The explosion in self-publishing and the subsequent success of self-published authors has certainly turned the publishing industry on its head. The impact is far reaching and in particular on genre boundaries which have become increasingly blurred and outdated. Yet browse your local bookshop or the virtual pages of Amazon and you’re left in no doubt as to the importance of genre categorization. Historically genre fiction and literary fiction have been considered separate entities but has literary fiction had its day or the boundaries between literary fiction and genre fiction become so confused that the differentiation no longer matters?
The problem with Literary fiction is actually defining it. There has always been something of a snob value attached to it. The widely held perspective being that the quality of writing is better. If we turn towards an author like Carlos Ruiz Zafron it’s undoubtedly so but search for Zafron’s books on Amazon and we will find his books listed as Historical Literary Fiction, Reference (Books), occult thrillers and vampire thrillers. Search for other top tier authors on Amazon and you will see the same thing over and over again.
Genre classification seems to have become less about informing the reader or the quality of the writing than it has about choosing a classification which offers a search advantage and Literary fiction may well be suffering the fall out with many self-published literary gems, in particular, going unnoticed.
We aren’t the first site to blog on the subject of literary fiction and we certainly won’t be the last but to get back to our statement about the boundaries between literary fiction and genre fiction becoming so confused that the differentiation may no longer matter. What do you think?
We work with both traditionally published and “indie” authors who have self or independently published books and our mission is simple. It’s to discover new and talented authors and help them give their work the attention and awareness it deserves. We do this by providing professional and credible reviews which are respected by our readers. Our primary focus is on fiction across all genres, non – fiction with broad appeal and selected poetry.
Beginning with the marriage of Erc of Dalriada to his first wife Marca at the age of fifteen and covering the period up until his death in 474AD, Strittmatter gives us a rousing historical novel and a fine example of what can happen when good writing and extensive research come together.
When Jim meets Sophie, a fellow member of the liberation movement ‘The Underground’, his life begins to take on even more meaning. After a failed attempt at infiltrating the Elite leaders ends in tragedy, Jim turns to his scientific studies, specifically a porthole into other dimensions, to right the wrong.
An eye-opening look at creation versus evolution, ‘From Goo to God’ tracks many of the blindly accepted evolutionary theories, picking each apart to examine whether they deserve the widely established promotion throughout the whole educational experience of young people.
Kathleen. W . Franks has managed to capture; the kind that transports its young reader into the realms of their own imagination, complete with secret tunnels, magical creatures and a good old baddie or two!
Right from the off the mystery begins as Franks firmly hooks her readers with strong relatable characters and a gripping plot, with the shape of the novel growing and shifting naturally from her protagonist’s very first experience at his new home.
We are constantly and enduringly fascinated with fictional accounts of parallel existence, alternative realities and genetic engineering. Films such as ‘The Fountain’ present immortality as attainable, whilst books such as ‘The Book Thief’ (Markus Zusak) explore the nature of death, in this case by death himself acting as narrator.
From humble beginnings in 2002 as a book review club BookViral has grown to become the first choice in book reviews for authors around the world and one of the biggest book review sites on the web. BookViral reaches millions of potential readers through best practice SEO and a trusted social media presence ensuring readers get unbiased, critical recommendations they can trust.
BookViral also offers a full suite of author services, including, book editing services for unpublished and self-published authors, website design and bespoke SEO that help authors get discovered by more potential readers as well as industry influencers, such as publishers, agents and film executives.
© Copyright 2019 BookViral Reviews. All Rights Reserved.