Popularity of Different Genres

Sea Witch · Feb 1, 2012

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have the impression that most of the writers here at AW write fantasy and/or SF and/or YA.

Why is that? Do those genres sell more books that other genres? Is it that younger writers are more drawn to those genres, and those writers are more active on forums?

ladyleeona · Feb 1, 2012

Sea Witch said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have the impression that most of the writers here at AW write fantasy and/or SF and/or YA.

Why is that? Do those genres sell more books that other genres? Is it that younger writers are more drawn to those genres, and those writers are more active on forums?

The sheer number of YA and SciFi/Fantasy writers could be due to the subject matter (or readership, in the case of YA). Most scifi writers are really into techie stuff, so it makes sense that they're going to have active online presences. I think some SF/F writers on here could attest to the fact that most agents/publishers of scifi stuff are *really* into keeping with the times (not that other genre people aren't, but to me it seems more this way with SF/F people). Same for YA people--basically, young people now have never lived in a time without cell phones, internet, etc. so if you're going to write for them, you'd better be able to keep up.

(FWIW, I write mainly adult UF and contemporary YA. And I'm relatively young and unfortunately always on the computer, LOL.)

Richard White · Feb 1, 2012

I was actually under the impression there were more romance (and erotica) writers here than any other genre.

Sea Witch · Feb 1, 2012

I hadn't considered the need to keep up with technology for SF. That's a good point.

And Richard White, I don't know what's going on with the erotica writers because I don't venture into that forum. Is it super busy?

ladylilchubb said:
I write mainly adult UF

What is "adult UF"?

ladyleeona · Feb 1, 2012

Sea Witch said:
I hadn't considered the need to keep up with technology for SF. That's a good point.

And Richard White, I don't know what's going on with the erotica writers because I don't venture into that forum. Is it super busy?

What is "adult UF"?

You could say that

And UF is urban fantasy.

KellyAssauer · Feb 1, 2012

Not that this is an indicator... but looking at membership numbers in a specific writing social group here at AW, here's the breakdown:
Fantasy with 239,
Literary with 115,
YA 104,
SciFi/Fantasy SpecFic(w/Horror) 74,
MiddleGrade 81,
Mystery 64,
Romance 55

Noting that members can belong to more than one... and how the actual post numbers in SYW might fall, may reveal an entirely different pattern!

=)

pfinucan · Feb 1, 2012

Does anyone know what genre sold the most books last year? Not exactly the same question but maybe it affects what people write.

Drachen Jager · Feb 1, 2012

Here are the top 10 requested genres by literary agents on QueryTracker. That ought to be as accurate a representation of what's selling (or likely to sell soon) as any.

1 Young Adult
2 Fantasy
3 Literary Fiction
4 Thrillers/Suspense
5 Women's Fiction
6 Romance
7 Middle Grade
8 Commercial Fiction
9 Mystery
10 Historical Fiction

Sirion · Feb 1, 2012

I think it's because fantasy and scifi are such huge encompassing genres that it just seems that way.

Rhoda Nightingale · Feb 2, 2012

Just for the record, horror does have its own social group outside of the spec-fic group, and there are 98 of us.

To answer the OP--I think a lot of sub-genres wind up getting shelved under the SF/F umbrella that could be very well at home elsewhere, which is what makes it seem like such a huge sub-genre itself. Things like paranormal romance, certain categories of horror, a big chunk of YA, magical realism, etc. Keep in mind as well that "fantasy" and "science fiction," while they might draw similar readerships and take up the same space in bookstores, really aren't the same thing, so the forum here is two genres in one place, with many sub-categories.

I was under the impression that YA was the biggest seller right now, neck-and-neck with romance, but the only thing I know for sure is that horror seems to come in dead last no matter who's tallying the numbers.

Puma · Feb 2, 2012

Writing good historical fiction, real original-type westerns, actual science based fiction, even good mysteries and mainstream novels takes a lot of research and demands a high degree of accuracy. They're not as easy to write and that may contribute to their lesser interest here. Puma

Toothpaste · Feb 2, 2012

I think we need to be careful before we draw the conclusion "more people write a certain genre because it's easier".

It has been my experience that every genre comes with its own unique challenges, and what one person might find easy another might find difficult and vice versa.

OnlyStones · Feb 2, 2012

Richard White said:
I was actually under the impression there were more romance (and erotica) writers here than any other genre.

Which requires a whole 'nother kind of "keeping up" to be good at it.

Amadan · Feb 2, 2012

Toothpaste said:
I think we need to be careful before we draw the conclusion "more people write a certain genre because it's easier".

It has been my experience that every genre comes with its own unique challenges, and what one person might find easy another might find difficult and vice versa.

I take your point, but I think Puma was not wrong. I see a lot of would-be SF&F authors (and way too many published ones

) who take a "It's fantasy! I can just make shit up!" attitude toward their novels, which does not encourage the same sort of discipline required for stories grounded in the real world.

Note that SF&F is my genre, before anyone accuses me of bashing it.

veinglory · Feb 2, 2012

Sea Witch said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have the impression that most of the writers here at AW write fantasy and/or SF and/or YA.

I can't say I had that impression. It seems to me like romance and mainstream is best represented--but I guess that is subjective (we could take a poll).

Toothpaste · Feb 2, 2012

Amadan - I just don't see it as being only SF/Fantasy authors who have easy excuses. When I was young I remember very distinctly choosing not to write fantasy because then I'd have to do all that work Tolkien did, make up entire languages, draw maps etc. So I chose to write stories about kids my age, living in my city, and going to my school etc - or close approximations of that - because it was easier. In my mind.

There are also people who find a blank canvas totally intimidating, and the idea of making EVERYTHING up impossible, but doing something set in a particular historical period? Well you know, they watch BBC historicals all the time, how hard could it be?

I think we get familiar with the excuses within our own genres, but there are people copping out all over the place.

OnlyStones · Feb 2, 2012

Puma said:
Writing good historical fiction, real original-type westerns, actual science based fiction, even good mysteries and mainstream novels takes a lot of research and demands a high degree of accuracy. They're not as easy to write and that may contribute to their lesser interest here. Puma

Toothpaste said:
I think we need to be careful before we draw the conclusion "more people write a certain genre because it's easier".

It has been my experience that every genre comes with its own unique challenges, and what one person might find easy another might find difficult and vice versa.

I think Toothpaste is right; writing a good story is a difficult process regardless of the genre.

I also think Puma is right; it's much more of a chore for me to find out who the first civilian Indian agent was at the Red Cloud agency after the surrender of Crazy Horse, then it is for me to determine who was the first inter-galactic emissary to the Freon colony after the moon exploded.

LJD · Feb 2, 2012

Sea Witch said:
Correct me if I'm wrong, but I have the impression that most of the writers here at AW write fantasy and/or SF and/or YA.

Why is that? Do those genres sell more books that other genres? Is it that younger writers are more drawn to those genres, and those writers are more active on forums?

From QLH, I certainly have that impression, too.
But I'm not sure it's true overall on AW.

You might find this interesting:
http://www.rachellegardner.com/2011/04/book-genres-and-blog-stats/
Rachelle Gardner is an agent and she doesn't even rep sci fi and fantasy. But 26% of the writers reading her blog are writing those genres, even though only 6% of the deals on Publisher's Marketplace fall into these categories. She was thinking that perhaps there is a disproprotionate number of writers in these genres....

Anyways, interesting.

ios · Feb 2, 2012

pfinucan said:
Does anyone know what genre sold the most books last year? Not exactly the same question but maybe it affects what people write.

ETA: I just posted the same link as someone else, lol. Doh. But I'll leave the post as is.

Here's a link to an informal poll: http://www.rachellegardner.com/2011/04/book-genres-and-blog-stats/

The results are surprising, because I assumed for years that it was given that romance was the biggest seller year after year.

Jodi

ETA: Some older facts:

In North America, romance novels are the most popular genre in modern literature, comprising almost 55% of all paperback books sold in 2004. - Wikipedia

In North America, romance novels are the most popular genre in modern literature, comprising almost 55% of all paperback books sold in 2008. - Perkins

Bubastes · Feb 2, 2012

Another data point, FWIW: on my local NaNoWriMo forum, I'd guess around 85% of the participants write SF&F. I'm the only one who writes romance/women's fiction. I think there may be one or two mystery writers and one horror writer in there. I can't remember if any of them write YA.

Toothpaste · Feb 2, 2012

OnlyStones said:
I think Toothpaste is right; writing a good story is a difficult process regardless of the genre.

I also think Puma is right; it's much more of a chore for me to find out who the first civilian Indian agent was at the Red Cloud agency after the surrender of Crazy Horse, then it is for me to determine who was the first inter-galactic emissary to the Freon colony after the moon exploded.

Why thank you

.

Also what you say about it being a chore to do research is my point. For you it's a lot of work and you don't enjoy it. But for some they absolutely LOVE research, sometimes to the point where they prefer research over writing. You find it easy to determine the first inter-galactic emissary etc etc, but for me I'd find it tedious having to create that history in the first place.

Things are fun/easy for certain people and unpleasant/hard for others. I find writing for children, and getting inside their heads really effortless, others think I'm some kind of wizard to be able to do it. I loathe fantasy world building and find it really difficult to do, so I beyond admire people who can create such complex and believable universes. We all have strengths and weaknesses. Sometimes we seek out those genres etc that play to that which we find easier, other times we challenge ourselves by choosing the ones that don't. But to say there is a universally easier kind of genre is going down a dangerous path. Is my point.

Amadan · Feb 2, 2012

Toothpaste said:
But to say there is a universally easier kind of genre is going down a dangerous path. Is my point.

Oh, I agree that fantasy and science fiction isn't actually easier to write (well). My point was that it's perceived as easier, or at least, a lot of (mostly young) authors feel qualified to do so based on years of watching anime and Dr. Who, whereas very few of them think that they can write historicals or literary novels without doing some serious work and developing their writing chops.

Sea Witch · Feb 2, 2012

I thank everyone for the thoughtful replies. I agree with much of what has been said but particularly with what Toothpaste said in a couple of posts.

What one writer finds easy, another finds hard. That's what makes horse races as my grandmother used to say.

Personally, I would find it impossible to write science fiction or fantasy. You might as well ask me to create a new language from scratch, with a new alphabet and new grammatical construction so far unknown.

I'm a non-fiction writer working on a first novel. It has come as a big surprise to me how difficult it is just to write a general fiction book. Aside from all the usual things like plot, character development etc. etc. etc., just getting my facts straight, the ages of my characters, the dates of events, and the facts pertaining certain events based on fact is proving much more difficult than I imagined, especially as I move further and further into the manuscript. Of course, I'm one of those writers who develops the story as I go and outlines as I go, which may add to that confusion. My own philosophy is to keep going and not become overly preoccupied with these details until after I finish the first draft. So just writing general fiction including topics that I know a lot about still requires much more research than I thought it would, and I have copious notes to myself throughout the manuscript to check this or check that.

That's why I'm so amazed at the number of SF and F writers here and everywhere. I don't know how you do it. I guess writers of every genre have things they're more or less comfortable with and their own set of challenges.

LindaJeanne · Feb 2, 2012

Toothpaste said:
But to say there is a universally easier kind of genre is going down a dangerous path. Is my point.

Agreed. Given the amount of research I'm doing for my wip (Bronze-age mining practices, Anglo-saxon blacksmithing, the psychological effects of being deep under-cover, cold-climate agriculture, the Inca empire, various other ancient culture, sanitation in ancient Rome, ancient China, and the Indus Valley, the history of agricultural technology...) I get incredibly annoyed when people claim "fantasy takes less research than historical fiction"

LindaJeanne · Feb 2, 2012

Sea Witch said:
You might as well ask me to create a new language from scratch, with a new alphabet and new grammatical construction so far unknown.

Actually, this is really fun

.
I've been working on three of them for my WIP, two closely related, one with different linguistic roots.

Popularity of Different Genres

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