Standard Book Genre

rjmac · 08-19-2012, 02:33 AM

I get increasing frustrated with the tags assigned to books by publishers, I have more tags in calibre than books. As a result I have followed the guidelines and defined within Calibre a custom field to hold a genre for each book. Before setting up my own Genre this raises one question.

Is there any common standard out there for book genre?

If not does anyone have a good starter set they could share?

Kumabjorn · 08-19-2012, 02:47 AM

Yes there is. The kind libraries use. I think the English name is Hewey Decimal System, but I could be wrong. Just use the top of level and you have an easy to understand genre categorization for your books.

Hmm, wouldn't it be great if there was a plug-in in Calibre for that? :scratchchin:

JoHunt · 08-19-2012, 02:58 AM

It's called the Dewey Decimal system. Here's the Wikipedia listing of all the categories:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ecimal_classes

rjmac · 08-19-2012, 03:09 AM

The Hewey Decimal System and the American Library of Congress Classification (LCC) are very comprehensive for non-fiction books but neither covers fiction. The majority of books I have are fiction.

pisceschick · 08-19-2012, 03:37 AM

Perhaps Amazon's (or your favorite book store) classification system might be a good place to start?

I, too, dislike the tags that come with my books. General? Really? So helpful!

Kumabjorn · 08-19-2012, 04:00 AM

Hewey, Dewey, Lewey, I knew it was one of Donald's nephews.
Yes, I know spelling is different, but pronunciation is the same, right?

rakulos · 08-19-2012, 04:52 AM

From my list;
2 Fiction
2.1 Action
2.2 Westerns
2.3 Children
2.4 Fantasy
2.5 Historical Fiction
2.6 Horror
2.7 Humor
2.8 Mystery and Crime
2.9 Other fiction
2.10 Romance
2.11 Science Fiction
2.12 Short Fiction
2.13 Young Adult

Keep meaning to do a more definitive list, but the problem with defining lists is its an infinite black hole of time suckage :/

For instance, does erotic fiction come under romance or does it need its own category and without that do you want straight/gay/BDSM etc etc. Urban fantasy is currently a 'thing' so again, do we have a new category or use fantasy-mystery & crime-horror tags?

Another tag I've seen used occasionally is 'womens fiction' - I allways thought it as devisive as a 'men's fiction' tag but thats just my opinion so may be valid for a lot of people.

Bottom line, I try to keep a simple fiction list as I tend to prevaricate if I think about it too much

Edit: forgot to add military fiction as a tag - I don't use it for myself as I don't like the genre but I guess it should be on the list.

kennyc · 08-19-2012, 07:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

Hewey, Dewey, Lewey, I knew it was one of Donald's nephews.
Yes, I know spelling is different, but pronunciation is the same, right?

Kumabjorn · 08-19-2012, 07:50 AM

It's a twisted brain that resort to Disney characters as a mnmonic device.

Jozawun · 08-19-2012, 03:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kumabjorn

It's a twisted brain that resort to Disney characters as a mnmonic device.

One glance at my Mickey Mouse watch and I remember everything.

taustin · 08-19-2012, 04:43 PM

The genres publishers use are marketing categories, and seem to have no real connection to subjet matter. In short, it's a recommendation to retailers on how to shelve books, based on what stuff people will buy if they see it next to something else they want to buy. That's why science fiction and fantasy get shelved together - the book stores feel there's a lot of crossover in the markets.

The only categories you'll find are consistent are your own, and generally, those will be limited to "stuff I like," "stuff I don't like," and "stuff I'd like to use to start a fire."

BeccaPrice · 08-19-2012, 05:18 PM

My genre tags are pretty idiosyncratic. I'll give a series all the same tag, because I'm more likely to be looking for an In Death book than I am Mystery with Female Detective. Since I use my genre tags to create my kindle collections, I use tags that will help me find which collection something is in.

Jeff L · 08-19-2012, 06:15 PM

Mobipocket uses this set:

Action & Adventure
Architecture & Design
Art
Asian Interest
Biographies
Bioscience & Clinical Medicine
Business, Finance
Calculators
Cartoons
Classics
Computing, Internet
Cooking
Current Events
Dictionaries
Economics
Education
Encyclopedias
Entertainment
Erotica
Family
Fantasy
Gay & Lesbian
Gender Studies
General Fiction
Geography
Health
Historical Fiction
History
Horror
House & Home
Humor
Humor Political
Juvenile Fiction
Language & Linguistics
Law
Literary Criticism & Collections
Mathematics
Media & Communication
Medical
Movies & TV Series
Music & Songs
Mystery & Crime
Nature
Novels
Performing Arts
Personal Finance
Pets
Philosophy
Poetry
Politics
Psychology
Quizzes
Reference
Religious Fiction
Restaurant Guides
Romance
Science & Technical
Science Fiction
Self-Improvement
Short Stories
Sociology
Spiritual & Religion
Sports & Outdoors
Study Aids
Suspense & Thrillers
Tales & Fables
Technological Fiction
Technology
Theatre
Travel
True Crime
Undefined

Some people distinguish Detective from Mystery.

There's Biographies but not Memoirs.

Publishers will separate Contemporary Fiction and Literary Fiction.

Note that here Juvenile Fiction is used as an umbrella term with no distinction for Young Adult and younger children.

Suspense & Thrillers and Technological Fiction are separate terms so Technothrillers could fit in either.

You could go on and on. So it's a good start, but you'd have to adjust this for your own needs.

DiapDealer · 08-19-2012, 07:16 PM

I usually go with "Read" and "Unread."

morriss003 · 08-19-2012, 09:22 PM

How would you tag a JD Robb (Nora Roberts) "in Death" novel? It's set in the future, the heroine is a female detective who solves murders, and she's in love with (of all people!) her husband.

08-19-2012, 02:33 AM	#1
rjmac Connoisseur Posts: 54 Karma: 574506 Join Date: Apr 2012 Device: Kobo Touch	Standard Book Genre I get increasing frustrated with the tags assigned to books by publishers, I have more tags in calibre than books. As a result I have followed the guidelines and defined within Calibre a custom field to hold a genre for each book. Before setting up my own Genre this raises one question. Is there any common standard out there for book genre? If not does anyone have a good starter set they could share?

08-19-2012, 04:52 AM	#7
rakulos Connoisseur Posts: 57 Karma: 36 Join Date: Aug 2009 Device: ipad, K3, acer aspire switch 10	From my list; 2 Fiction 2.1 Action 2.2 Westerns 2.3 Children 2.4 Fantasy 2.5 Historical Fiction 2.6 Horror 2.7 Humor 2.8 Mystery and Crime 2.9 Other fiction 2.10 Romance 2.11 Science Fiction 2.12 Short Fiction 2.13 Young Adult Keep meaning to do a more definitive list, but the problem with defining lists is its an infinite black hole of time suckage :/ For instance, does erotic fiction come under romance or does it need its own category and without that do you want straight/gay/BDSM etc etc. Urban fantasy is currently a 'thing' so again, do we have a new category or use fantasy-mystery & crime-horror tags? Another tag I've seen used occasionally is 'womens fiction' - I allways thought it as devisive as a 'men's fiction' tag but thats just my opinion so may be valid for a lot of people. Bottom line, I try to keep a simple fiction list as I tend to prevaricate if I think about it too much Edit: forgot to add military fiction as a tag - I don't use it for myself as I don't like the genre but I guess it should be on the list. Last edited by rakulos; 08-19-2012 at 04:54 AM.

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08-19-2012, 02:47 AM	#2
Kumabjorn Basculocolpic Posts: 4,356 Karma: 20181319 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sweden Device: Kindle 3 WiFi, Kindle 4SO, Kindle for Android, Sony PRS-350 and PRS-T1	Yes there is. The kind libraries use. I think the English name is Hewey Decimal System, but I could be wrong. Just use the top of level and you have an easy to understand genre categorization for your books. Hmm, wouldn't it be great if there was a plug-in in Calibre for that? :scratchchin:

08-19-2012, 02:58 AM	#3
JoHunt I am what I am Posts: 6,625 Karma: 62235665 Join Date: Sep 2011 Device: iPad3, Voyage	It's called the Dewey Decimal system. Here's the Wikipedia listing of all the categories: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of...ecimal_classes

08-19-2012, 03:09 AM	#4
rjmac Connoisseur Posts: 54 Karma: 574506 Join Date: Apr 2012 Device: Kobo Touch	The Hewey Decimal System and the American Library of Congress Classification (LCC) are very comprehensive for non-fiction books but neither covers fiction. The majority of books I have are fiction.

08-19-2012, 03:37 AM	#5
pisceschick Addict Posts: 259 Karma: 1025706 Join Date: Jul 2011 Device: Classic Nook, Kindle Keyboard, Nexus 7	Perhaps Amazon's (or your favorite book store) classification system might be a good place to start? I, too, dislike the tags that come with my books. General? Really? So helpful!

08-19-2012, 04:00 AM	#6
Kumabjorn Basculocolpic Posts: 4,356 Karma: 20181319 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sweden Device: Kindle 3 WiFi, Kindle 4SO, Kindle for Android, Sony PRS-350 and PRS-T1	Hewey, Dewey, Lewey, I knew it was one of Donald's nephews. Yes, I know spelling is different, but pronunciation is the same, right?

08-19-2012, 07:50 AM	#9
Kumabjorn Basculocolpic Posts: 4,356 Karma: 20181319 Join Date: Jul 2010 Location: Sweden Device: Kindle 3 WiFi, Kindle 4SO, Kindle for Android, Sony PRS-350 and PRS-T1	It's a twisted brain that resort to Disney characters as a mnmonic device.

08-19-2012, 04:43 PM	#11
taustin Wizard Posts: 1,358 Karma: 5766642 Join Date: Aug 2010 Device: Nook	The genres publishers use are marketing categories, and seem to have no real connection to subjet matter. In short, it's a recommendation to retailers on how to shelve books, based on what stuff people will buy if they see it next to something else they want to buy. That's why science fiction and fantasy get shelved together - the book stores feel there's a lot of crossover in the markets. The only categories you'll find are consistent are your own, and generally, those will be limited to "stuff I like," "stuff I don't like," and "stuff I'd like to use to start a fire."

08-19-2012, 05:18 PM	#12
BeccaPrice Wizard Posts: 2,146 Karma: 11174187 Join Date: Jan 2011 Device: Sony 350, K3-3G, K4SO, KPW	My genre tags are pretty idiosyncratic. I'll give a series all the same tag, because I'm more likely to be looking for an In Death book than I am Mystery with Female Detective. Since I use my genre tags to create my kindle collections, I use tags that will help me find which collection something is in.

08-19-2012, 06:15 PM	#13
Jeff L Zealot Posts: 117 Karma: 584308 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: San Francisco Device: Kindle	Mobipocket uses this set: Action & Adventure Architecture & Design Art Asian Interest Biographies Bioscience & Clinical Medicine Business, Finance Calculators Cartoons Classics Computing, Internet Cooking Current Events Dictionaries Economics Education Encyclopedias Entertainment Erotica Family Fantasy Gay & Lesbian Gender Studies General Fiction Geography Health Historical Fiction History Horror House & Home Humor Humor Political Juvenile Fiction Language & Linguistics Law Literary Criticism & Collections Mathematics Media & Communication Medical Movies & TV Series Music & Songs Mystery & Crime Nature Novels Performing Arts Personal Finance Pets Philosophy Poetry Politics Psychology Quizzes Reference Religious Fiction Restaurant Guides Romance Science & Technical Science Fiction Self-Improvement Short Stories Sociology Spiritual & Religion Sports & Outdoors Study Aids Suspense & Thrillers Tales & Fables Technological Fiction Technology Theatre Travel True Crime Undefined Some people distinguish Detective from Mystery. There's Biographies but not Memoirs. Publishers will separate Contemporary Fiction and Literary Fiction. Note that here Juvenile Fiction is used as an umbrella term with no distinction for Young Adult and younger children. Suspense & Thrillers and Technological Fiction are separate terms so Technothrillers could fit in either. You could go on and on. So it's a good start, but you'd have to adjust this for your own needs.

08-19-2012, 07:16 PM	#14
DiapDealer Grand Sorcerer Posts: 28,344 Karma: 203719646 Join Date: Jan 2010 Device: Nexus 7, Kindle Fire HD	I usually go with "Read" and "Unread."

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08-19-2012, 09:22 PM	#15
morriss003 Evangelist Posts: 438 Karma: 3409790 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Maui Device: kindle	How would you tag a JD Robb (Nora Roberts) "in Death" novel? It's set in the future, the heroine is a female detective who solves murders, and she's in love with (of all people!) her husband.