Tag: cross genres

Genre: Good or Evil

categorizing-by-genres-books-1204038_960_720A couple months ago T.D. McKinnon wrote a post for Indies Unlimited that discussed literary fiction versus genre fiction. He also mentioned “…the increasing number of genre labels that sometimes seem to me a little obscure, with the assignment to the various categories certainly more subjective than objective.” In this post, I’m going to discuss genre labels, a bit about their history (at least as I see it), their positives and any negatives.

As I see it, the purpose of genres is as a shorthand to classify a book’s content. It helps bookstores arrange books that are similar to be close together. In turn, this helps readers determine if a book is something they’re interested in or as a way to quickly focus in on the books that potentially fit what they’re looking for. Imagine visiting a brick and mortar bookstore where all the books were on the shelves arranged by author last name, ISBN, or some other method without first having them grouped into genre. Could you find what you were looking for? Genre has historically been one of the most critical factors in book discovery. If a potential reader can’t find your book, they can’t buy or read it. Continue reading “Genre: Good or Evil”

My Opinion on Everything

K. S. Brooks with the Washington Post NewshoundThat’s right: I have an opinion on everything. I’ve shown you what your minimal requirements should be for building your author empire here. Now I’m going to tell you some other things you need to know.

1. Backlist. Having only one published book is NOT going to cut it. You need lots of books. If you expect to sell a million books, having a million titles to sell is a phenomenally good idea. That would mean you’d only have to sell one of each title to reach your goal. Of course, you know you can easily sell one book. So, your goal should be to write a good portion of the books you intend to sell. This is such simple logic. I don’t understand why no one gets this.

2. Loss Leader. A loss leader is something that you don’t mind losing money on because it draws people to your offerings and they purchase your other stuff. It’s like the sacrificial lamb of your backlist. This is something every author should have. I’m very good at loss leaders, so take my word for it. I have 10 of them. Continue reading “My Opinion on Everything”