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Talking Genre

Each December our bloggers take a break while we look back at a few of the thousands of posts we've created over the years here at the Blood-Red Pencil.

We'll start off with Genre.



Secrets of Genre Strategy
: Morgan Mandel shares some secrets for getting noticed in your genre.
 

Monday, July 20, 2015

Secrets of Genre Strategy

Today, I'd like to share some secrets for getting noticed in your genre. First, it's a step in the right direction to write a great book. However, these days that's not enough. Amidst the vast competition, somehow your gem must stand out and get noticed. Genre strategy is one way to do that. Here are some secrets to achieve that:

Be specific. Narrow down your genre. For example, don't just say you've written a romance. The romance genre contains... [Read more



 

Playing the Genre Game : Linda Lane offers a warning that being too vague will cost you readers (and buyers). 

 

Friday, July 10, 2015

Playing the Genre Game

A shopper stops at a table in a bookstore where an author is having a book signing.

Shopper picks up the book. “What’s your genre?”

Author smiles. “It’s sort of a cozy, romantic, mysterious thriller for new adults.”

Shopper frowns. “Excuse me?” ... [Read more]

 


  

A Tale of Two Genres : Carola Dunn talks about the complexities of subcategories in the romance and mystery genres. 

 

Monday, July 27, 2015

A Tale of Two Genres

I’ve been writing “genre fiction” for 36 years. I began with romance, then moved on to mystery.

That’s the simple version.

For a start, I wrote Regency romance, not just... [Read more]

 


 

Mystery, Suspense, or Romance : Terry Odell discusses the fact that some genre categories are too broad.

 

Friday, July 17, 2015

Mystery, Suspense, or Romance

Although I write romantic suspense, I'm not happy with the moniker the industry gave to the genre. According to the publishing industry, romantic suspense includes all romance-themed mystery sub-genres, from cozy to thriller. There's the added... [Read more]

 


 

Anything But Cozy : Robin Spano dropped in to chat about the merits of a ratings system for books, like that applied to movies.


Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Anything but Cozy

Books should come with ratings, like movies.

As a reader, I'd mostly select R-rated titles, like I do with movies. Not because I love sex and violence, but because I like stories that push the limits of conventional expectations, and I find that most authors who push those limits don't limit their characters to polite language. ... [Read more]

Compiled by Elle Carter Neal

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