Literary, Commercial, Mainstream? Whats the difference

stargazer11 said:

It's me again, Stargazer11.

My title says it all... Can some explain the difference from literary, commercial, and mainstream fiction? To me, it's all the same; but I'm sure agents will say, No...

Thanks

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Literary: We think it is a serious and meaningful book that the critics will think is clever and important.

Commercial: Whatever it is, we think it will sell in significant numbers.

Mainstream: it's not genre fiction and it probably isn't literary fiction. We hope it is also commercial.

Torgo said it best in a nutshell.

What Torgo said. I also think of literary fiction as being more character-based with a strong mastery of writing craft -- it's lovely, structured prose that knows what it's doing and will impress literary critics. Commercial/mainstream is more plot-based -- something that will keep readers turning pages and purchasing copies, but isn't necessarily the highest quality prose.

Of course, there are the rare exceptions that are both stunningly written and have page-turner plots. Those are gold.