Most popular genres?

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by kennyc

And so you think the the "Religion" Genre count is including both fiction and non-fiction?

Do you think the Fantasy count includes non-fiction as well?

I'm thinking there are way too many dimensions in this graph.

That was kind of my point in my post. There is potentially a lot of double counting in these numbers.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by kennyc

But do you think that includes all the "New Age" type books as well as traditional religious books?

I don't know. Of course it's the publishers who make the decision on what is counted as Religion as far as written works that are published. We the consumers can accept or reject a given book as being part of a genre but it's the publishers who print the genre on the covers.

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by crich70

I don't know. Of course it's the publishers who make the decision on what is counted as Religion as far as written works that are published. We the consumers can accept or reject a given book as being part of a genre but it's the publishers who print the genre on the covers.

As an example I walked a local book store and Lord of the Rings was in the Christian Religious section, and in another local store it was in the Fantasy section (IMO where it belongs).

So I chatted with a rep at B&N about how this works and how they categorize their books in their store. They will only put books in the religion section that primary topic, and intention is to promote or inform about a religion. New age would likely count. They stated that most stores categorize books they way they feel they will be findable by the correct target audience, not by anything the publisher or author says.

Basically the understanding I got from that was that the STORES determine the genre, not publisher or author. At least as far as if you want to find the book to buy it.

I do not know how it impacts the numbers quoted above because we do not have any information about them, but genre, IMO, is about the worst thing to use to find/categorize a book anymore as it is too flexible and subjective.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by crich70

I think part of the reason Religion is a genre that is doing well now is that it is the start of a new millennium and as such people are looking for answers to their problems etc. more than in recent decades.

That's a cyclical phenomenon... it went on a lot before the end of the last millennium, too.

A lot of these numbers can reflect popularity in other media as well, for example, right now SF isn't big in movies (despite the ever-popular adventure movies that usually have SF elements), but spikes in SF movie popularity, such as the period immediately following Star Wars, also saw literary SF spikes. We may see another spike if Promethius does well in the box office and other SF movies try to ride that wave.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

Basically the understanding I got from that was that the STORES determine the genre, not publisher or author. At least as far as if you want to find the book to buy it.

I do not know how it impacts the numbers quoted above because we do not have any information about them, but genre, IMO, is about the worst thing to use to find/categorize a book anymore as it is too flexible and subjective.

I've had the same idea in mind, in relation to the next book I write (well, maybe the one after the next); I may intentionally downplay the SF elements of the story and make its adventure and romance elements the more prominent, to make it more attractive in multiple genres.

[crich70]

Originally Posted by Steven Lyle Jordan

That's a cyclical phenomenon... it went on a lot before the end of the last millennium, too.

A lot of these numbers can reflect popularity in other media as well, for example, right now SF isn't big in movies (despite the ever-popular adventure movies that usually have SF elements), but spikes in SF movie popularity, such as the period immediately following Star Wars, also saw literary SF spikes. We may see another spike if Promethius does well in the box office and other SF movies try to ride that wave.

I agree with you there Steven. The conditions of a society also play a part I think. The Horror genre had a spike in popularity in the 30's and early 40's last century due in part to the depression I'm thinking. Then after WWII it swung more towards Science Fiction films and Musicals (with the occasional Biblical Epic thrown in). Lots of things in life seem to come in cycles.

[charlesatan]

Originally Posted by kennyc

And so you think the the "Religion" Genre count is including both fiction and non-fiction?

Yes.

Do you think the Fantasy count includes non-fiction as well?

Yes but the fantasy/science fiction non-fiction is few and far in between (and not to be confused with nonfiction books under "Science").

I'm thinking there are way too many dimensions in this graph.

There is but the genres mentioned in the graph are commonly accepted ones by marketing/bookstores.

[charlesatan]

Originally Posted by VydorScope

I do not know how it impacts the numbers quoted above because we do not have any information about them, but genre, IMO, is about the worst thing to use to find/categorize a book anymore as it is too flexible and subjective.

While I agree with this statement, can you imagine going to a bookstore without genres labels? Everything is arranged... alphabetically by author's name? (Fine for a small bookstore, not so good with a huge selection.)

[VydorScope]

Originally Posted by charlesatan

While I agree with this statement, can you imagine going to a bookstore without genres labels? Everything is arranged... alphabetically by author's name? (Fine for a small bookstore, not so good with a huge selection.)

Right, there is another thread here where we talked about this and I stated for a retail brick and mortar kind of location it works okay-ish, but in the era of stores like Amazon with a gazillion books it completely fails. I prefer a tag based system that you do searches and groupings in. Judging by Amazon's success with the system, and other stores slowly moving to copy it, I do not think I am alone.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by charlesatan

..



There is but the genres mentioned in the graph are commonly accepted ones by marketing/bookstores.

That's not the point, the definition of those genres is what was being discussed.

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by kennyc

But do you think that includes all the "New Age" type books as well as traditional religious books?

If you do searches for the Religion/Inspirational/Spiritual category by popularity what you mostly get are romances, but I'd guess that "New Age" fits as well. Since romances sell the best of all genres, it shouldn't surprise that there are a lot of smutless romances marketed under the Religion genre.

[Synamon]

Originally Posted by charlesatan

You never heard of the (in)famous Left Behind series, which spawned several TV movies and even a video game?

Nope. Not my genre obviously.

I have read The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho and Life of Pi by Yann Martel and I suppose they might be classified as spiritual and lumped into this category, but I think of those as literary fiction. I've read some science fiction/fantasy where the author resolved the conflict with "goddidit", not sure those really count as religious books, but they certainly are annoying.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Synamon

If you do searches for the Religion/Inspirational/Spiritual category by popularity what you mostly get are romances, but I'd guess that "New Age" fits as well. Since romances sell the best of all genres, it shouldn't surprise that there are a lot of smutless romances marketed under the Religion genre.

Ah, christian romance....I've see a few of those around as well...

[gmw]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Ah, christian romance....I've see a few of those around as well...

It may seem strange, Kenny, but your thought made me wonder ... Does erotic fiction come under the romance heading?

[kennyc]

I would think it does, for lack of a separate genre.

As I said back there somewhere, you could probably derive any numbers you want depending on how you slice and dice.

You know, "Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics!"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lies,_d...and_statistics