Help Please! How can you tell the genre of a book?

[Mel L]

I've recently started to try and break down genre a little more and am finding it harder than anticipated. Is there a quick way to identify a book's genre?

On Amazon, for example, there are so many filters and categories (Best Sellers, New Releases, etc) that it's hard to see where a novel sits in their literary taxonomy.

Example: I'm currently reading (and loving, BTW) The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin published by Algonquin Books (Hachette), which lists it as 'Fiction, Family Life, General Fiction'. I know that 'General Fiction' is not well viewed when pitching to agents as too vague. But Family Life?

Any thoughts or insights appreciated!

 

[Sedayne]

I wish I could just say I don't care about genre, because I really don't.
I never look for a particular genre when choosing a book to read. I get a sense of the book from the blurb, skim the first page, and then I'll either read it or I won't.
But it seems to be crucial in pitching to agents and publishers.
I don't know the answer, but I feel your pain.
(I've got The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry in my to read pile, having loved Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow a while back. Maybe I'll get to it next.)

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

Look at what the agent/publisher is seeking. If General Fiction is on their Wishlist, I'd say you can use that term. Listing two comparable novels will help them decide where in the genre spectrum to place your book.

 

[Mel L]

I wish I could just say I don't care about genre, because I really don't.
I never look for a particular genre when choosing a book to read. I get a sense of the book from the blurb, skim the first page, and then I'll either read it or I won't.
But it seems to be crucial in pitching to agents and publishers.
I don't know the answer, but I feel your pain.
(I've got The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry in my to read pile, having loved Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow a while back. Maybe I'll get to it next.)

Agree, I hate labels in general and genre is no different. Like you, it's all about voice when deciding if a book is for me. But the reality when pitching is we have to know how to position our work. So I'm trying to get educated.
This is my first by this author. Her writing is pitch perfect!

 

[Mel L]

Look at what the agent/publisher is seeking. If General Fiction is on their Wishlist, I'd say you can use that term. Listing two comparable novels will help them decide where in the genre spectrum to place your book.

Lol, good advice but comparables are another challenge!

 

[BrianY]

People want to know your genre because they need to know what shelf to put your book on in the store. Readers/shoppers need to know because they need to know where in the store to shop.

 

[Hannah Faoileán]

People want to know your genre because they need to know what shelf to put your book on in the store. Readers/shoppers need to know because they need to know where in the store to shop.

Same goes for on-line book searches.

 

[BrianY]

Online book searches add the complexity of keywords. On Amazon, (for example) searches are by genre, keywords, and rank - and all matter.

 

[BrianY]

But it seems to be crucial in pitching to agents and publishers.

Crucial to publishers because it's crucial to shops and readers.

Imagine if you walked into a bookstore and there were no labels. Just all the books randomly shelved because the staff didn't like them. Your novel is sitting right in between a detailed instruction manual for rebuilding Subaru transmissions and commentary on Shakespeare. Bookstores - even small ones - sell lots of different kinds of books!

Bookstores around here (and their number keeps growing) don't just carry thousands of books - they carry thousands of kinds of books. As repositories of knowledge and culture, they have to have some sort of system of organization.

 

[Sedayne]

Crucial to publishers because it's crucial to shops and readers.

Imagine if you walked into a bookstore and there were no labels. Just all the books randomly shelved because the staff didn't like them. Your novel is sitting right in between a detailed instruction manual for rebuilding Subaru transmissions and commentary on Shakespeare. Bookstores - even small ones - sell lots of different kinds of books!

Bookstores around here (and their number keeps growing) don't just carry thousands of books - they carry thousands of kinds of books. As repositories of knowledge and culture, they have to have some sort of system of organization.

I completely agree with you when it comes to non-fiction and genre fiction.
I'm not suggesting anyone mix it all up.
(As a student in the early 90s I had a part time job in a library and prided myself on my knowledge of the Dewey Decimal System.)

I think what Mel is concerned about is the massive section in the bookshop that contains the general adult fiction that doesn't belong in sci fi, fantasy, crime or romance, etc - books that may have absolutely nothing in common and are only shelved according to alphabet. That's the section where I shop. And I'm glad it isn't more rigidly ordered because I never know what gems I might find.
For me, book-choosing is a pleasure to take my time over and browse.

(Where do you see yourself on the book shelf Ms McCarron? Right next to Cormac McCarthy because there's no separate section for LGBTQIA+ historical bildungsroman and it's probably just as well.)

 

[Mel L]

People want to know your genre because they need to know what shelf to put your book on in the store. Readers/shoppers need to know because they need to know where in the store to shop.

Oh, I get that! It's the finer tuning within the fiction genre (other than the fairly obvious crime, sci-fi, fantasy sub genres) that I struggle with. Contemporary vs romance vs family vs travel vs humour vs ad infinitum. It feels like a moving target.

 

[BrianY]

For better or worse, the bookstores in central Pennsylvania don't have "massive" sections for "general" fiction. We are good at parsing - if nothing else.

What I would love to see is a bookstore inventory breakdown by these categories. I only have a vague idea of what they're offering or selling.