‘When talking to an agent or publisher about your novel, practically the first thing out of your mouth should be the genre,’ says agent Rachelle Gardner.

With so many books out there, readers need help finding the ones that beckon. Genre is a key tool for that, with each genre bringing its own set of expectations. Thrillers offer high stakes and tension, for example, while a romance leans towards feeling and relationship.

Genre is not an exact science, though. Although most books will fit into more than one, it’s impossible to write a book that can’t be helpfully described by genre. You wouldn’t want your book to be so different as to not fit into a genre, because then how would market it?

It’s useful to think about genre at the planning stage, too, as it will affect the way you think about plot, pacing and character arcs. If you’re planning a cozy murder mystery, for example, it will be long on clues and red herrings but short on gore and police procedure.

Tips to help you nail down the genre of your book.

Think about audience age. Non-adult books should include the target audience as part of the genre description, e.g. ‘YA dystopian thriller’. Middle Grade (MG) books are for ages 8-12 and focus on friendship, adventure, and self-discovery. Young Adult (YA) books target ages 12-18 and are often about identity and coming of age. You’ll want your protagonists’ ages to match.

Decide if you are literary or commercial. Literary fiction – often separated from commercial or genre fiction – tends to prioritise language and ideas, while commercial fiction is more about plot and pace, stories that often appeal to a broad audience. Books that blur the lines may be called upmarket fiction, blending strong writing with accessible plots. See more on this here.

Study the genre landscape. Within genre fiction, the most popular overarching categories include romance, fantasy, scifi, mystery/thriller, historical fiction, horror and women’s fiction. Read more about genres here and here. To help you work out where you sit, study these guides and consider key genre-revealing elements of your own story such as plot, character, setting, prose style and pacing.

Go niche. Getting more specific, e.g. ‘medical dystopian thriller’ or ‘erotic vampire horror’, can really make your labelling informative. There are 114 sub-genres in this list alone. Nowadays even the quirkiest mashups, from time-travelling detectives to safari romance – can find a devoted readership.

Look at comparable titles. Agents and publishers always ask about ‘comps’ – books that are compatible to yours in terms of plot, tone or setting. Look on sites like Amazon and Goodreads to see how these are categorised.

Use online tools. Publisher Rocket is very useful for researching Amazon categories and keywords. It shows how similar books are ranked, and even which subgenres are trending. You could also put a summary of your plot into a tool like ChatGPT and ask it to suggest comparable titles (always check the output though!)

One book, various genres. If you use a tool like QueryTracker or AgentQuery for subbing to agents and publishers, each recipient will stipulate only the genres they’re interested in, so vary your descriptions to fit their needs. The novel I’m subbing currently I have variously described as ‘paranormal romance’, ‘book group fiction’ and ‘upmarket fiction’.

Look out for emerging genres. Mentioning these when pitching (where relevant) shows you’re aware of market trends. Recent genres include upmarket, cli-fi (stories tackling climate change and environmental issues), and book club/group fiction (thematically meaty, contemporary stories with the potential to stimulate debate).

Knowing your genre helps you position your book in a crowded market and makes it easier to connect with the readers who are most likely to appreciate it.

BIO – Dan Brotzel’s latest novel is a feelgood romcom, Thank You For The Days