Some
book genres have advantages over others in self publishing. Crime thrillers for
example comprise a huge number of books including big name authors. Breaking
out in fiction thrillers would for this reason be difficult for the self
published author. Other fiction genres possess a smaller number of books,
making writing in that genre a little easier to hit the top one hundred
bestseller of that genre. Comics and graphic novels fall into this category.
The
Best Genre to Write for in Self Publishing
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| What is the Best Book Category for Self Published Writers? |
Before
exploring why a particular genre might yield a better chance for the self
publisher to get noticed, I feel a definition needs to be drawn between favoring a book genre and advantages of a book genre. I do feel
that Amazon tends to plug big writers and NYT bestsellers rather than unknowns.
Take a look at the Kindle store’s home page and a list of trad pubbed books
will be on display. Autobiographies by celebrities may be seen, as well as a bestselling
author’s new release. Few is any self published novelists will be seen.
The
Best Book Category for Indie Authors
So
which genre is opens out the chances of a self published writer to get noticed?
Well, some genres have a clear advantage over others when it comes to being
self published.
As
has been pointed out earlier, the self published writer is lone in the
publishing world compared to the trad published writer, who has the support of
editors and marketers. There are (at the time of writing this 2014) around 3.25
million ebooks on Amazon, and growing. It is very hard to get noticed.
Selling
Non Fiction and Fiction Books on Kindle
But
some genres are more competitive than others. Generally, non-fiction such as
how-to books and factual books are easier to sell than fiction. This is because
there are clear goals to satisfy, such as a need to learn how to fix a car or
how to draw Manga. There are also fewer books in certain categories, and
therefore smaller competition. Reaching the number one spot in say, recreation
and games, is more possible than romantic fiction.
Selling
Picture Books on Amazon
A
how-to book with images requires a mere glance in preview to see the quality of
the book. Good photos, captions and formatting will inform on the
professionalism of the book. But a fiction book takes longer to read,
comprehend and therefore make the decision to buy. Does the reader have the
time to do this on an untried writer when a safe bet can be taken on a brand
name author?
Horror
Fiction, Romantic Suspense, Dystopian and Teen Fiction
When
it comes to fiction, the reader is likely to gravitate towards old favorites,
such as Martina Cole, Lee Childs or Stephen King etc. Thrillers is one of the
biggest subcategories in fiction. Romance and Sci-fi are also very big, with
heavyweights dominating that genre. The self pubbed writer who writes in these
genres is going to find it extremely hard to make sales when up against such
competition. I believe making an impression is harder now that it was three
years ago. I am not sure if Amanda Hocking or Hugh Howey would have found the
big time so easily now. So when it comes to self publishing, the advantage lies
with non-fiction that satisfy a clear need. Fiction is much harder. Thrillers
is the hardest of the fiction genre.
Is
Kidnapping Better than Action Adventure for Indie Publishing?
Amazon
has subdivided certain genres in to subcategories, meaning there are fewer
books to compete with. Crime thrillers & mystery, for instance is a huge
category on its own, but has smaller categories within. These are: crime
fiction, thrillers, mystery and suspense. These are again, subdivided into
subcategories. Crime fiction can be found to be divided into: action adventure,
British and Irish, heist, kidnapping, murder, noir, organized crime,
Scandinavian, serial killers and vigilante justice.
Which
Book Genre will get a Self Pubbed Writer Noticed?
Scandinavian
is a smaller subcategory than murder, so the self pubbed writer might be wise
to take a punt at writing for this smaller category. That is not to say it is
easy. All categories, regardless of how small are going to be competitive.
Another factor to consider, is that Amazon’s algorithm changes all the time and
not all books that would fit that category are necessarily listed, even if that
word (for example, Scandinavian) were used in the keywords.
Getting
a Book in the Kidnapping Genre of Amazon’s Self Publishing
One
of my thrillers, The Shuttered Room is a story about kidnapping, and I had
therefore included the word ‘kidnapped’ and ‘kidnapping’ in my keywords. Yet
when I had clicked on Amazon’s subcategory ‘kidnapping’ (which is a subcategory
of ‘crime, thrillers & mystery’), my book was not listed. I had to email
Amazon to include it within this category.
The
Best Genre to Write for in Self Publishing
It
would pay the writer to do a little research to see which genre is least
competitive when deciding the sort of book to write. Nonfiction books are
generally easier to sell than fiction, as the reader’s goal is clear-cut. Fiction
is extremely difficult as there are thousands of books in each category, and each
possesses heavyweight authors. But each category is subdivided again into smaller
categories with fewer books. Careful marketing (and of course a fantastic book)
may help the self pubbed writer go that little bit further if the book were listed
in a smaller, less competitive category.
Articles about Self Publishing
I think this is an informative post and it is very useful and knowledgeable. therefore, I would like to thank you for the efforts you have made in writing this article. self publishing companies
ReplyDeleteQuite informative. What I learned, is that Amazon only lets you chose two main categories to start with and then you have to email them to add up to 10, which you cannot see initially.
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