Bracketing The Books: Types Of Book Genre

We all know the world of books is like a deep ocean and reaching the bottom of the ocean is a time taking task. But few skillful people with time and dedication do reach the bottom of the ocean. Similarly, for readers to dive into books is a similar phenomenon. So to make things easy we humans love classifying and categorizing things around us. As there is a vast variety of books, we have divided books into different types of book genres. The main aim of dividing the book into different genres is to create better and effective marketing strategies, which ultimately helps in selling the book.

The best people to decide which book belongs to which book genre are usually the publishers. Along with the types of book genre, books are further categorized into subgenre and cross genre. Before we further go ahead let’s see what a genre refers to, it refers to a distinctive style of storytelling, writing style, theme, content creation, characterization, etc. A single book may be eligible to fall into more than one genre or consists of various sub genres like action-comedy, science fiction, romantic comedy, etc. So, let us now learn the types of book genre that exists:

Types of Book Genre

There are two main types of book genre in which book genre is divided are:

1. Fiction Genre:

A book which falls in the fiction genre is the one whose main theme and the idea is derived from the imaginary world or non-real world, a world which does not exist in reality. In day to day life people refer fiction book genre as “Novel”.

The Fiction book genre is further classified into categories which are as follows:

a. Classics –

They are those fiction books that have achieved cult status in book history for its content and popularity. They are used as reference by every author at some given point of time in their writing career. They are taught in schools and colleges too. Examples of Classic Fiction Book genres are Pride and Prejudice, Jane Eyre, etc.

b. Sci-Fi (Science Fiction):

It is one of the most popular sub genres of the fiction book genre and is characterized by scientific and technology themes.  It has events and characters which are associated with time travel, space exploration, artificial intelligence, cybernetics, etc. Examples of Sci-Fi book genre are: The Dune Chronicle, Frankenstein, Solaris, The Midnight Library, Project Hail Mary, etc.

c. Fantasy:

As the name suggests this category of fiction book genre is based around the theme of mafic, supernatural powers, witchcraft, mythology, etc. They are larger than life and have elements which show fantasies, fairy tales, demons and Gods, etc. Examples of the Fantasy category of the Fiction book genre are Harry Potter series, The Chronicles of Narnia, The Alchemist, The Dark Tower, etc.

d. Tragedy:

This category of the fiction book genre belongs to the drama sub genre which involves and centers the sufferings and tragedies of humans. But the characters involved are not real, they are imaginary and are created by the author. Examples are Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Prince Of Denmark, The Shack, etc.

e. Romance:

This is an all time favorite category of the readers who love reading fiction.  This category of book genre usually focuses on the feelings, emotions, dilemmas, and social differences between the two main protagonists of the story. Some have happy endings and some don’t. Examples are The Notebook, Pride and prejudice, Love Story, It Ends With Us, etc.

f. Horror:

The Horror category might have a small yet fixed and loyal fan base. That is why the horror stories have repeat customer value. The Horror category of Fiction Book genre aims to provoke the feeling of fear, shock, terror and fright in the reader. They are inspired by different elements like mythology, afterlife, devils, demons, ghosts, witches, vampires, etc. Examples are If It Bleeds, Dracula, The Shining, House of leaves, IT, etc.

g. Crime And Mystery:

If you are a Sherlock Holmes fan then you know what we are talking about. The Crime And Mystery fiction book genre which usually involves the steps in a story format to solve the crime that took place and if the crime that happened is not solved within a period of time, then it becomes a mystery. These stories usually show the mindset of the criminal and his way of finding solutions to the injustice he faced. It also shows the psychological conflict of the criminal. Examples are Sherlock Holmes, Gone Girl, The Silaet Patient, Murder On The Orient Express, WHere The Crawdads Sings, etc.

h. Humor and Satire:

Well, this category of fiction book genre is surely the most interesting one as it combines the humor and the satire to convey the message to the readers in the most innovative and entertaining way also. This way the serious issues around us are highlighted in a very funny way. With the help of the satire the disabilities of the system and society is uncovered. Examples are Let’s Pretend This Never Happened, The Ultimate Hitchhiker’s Guide To The Galaxy, Born A Crime, Animal Farm, etc.

i. Action And Adventure:

We can say that these books do overlap the sci-fi, fantasy, mystery categories of the Fiction book genre. As it revolves around creating an atmosphere which gives a feeling of sitting on the edge of the cliff. They generate curiosity as well as a state of fear and danger with extraordinary situations faced by the protagonist of the story. Examples are The Sentinel, Beneath A Scarlet Sky, Treasure Island, The Count Of Monte Cristo, etc.

j. Comics:

Well, it is still debatable for many whether comics are books for children and adults. This fiction book genre is represented in an artistic sequential form to narrate a story. It also includes dialogues with images. It started in Japan. Examples are The Sandman, Doom Patrol, Watchmen, Fetch-22, Strange Planet, etc.

2. Non-Fiction Genre:

Non-fiction type of book genre can be defined as any literary work which intends to put across the information about events or incidents in an accurate manner. They are drawn from true life incidents. They can belong to the categories of history, politics, science, lifestyle, human behavior and others. Today we will talk about some of the major categories of the non-fiction book genre. These are as follows:

a. Biography and Autobiography:

A biography is a very detailed, intricate expression of someone’s extremely personal and intimate moments of their life in the book format. If the narrator is writing about himself then it becomes Autobiography. This genre talks about the achievements, failures, emotions, and experiences of the person. Examples of Biography are A Beautiful Mind, The Enigma, Unthinkable; Examples of Autobiographies are: The Diary of A Young Girl, The Long Hard Road, Wild, etc.

b. Memoirs: 

Memoirs are somewhat similar to autobiographies but in memoirs the focus is on a particular life Changing event or experience of the author. This genre also talks about the human emotion, behavior, success and failure of a person. Some great memoirs which one should read includes Just kids, Men We Reaped, The Glass Castle, and Just As I Am.

c. Lifestyle Books:

This category of nonfiction book genre includes many sub genres like cookbooks, travel, art and photography, religion and spirituality, health and fitness, music, fashion, language, parenting, etc. This category deals with the common and both uncommon things which humans do as a regular job or as a hobby. There are so many popular lifestyle books like 100 Home-style Recipes For Health and Weight Loss.

Also Read – How to write a romantic novel 

d. True Stories:

It includes true incidents that have occurred. This category may include events from history, life stories, crime stories, etc. The style and narration is similar to the fiction book genre of this nonfiction category but the only difference is that in the fiction genre the story is imaginary not real. Examples of true stories are The Good People, If You Tell, Spilled Milk, Without A Country, etc.

e. Self Help: 

As the name suggests, this book talks about helping people around us by talking about the struggle they faced in their lives to overcome some extreme situation or emotion. This usually includes issues like addiction, relationship, fear, health issues, etc. Examples of self help book genre are: How To Win Friends and Influence People, The Power Of Now, The Four Agreements, Rich Dad Poor Dad, etc.

The types of book genre helps in distinguishing the work of various authors, as many authors do stick to one particular theme, and style of writing like Sherlock Holmes (Crime and Mystery genre), and William Shakespeare (Drama, tragedy). Also, many books do fall under more than one category like socio-political, rom-coms, romantic-tragedy, etc. The segregation of books into different types of book genres and categories, helps in laying out the marketing and promotional strategies/plans for the book for the author and the publishing houses. Not only this, classifying books into different types of book genres helps the readers to pick and choose his/her book type either by a particular category and also discovering similar books in the same genre.