Book genres are essential. I was recently browsing in a large bookshop when I can across a section with a sign declaring ‘Dark Fantasy.’ There it was in the cold light of day – a new genre. Without any fanfare or fuss, the bookshop had promoted Dark Fantasy from a minor sub-genre to a genre in its own right.
“So what?” I hear you shout.
Well if you write Dark Fantasy this is major news. It means that book buyers are now looking to buy Dark Fantasy (they need to fill those shelves), which means publishers are looking to publish Dark Fantasy books and agents are looking to represent writers who write Dark Fantasy.
This is a great illustration of the kind of change writers need to notice. It makes no difference which genre you write, it is essential that, as a writer, keep your ear to the ground and make yourself aware of changes and trends within your genre.
Why? Because if you are serious about writing then genre is your workplace. If you are going to write relevant, publishable books, then you need to know which books are doing well, and which are not.
Since the publishing industry is segmented by genre, it is essential that you are able to identify and become intimately involved with your genre. As a first step along this road, here’s the genre list we use…
A List A Book Genres
Fiction Genre List
- Action and Adventure,
- Chick Lit,
- Children’s,
- Commercial Fiction,
- Contemporary,
- Crime,
- Erotica,
- Family Saga,
- Fantasy,
- Dark Fantasy (probably still a major sub-genre!)
- Gay and Lesbian,
- General Fiction,
- Graphic Novels,
- Historical Fiction,
- Horror,
- Humour,
- Literary Fiction,
- Military and Espionage,
- Multicultural,
- Mystery,
- Offbeat or Quirky,
- Picture Books,
- Religious and Inspirational,
- Romance,
- Science Fiction,
- Short Story Collections,
- Thrillers and Suspense,
- Western,
- Women’s Fiction,
- Young Adult.
Non-Fiction Genre List
- Art & Photography,
- Biography & Memoirs,
- Business & Finance,
- Celebrity & Pop Culture,
- Music, Film & Entertainment,
- Cookbooks,
- Cultural/Social Issues,
- Current Affairs & Politics,
- Food & Lifestyle,
- Gardening,
- Gay & Lesbian,
- General Non-Fiction,
- History & Military,
- Home Decorating & Design,
- How To,
- Humour & Gift Books,
- Journalism,
- Juvenile,
- Medical, Health & Fitness,
- Multicultural,
- Narrative,
- Nature & Ecology,
- Parenting,
- Pets,
- Psychology,
- Reference,
- Relationship & Dating,
- Religion & Spirituality,
- Science & Technology,
- Self-Help,
- Sports,
- Travel,
- True Adventure & True Crime,
- Women’s Issues.
What genre does your book fit into?
BubbleCow provide a free course to help you write your book proposal — go here to sign up for free.
By Gary Smailes - Co-founder at 
Leave A Reply (24 comments So Far)
Claire King
255 days ago
How would you say Contemporary differs from Literary?
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BubbleCow [Gary Smailes] Reply:
March 16th, 2012 at 10:19 am
In short – no.
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Poop
126 days ago
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BubbleCow [Gary Smailes] Reply:
March 16th, 2012 at 10:18 am
I think you mean, ‘no point to this webpage…’
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143572443
95 days ago
I like psychological horror.
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BubbleCow [Gary Smailes] Reply:
March 16th, 2012 at 10:18 am
Still classes as Horror.
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Jlcstewart
83 days ago
I came here looking for a “genre” i saw mentioned elsewhere but didn’t find it. Agitprop.
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Gary Smailes Reply:
February 27th, 2012 at 8:31 am
Sorry new to me!
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BubbleCow [Gary Smailes] Reply:
March 16th, 2012 at 10:17 am
New to me.
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amelle
79 days ago
The web page does not help at allll why can’t you search the book then it tells you what genre it is
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Gary Smailes Reply:
February 29th, 2012 at 2:22 pm
Go into Amazon, search on the title and then look at the Category list, this is pretty much the genre.
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BubbleCow [Gary Smailes] Reply:
March 16th, 2012 at 10:17 am
Sorry I will try harder to meet your needs.
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Kristine
63 days ago
This helped a lot in pulling up a list of genres. I certainly couldn’t come up with this many on my own. It would be even more helpful if you had a link to sub-genres. If you choose to consider this, I would suggest making each genre a link to the sub-genres. As is, although this helped, I now have to go find a website that lists the sub-genres. I do like your site, though. Thank you.
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BubbleCow [Gary Smailes] Reply:
March 16th, 2012 at 10:16 am
Kristine – I have avoided creating a list of sub-genres. The reason being that when pitching to publishers and agents, in most cases, it is only really top genres that matter.
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Michael K
54 days ago
What genre would you classify an espionnage novel?
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Gary Smailes Reply:
March 26th, 2012 at 7:39 am
Thriller
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Lucy
52 days ago
What would be the genre for the book mind blind by Jennifer Roy? I need it for school, and I’m really confused on what it is
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Gary Smailes Reply:
March 27th, 2012 at 12:46 pm
http://www.jenniferroy.com/mindblind.html
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Paris
30 days ago
what genre is the book: From the mixed up files of Mrs. Basil .E. Frankwieler?
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Gary Smailes Reply:
April 18th, 2012 at 6:32 am
Children’s
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