Thursday, August 6, 2009

Prithee, Inform Me: Genre-Specific Sales

So.

Next week I'm thinking of writing a series on book sales that is genre-specific (e.g. romance on Monday, fantasy on Tuesday, &c). Now, I'd insert a poll here and ask you to vote, but Blogger is acting up something fierce and won't let me do that. So, for now, we'll do this the old-fashioned way.

Prithee, inform me (in the comments): which genres would you like me to discuss next week? (Keep in mind that paranormal romance, contemporary romance, &c, will all be under romance; epic fantasy, urban fantasy, &c will all be under fantasy, and so on.)

101 comments:

  1. Middle Grade! Please, please, please!

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  2. fantasy, paranormal (in and by itself because it can be more than just romantic), and literary fiction.

    please.

    *really enjoying your blog* thanks for hosting it!

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  3. Chick lit vs. women's fiction would be AWESOME! Thanks!

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  4. Mainstream mystery thriller (not genre), ala The Historian, The Rule of Four, etc.

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  5. Crime/noir and Horror.

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  6. Science fiction; fantasy; literary fiction; and is it possible to also break down science fiction that's marketed as literary fiction, like Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go?

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  7. Suspense / Thriller, if you please.

    Also- Humor.

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  8. Fantasty vs. fiction, etc. (I'm thinking Jasper Fforde's works which I started looking for in the sci-fi/fantasy section but found in fiction.)

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  9. I second the request for women's fiction (Anita Shreve-ish).

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  10. I'd be interested in memoir, please (narrative NF by non-famous people). Thanks for the blog, it's awesome.

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  11. Science fiction and paranormal fiction would be my two genres.

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  12. Leadership/Management/Business please!

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  13. fantasy, middle grade and will you PLEASE try and articulate WHAT decides if something is YA, or MG, and WHY? Nobody seems to be able to break it down. It drives me nuts.

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  14. Here's another vote for MG and YA (particularly fantasy)

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  15. Fantasy.
    Mystery.
    Romance.
    and
    Science Fiction.

    Oh, and YA. Everyone likes YA it seems. I'm curious if the numbers reflect that.

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  16. Mystery or YA (fantasy), please.

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  17. Women's fiction, please. I had a dream last night that I had lunch with two (fictional) agents and I asked them, "Are they still buying women's fiction, and is it still selling?" And their eyes went askance as they answered out of the side of their mouths, "Yes," and I knew all was lost.

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  18. mystery/crime fiction please

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  19. Fantasy & Science Fiction, please :).

    LOVE all of the great information on this blog. Thank you!

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  20. memoir! but i can see i'm out-voted by a long shot...

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  21. Oh please please please Science Fiction!

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  22. Historical fiction.

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  23. This has to be the best new blog this year. I've been referring new writers here like mad : )

    I'd love to hear more about thrillers, with particular attention to the differences between hardcover and mass market original.

    Thank you!

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  24. Historical fiction

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  25. literary fiction please - there's a lot of info out there on the genres that are more of what I asume are faster sellers - series of mysteries, romance etc, but little I've found on the quiet, artsy stuff so favoured by english lit students and librarians :)

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  26. Another vote for fantasy/sci-fi from me!

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  27. I'd love to see how fantasy stacks up.

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  28. Romance and Thriller [suspense w/romantic elements/mysteries]

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  29. Romance! Historical Fiction as well.

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  30. Fantasy and contemporary fiction would be fantastic!

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  31. Mystery and noir, please. Light, or humorous mystery.

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  32. Literary fiction please! Mainstream, commercial fiction too. Maybe a breakdown?

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  33. I agree with all the literary fiction people! It's good to see that there are so many. There are many conferences and blogs devoted to fantasy and romance...but it is hard to find good info on literary fiction, or "quality fiction" as an agent once called it-- more accessible than literary, but more literary than mainstream.

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  34. I would very much like to hear about fantasy fiction, please!

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  35. chick lit vs. women's lit. thanks for sharing your insight.

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  36. Espionage, spy adventure would be great. Thanks.

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  37. Literary fiction vs "upmarket" fiction vs women's fiction. Thank you.

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  38. Would be really interesting to see median advances for each of the selected genres, if that's available. Otherwise, just seeing Bookscan figures would be great!

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  39. Fantasy YA and literary fiction, please.

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  40. Mystery! Literary!

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  41. MG and YA fantasy - pretty please with a cherry on top.

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  42. Love the blog -- so interesting and helpful.
    How about Memoir? Yikes, I think mine might be the only vote for this category.

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  43. COZY mysteries, anyone? And, women's fiction/chick lit. Thank you!

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  44. Science fiction/fantasy, for sure. I'd also be interested in hearing about historical, although to a lesser degree.

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  45. Any genre would be fine. I enjoy your writing.

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  46. Sorry you asked yet?!

    Literary / "up market" / "commercial" and psychological suspense (think Patricia Highsmith, not "thriller")

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  47. I write literary fiction, so I'd like to see literary please! Thanks for asking.

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  48. Suspense/thriller and YA, although the info would be appreciated regardless of genre. Thanks so much for doing this for us, Eric!

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  49. Middle Grade and YA! And I love this blog by the way :)

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  50. YA, contemporary, and fantasy please!

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  51. Chick lit, Women's Fiction, Romance

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  52. Yes, definitely MG and YA. If you could discuss what James Cross Giblin refers to as Transitional juvenile fiction, that would be great.

    I think a book that I've written falls into this category. It's a little too old for MG and on the young side for YA.

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  53. Women's fiction (contemporary/mainstram/non-romance)

    Thanks!

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  54. Would love to hear about Historical Fiction. Thx!
    -Cole

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  55. Fantasy would be awesome. Thank you very much!

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  56. romance - specifically - romantic suspense

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  57. Literary Fiction, please.

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  58. If you do Sci Fi next week, I promise not to sign in as fifty-eight different people to suggest that genre. :D

    Can you do more than one in a post? Or will it be better to do one post for each? I'm thinking side links will be in order if you do them separately. We won't judge if you post multiple posts a day. :) Cause I'm sure you have nothing better to do. ;)

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  59. I'd like to toss another vote for science fiction into the fray!

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  60. Romance, definitely romance... please!

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  61. I would cast my vote for middle-grade, horror, or sf/f, please!

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  62. OMG Sierra Godfrey-

    if I get something in my head and have a nightmare like that tonight after reading your post I will be so upset! LOL!

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  63. Fantasy & Science Fiction for me also, please.

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  64. I'd love fantasy and thriller please!

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  65. I'm going to vote for fantasy (of course--it is what I write) but I wonder if there's a way to see a breakdown of the different categories inside there. i.e. epic, urban, steampunk ...

    I don't know if it's possible to see, based on the sales numbers, which subclassifications inside fantasy "do better" than others or if said numbers would actually be useful.

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  66. Middle grade and YA, please. Also...

    Picture books!

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  67. Fantasy and historical fiction

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  68. Pop-up books? Please?

    Actually, I'd rather have you spend time on Science Fiction, though pop-up books would be awesome. Why do they only sell pop-up books in children's sections? Kids aren't mature enough to keep from wrecking them anyways.

    Also Literary Fiction.

    Thanks for doing this! I look forward to seeing all of them.

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  69. Mystery vs. Thriller
    And just for grins, crime fiction in general (all sub genres) vs. literary fiction.

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  70. Please put humour/satire on the list! There is so little information about this genre on other sites, and smaller bookshops don't even have sections for it.

    Is it a separate genre? If you are querying is it better to add in another genre as well so people have an idea what it's about? Do publishers want humourous novels?

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  71. Women's please---upmarket, book club etc. Please!!! thanks.

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