you'd be doing here?

I think there are a lot of people who may not realize they are familiar with the definitions but who will just get mad because they buy romance for the happy endings.
If you can still change it I would change it to "Women's Fiction" there are plenty of people who like reading
"Women's Fiction" it really sounds like it would be a better fit there. Anyway you will be a small fish in a giant sea in romance with a book that may not appeal to a lot of romance readers. So that's the other side to Romance being a more popular category.
You'll find your cover fits in more with the "Women's Fiction" books too. I really like your title.

If I was looking for an emotional relationship Jodi Picoult type book (which I do read at times) like your title and cover suggest, I'd go more for the General Fiction, Women's Fiction type categories.

Evangeline · Aug 15, 2013

Tripper said:
I just published my book on Amazon, and the single most worrisome part (aside from wondering how it will be received) was picking the two genres that you're allowed to pick. I agonized over the decision for a week or so while I was finishing up the manuscript.

I don't know that I'd call my book Romance or not. I can only say that it's a bit Nicholas Sparksish (for better or for worse). I ended up going with Contemporary Fiction and Contemporary Romance, but the thing is, when I look at all of the books in the Romance category, there are SO many with steamy covers which is a far cry from what mine is.

Now, it's debatable whether or not my book has a happy ending, so I don't know if it fits in within the Romance "rules" or not, but I think it's a romantic book. I'd certainly call it a love story (actually, two love stories...one is more of a mother-daughter thing) but it seems like there is a genre missing for that...or at least a sub genre in Romance. Where do sweet love stories go?

But, when I look at Goodreads, all of Sparks' books and books like Bridges of Madison County seem to be categorized as romance. Do you think there's a disconnect between the "Romance Genre" (HEA) and what the rest of the world thinks the Romance Genre is?

I admit I tend to overanalyze, so it's probably not a big deal.

One last thing: Sparks puts his books in Literary fiction on Amazon. That sort of took me by surprise. (But let's avoid a Sparks bashing, shall we. ) Although I think my book would appeal to his readers, I don't think I'd consider my book Literary Fiction by a long shot.

Yes. When many non-romance readers think about the genre, they think "trashy Harlequins"--even when the book isn't published by Harlequin at all.

What you should do is place the book under Contemporary Fiction and Literary Fiction and use metadata in your book description/blurb and book title to get the book targeted to Nicholas Sparks fans.

Metadata is things like categories, keywords, back matter, blurbs, all that data about your books. She brought up a very good point that if you’re not a bestseller, you should be as specific as you can about the categories you’re in. Because there’s a lot of competition out there, and just tagging your books as “historical romance” isn’t going to get you noticed. For me for my Noble Hearts series, for example, “medieval romance” is closer, but tags like “strong heroine”, “tortured hero”, “betrayal”, or “redemption” are much more specific, useful tags.

http://merryfarmer.net/2013/07/22/metadata-branding-and-the-all-consuming-importance-of-writing/

Basically, put "for fans of Nicholas Sparks and Bridges...", "love story," "romantic novel", etc etc in your description, tags, and so on.

Tripper · Aug 16, 2013

Evangeline said:
What you should do is place the book under Contemporary Fiction and Literary Fiction and use metadata in your book description/blurb and book title to get the book targeted to Nicholas Sparks fans.

Basically, put "for fans of Nicholas Sparks and Bridges...", "love story," "romantic novel", etc etc in your description, tags, and so on.

For better or worse, that's exactly what I did.

Thanks for the good discussion!

Genre. Oh the agony!

Tripper

Tripp Blunschi

JulianneQJohnson

Ferret Herder

Cranky1

practical experience, FTW

sunandshadow

Impractical Fantasy Animal

Tripper

Tripp Blunschi

virtue_summer

Always learning

Cranky1

practical experience, FTW

gingerwoman

gingerwoman

Tripper

Tripp Blunschi

gingerwoman

Evangeline

Twirling in a glass of champagne

Tripper

Tripp Blunschi