Two people meet at a party hosted by mutual friends. They start small talk about the weather, maybe a little politics and then the conversation steers to “so what do you do for a living?” One person responds I am an author, to which the other person replies so am I. What’s the next question they will ask each other? What genre do you write in?
A genre tends to be looked at as a category for people involved in an artistic endeavor. When I had the idea for the Cache Iron mysteries, I did not know what genre I would be writing. I hadn’t really thought of it. I knew I had a story that I wanted to tell and low and behold, my stories fit into the Women Sleuths genre.
The biggest bookstore, Amazon, has been reported to have over 10,000 genre’s and subgenres. Did you know Vampire Romances was a genre? How about Paranormal Witches and Wizards Romance, yep that is a genre too?
With detective mysteries, there are at least forty genre’s and sub-genres that a mystery author could choose for ebooks alone and then a separate list for paperbacks.
Some genres for mysteries include:
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Crime Fiction
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Kidnapping
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Murder
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Noir
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Amateur Sleuth
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Cozy
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Hard-Boiled
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Historical
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International Mystery and Crime
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LGBT
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Private Investigators
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Pulp
With paperbacks you can find a fresh set of mystery genres which include some items listed above.
You might wonder with all these genres out there which ones generate the most revenue?
The website Bubblecow reported that the most profitable category on Amazon was Romance/Erotica, followed by Crime/Mystery, Religious/Inspirational, Science Fiction/Fantasy and then Horror.
So if you are thinking about writing a novel and are trying to determine which genre might be the most profitable for you, that might give you a clue. I'm happy my genre is at least number two. I don't think I have a romance novel in me.
With new stories and new ideas, making their way on to pages, the list of genres will continue to grow into the future, to help readers find a type of book they are interested in.
Are you thinking about writing a novel? So what genre will you write in?