Ravenlocks & the Right-sized Box
photo credit: hjalmeida
Marketing experts are always shouting for people to think outside the box!
And sure, that’s a good stragegy for fresh ideas and problem solving. But what if you haven’t identified the box you fit into — in order to even jump out of? In other words, how can you sell your brand if you don’t know where it sits on today’s market shelves?
That was my issue as a novelist. I wandered around without a genre for my series to “fit into.” Ok, sure. Novels = Fiction, one of the classic five genres: fiction, nonfiction, drama, poetry, folktale. But that’s so general!
In the 21st century, genre has come to mean sub-genre, so readers can find the kinds of story they like to read. For example, to have a chance to sell well on Amazon, a writer is advised to write books in one of these twelve most popular fiction genres:
- Fantasy
- Science Fiction
- Dystopian
- Adventure
- Romance
- Detective & Mystery
- Horror
- Thriller