Love the point about reading the latest published books in your genre !
@deborahdufel1664
Жыл бұрын
👏 Excellent point about older writers and reading new genre authors. Have a good one.
@commentoria
Жыл бұрын
Can you do a video about what you were talking about at the end, when you said it's really obvious when something is outdated and that can happen as fast as in three years,. What pegs a story as outdated, what elements?
@lynncarlson8529
Жыл бұрын
“Astute diagnosis” indeed. Gives me even more motivation to read debut authors.
@annworthington7253
Жыл бұрын
Will you consider making a video discussing outdated tropes? Please remind us what is old and tired.
@dorothynesbit8864
Жыл бұрын
Welcome back. Great discussion and loved the point about reading new debut authors. Thanks!
@russellcameronthomas2116
Ай бұрын
Content starts at 1:10
@jacobleslie8056
Жыл бұрын
Love your videos on genre. Can I add a question to your list? In a video ages ago Jessica mentioned that to query US agents the book had to appeal to a US market. I'm an aussie and write in an aussie voice. How aussie is too aussie for a US market? I feel like I have a sense of US books that do well in Australia, but not of the sort of international books that sell well in the US.
@BookEndsLiterary
Жыл бұрын
Hi! I believe writing to a market is less about the voice and more about the content! So if you want to query US agents, it's good to know which genres/tropes are popular in the US market, because that's where the agents will be trying to sell! But it's okay if the voice is an "aussie voice" as you put it :)
@jacobleslie8056
Жыл бұрын
@@BookEndsLiterary thank you! This is god to know. I write YA horror so the tropes are pretty universal.
@samp4050
Жыл бұрын
I'm in the same position as you, but a South African, and also wondering if I will get a US literary agents to represent me. My ms is a historical romance fiction story, but is about one family and their drama, so it's also a family drama, lol. Would book ends and other literary agents reject my ms because it's about a South African story, or not? I hope not, because it's really a great story. No, really.😅
@zaframiriam3038
Жыл бұрын
I feel like the genre lists on Query Tracker is not helping with this issue either. If an agent has on their list of "genres" LGBTQ+ - how is that a genre if you can have elements of LGBTQ+ in any conceivable genre? Do I choose it, or historical, or literary if my story is a character-driven, voicey, recent historical novel with a prominent LGBTQ+ story line? The question is rhetorical, but it seems like if agents want writers to define their genres they shouldn't muddy the waters listing non-genre genres, right? Additionally, the "what shelf" thing didn't help me. I live in a non-English speaking country with no major bookstores, so I can't physically go to a store and look at what genre my comp titles are shelved as for a hint. I asked a friend in the US to check for those titles in the local library. She was told they were under "fiction." As you-all mention, looking online is impossible because every book lists like 5000 related things which are not actually genres, so there's no way to narrow down to know what actual genre this book was pitched/sold as. It's a mad, mad world.
@kanashiiookami6537
Жыл бұрын
Exactly! The only bookstore close to me was 2 hours away, was being the operative word because it closed down during the pandemic. (Not that I could afford to go to it more than once every few years) And the "where it's shelved in your library" makes zero sense, because my local library only separates books as fiction, non-fiction, children's, adults, and YA. I have found comic books shelved with adult books because of them being sorted via author name and age group. 🤷
@BookEndsLiterary
Жыл бұрын
These are fair critiques, our way of defining genre in this video does lean heavily on the idea of a standard US bookstore or library with large enough stock to categorize books by genre, which is not going to be an accessible comparison for everyone, so we're sorry about that! One way around this would be to run an internet search on how major bookstores in the US are sorted, and most of the resources you find will list the most common genres that books are sorted by. This is really only relevant if you're looking at agents in the US, since they're likely going to think about genre in a way that reflects the US market, which is reflected in mid-to-large sized US bookstores! As for specific agents that list things like "LGBTQ+" as a genre, yeah that can definitely be a little confusing. You might be able to decide based on which element is the most prominent. So, the same way some historical romances have a "home" genre of historical fiction and others have a "home" genre of romance (depending on which elements are more prevalent) you could think of which "home" your book sits in. Is it an LGBTQ+ story that happens to take place in a historical setting (in which case you might select LGBTQ+)? Or is it a historical book that happens to have LGBTQ+ elements (in which case you might select historical)? That might help you decide how to pick! But you're right that LGBTQ+ is not a genre so the lack of consistency makes things complicated. I hope this helps clarify some stuff!
@zaframiriam3038
Жыл бұрын
@@BookEndsLiterary Yes, in my case I'm leaning towards historical but I still think the Query Tracker genre lists are often a hellscape :). Fyi, the library my friend checked where my comps were listed in "fiction" is a mid-sized branch with a good-sized stock. Just now I called the main branch in the same city (Oakland, CA) which is *quite* large, and they also have them under fiction. I asked about their genre categories and they have three for fiction: fiction, mystery, and science fiction. So at least for libraries, size of stock does not necessarily determine number of genres. Regardless, thanks for your thoughtful reply and for your videos which I find both helpful and endlessly entertaining.
@christineansorge5519
11 ай бұрын
My book is a literary adventure for middle grade. It depends on children’s history and fiction books. It isn’t like any book I’ve found except homeschooling curriculum. My book is made for children to teach themselves and to appeal to everyone regardless of the communities they belong to. How do I classify this book and find comps?
@lisakaufman3029
Жыл бұрын
How can a writer craft a manuscript without knowing their reader? The entire time I'm writing the second draft of my women's fiction manuscript, I'm thinking about my reader, Millennial females! BTW, I didn't know picture books could be nonfiction!😲
@clairezalla
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for the video! My story takes place in a secondary world that evokes the WWI era, but it doesn't have any magic or creatures. I've been querying it as "historical fantasy," but I know most historical fantasy is the made-up history of a real place whereas mine is the real history of a made-up place. Do you think that categorization is correct? Or will it make agents think I don't understand genre, and I should just say "fantasy" or even more broadly "speculative"?
@BookEndsLiterary
Жыл бұрын
Hi! I think a lot of historical fantasy is fantasy that's inspired by specific eras in history, so I think that historical fantasy can be a good category for your book! But also, if you feel the fantasy element is stronger than the historical element (is it a fantasy book that just happens to be inspired by WWI, or is it a historical book with fantastical elements?) you could always categorize it as fantasy to catch the broader genre category.
@sandrae2398
Жыл бұрын
Hi! I just have a question but it's a little off topic. If an agent requests your manuscript, and you send it, do you email the other agents you queried to inform them? If so, do you tell them the agent and literary agency that did, or do you keep it vague? Or not say anything at all? Thanks in advance
@elburn7385
Жыл бұрын
If an agent wants to be informed of a full request, they will say so explicitly in their submission guidelines. This is far more common with UK agents than US agents. There is no need to say the agent/agency. Good luck!
@sandrae2398
Жыл бұрын
@@elburn7385 thank you :)
@BookEndsLiterary
Жыл бұрын
Typically you don't have to inform other agents of full requests! You only have to notify them if you receive an offer of representation. And if you do receive an offer of rep, you don't have to tell the other agents who is offering (unless you want to)
@kirtiomart
Жыл бұрын
Thanks for clarifying my doubts.
@jwalker6187
9 ай бұрын
Paraphrasing but "romance exists. . . Even if it's within an already married couple" 😂😂😂
@shawnzsmith
Жыл бұрын
@bookendsliterary would you say climate fiction is a genre?
@BookEndsLiterary
Жыл бұрын
Typically this is a subgenre of something else! For example, you could do a climate sci-fi, which might be more about the dystopic elements of the new world caused by climate change; or you could do literary climate fiction, where someone has to come to terms with the new world they're living in; or you could have climate horror, where there are some horrific elements stemming from climate change. You can do climate fiction in all kinds of ways, and that will decide your genre! You might want to search "climate fiction" and see what kinds of titles are included-you'll notice they span all genres, which is a good indicator that climate fiction itself is more of a descriptor than a genre!
@heathervangjeli3842
Жыл бұрын
Oh yeah. I reread a favorite from when I was a kid and it was umm… not how I remembered. I wouldn’t recommend it anymore 🙃
@robertcoyle1532
Жыл бұрын
So what does 'speculative fiction' cover. Is it a genre?
@andrewfallman7542
Жыл бұрын
Science fiction and fantasy
@robertcoyle1532
Жыл бұрын
@@andrewfallman7542 But they are genres tyemselves...
@andrewfallman7542
Жыл бұрын
Yeah, it's more used to describe writers, in my experience, who do both. Some bookstores may shelve them together or by each other
@BookEndsLiterary
Жыл бұрын
Speculative fiction is not really a genre; it's just a catch-all way of describing books that have some kind of element that makes it non-realist. For example, anything including: magic, supernatural/paranormal elements, futuristic elements, or other imagined (think "speculated") elements. Typically, fantasy, science fiction, magical realism/fabulism, and horror are genres that fall under the category of speculative fiction; alternate history can also fall under this category. Hope this helps!
@robertcoyle1532
Жыл бұрын
@@BookEndsLiterary Yet Query Tracker has 'speculative' as what looks like a separate category. I write plausible SiFi (no space operas). Should I Query agents who list that they are interested in 'speculative' fiction?
@MrKmariah
Жыл бұрын
Question on a Middle Grade I have written: it's contemporary - set in current times - but the main character and her friend are dealing with a ghost and trying to solve a mystery from the past. Contemporary-historical-mystery? 🤣 I know that's TOO much.
@salomeydraws
Жыл бұрын
Personally, I would call it middle-grade mystery since it sounds like mystery at the core, the other elements are only enhancing that core of it being a mystery 🙂
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