You think you know your genre? Think again.

How to identify your book’s true genre and why it matters for agents, sales and readers

Photo by Olena Bohovyk on Unsplash

I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been there myself: confident that I’ve nailed the genre of my novel… until someone (usually my brilliant agent) points out that, actually, I’ve written something completely different. It happens. A lot.

Just recently, I was working with an author who pitched their novel as being like Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine: quiet, introspective, with a focus on personal growth and quirky isolation. But after reading the first 5k words, I had to gently point out that what they’d actually written was much closer to a contemporary romance, complete with strong love interest arcs and flirty dialogue. Lovely writing but selling it as the wrong thing would’ve cost them readers and opportunities.

(By the way, these examples are shared with permission from the writers involved, even though they’re anonymous)

How did I know? Part instinct, part experience. After years of devouring books, writing my own (some of which actually sold pretty well, thank you Amazon algorithms) and keeping one eye permanently on the market, you start to get a feel for these things. But there’s also research involved. I’ll dig into how to do that properly in my guide for paying subscribers. But trust me, a little research goes a long way.

Here’s why this stuff matters:

When you’re writing the book. Genres—and sub-genres—have a rhythm, a tone, a promise to the reader. Mess with that promise and you risk losing your reader halfway through. One writer pitched their novel as an emotionally rich historical novel set during the Second World War. But their natural writing voice kept leaning toward light, modern humour…think Bridget Jones meets Downton Abbey. Which obviously sounds GREAT but didn’t match their pitch and some other parts of how the novel was written. The result? A tonal mismatch that left readers unsure how to feel from one page to the next.

Now when I say tonal, it was their voice, sure, but it didn’t match the tone of the genre. And voice is not the same as tone. Voice is yours. Tone is what the reader expects from the kind of book they’re reading.

When you’re pitching it. Agents and publishers want to know what shelf this goes on, whether that’s in a physical book store or online store. If you can’t tell them clearly, with comparable titles and a confident sub-genre, you’re creating extra work for them. And trust me, they don’t need more work!

And when you're promoting it. Whether you’re self-publishing or working with your publisher’s PR and marketing teams, if you’re shouting about your ‘gripping thriller” when you’ve written a slow-burn relationship drama, readers will notice. And they’ll feel misled. And that affects reviews. And sales.

Honestly, I’ve seen some brilliant novels struggle to find traction purely because they were positioned in the wrong genre.

So, if you’re writing something now, or planning to submit or self-publish soon, here’s my nudge: double check your genre. Don’t go by gut alone. And don’t trust what you wanted the book to be when you started. Figure out what it actually is.

In my subscriber-only guide (link below), I walk you through how to really identify your genre and sub-genre without second-guessing yourself into a spiral. It includes tricks I use with mentoring clients, how I research comps and how I adjust my pitch when needed.