Quote:
Originally Posted by basilsands
Since so many say they write in multiple genres, if a publisher were to make you an offer, and they had to classify your book within a single genre to sell to stores, what genre would you market it as?
The reality of the publishing world is that the books pretty much have to be classified if they are going to get on the shelf of a brick & mortar. Usually with Top Level and one sub-genre.
For instance Thriller/Action-Adventure or Romance/Paranormal.
So how would the folks who replied in this conversation classify your own if you only had that limited option?
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In fact, the big bookstores like Barnes & Noble and the wholesalers like Baker & Taylor and Ingram require the publisher to put a BISAC code for genre onto the title, with one secondary code allowed. The BISAC code basically tells the bookstore what shelf to put the book on so that the stocking clerks don't have to try to actually figure it out from looking at the book.
For me, it would depend entirely on which publisher bought and marketed the book. I've written some stories that were sold into books that were marketed as Erotic Fiction, and others that were sold to science fiction/fantasy publishers, and so were marketed at Science Fiction. In fact, I've sold reprint rights to the SAME STORY to two different markets, where it's labeled as one genre by one publisher, and another genre by the other.
Cecilia Tan
http://blog.ceciliatan.com
Twitter: @ceciliatan