Genre Research and Why It’s Important

When you walk in a bookstore you see different shelves with different genres: fantasy, romance, mystery, non-fiction, etc. These genres exist on these shelves because this is where the demand is. Same thing with categories on Amazon. These categories exist because there is demand for them. Readers want these categories.

If you write a book that does NOT fit into one of these categories, many readers will not find it or will not want to read it. Readers like what they are used to and comfortable with. A reader of a cozy mystery will want more and more cozy mysteries that are exactly like the other.

If you write a book without doing any genre research, and you say your book is a cozy mystery, but it has a cover that screams romance, or a story that doesn’t line up at all like all the other bestselling cozy mysteries, these cozy mystery readers will pass right over it.

The overall goal is to try your best to write more and more to your genre the best you can. The closer you get to writing to market of your genre, the more those readers will find your book and be interested in reading it.

We want readers to find and read our books! Otherwise, what’s the point of all this?

Have you been thinking about writing a book (or song) and don’t know where to start? Or maybe you’re an experienced writer who has felt stuck and overwhelmed with a writing project? I’d be happy to talk it out with you over a FREE Discovery Call.