Writers in the Storm

By Kris Maze

You’ve written your book, edited it, collected beta reader feedback, and now you want to shop it around to editors and publishers.  First off, congratulations! You have finished a book. But now you will need to know how it fits in the world of book stores and online sales, and one step to categorize your book is by using comp books.

Comparison books, comp books for short, do the work of giving the agent, publisher, and ultimately your readers an idea about the content, style, and story promise of your book. Finding books that are similar to yours can be tough and confusing, since each story has its own unique imprint on the world. Choosing books that are closely aligned to your story in multiple ways can help you sell your books and connect to more readers who want your type of story.  Read on to see key ways that your comp book choices should reflect the essence of your story.

Why do authors need to find comp books or stories that are like their own?

• Helps with cover design
• Helps align accurate metadata (categories, keywords, descriptions
• Helps with marketing your target readers
• Helps you identify your ideal audience for your book.  

And it shows agents and publishers that you understand the market and which readers your book will appeal to.

What things does your work have in common with them?

Be specific when using a comp book to solicit a publisher or agent. How does your comp book reflect these aspects of your novel?

• Similar protagonist
  • Same genre
  • Main conflicts align
  • Address the same theme
  • Have a similar style or tone

Choosing books that are truly representative of what you have written also shows that you understand your book’s connection to readers. Giving book comp information to an agent or publisher shows a close relationship to a book with a proven audience base--and that your book can appeal to those readers as well.

How can you decide on and refine your Genre?

Genre Classifications

You may first want to read this article by our own Jenny Hanson about ow important it is to choose your genre carefully. But there is a slight art to picking the labels for your story.

It's problematic since there isn’t a definitive list. There are also major players, publishing houses, agencies, etc that use slightly different definitions. There are many, many stories that overlap in genre forming hybrid stories, complicating the process even more.

Here’s a little tool to help you in your research: Book Genre Finder - Book Genres (book-genres.com)

Another good place to look for genres and subgenres is to find your comp books in the places where they are sold.  A main one is Amazon.com and they have a very detailed collection of categories to choose from. There is more strategizing when it comes to which subgenres are best for your book, but looking at books similar to yours could help you germinate your ideas on which subgenres best describe your novel.

Genre Practice and a Game

Figuring out the genre of you writing can be tricky.  Let’s look at some well-selling books and see how close you choose the main category and subgenres.

Ready to practice your genre identification skills?  Here is a question-based game to get your genre juices flowing!

Each question slide will include a description of a novel that was popular and considered in the “Best of” genres according to Amazon during the last 7 years.  There will be 3 main categories to choose from, worth 1 point for each correct answer. There are extra points if you can guess the title of the novel from the description too!

Instructions:

1. Grab something to keep track of your answers.
2. Start the slideshow or read the descriptions from the stills included in this post below.
3. For each question slide, read the description, and write down the genre you choose.
4. Write down any titles you can identify.
5. Check your scores and brag incessantly in the comments at the end of this post.  😊

Start the slideshow HERE or read on.

Question 1

Question 1- What Best of Genre is this popular book based on the description below?

1. Best Science Fiction & Fantasy b. Best Literature & Fiction c. Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

           France, 1714: in a moment of desperation, a young woman makes a Faustian bargain to live forever—and is cursed to be forgotten by everyone she meets.

Thus begins the extraordinary life of our protagonist, and a dazzling adventure that will play out across centuries and continents, across history and art, as a young woman learns how far she will go to leave her mark on the world.

But everything changes when, after nearly 300 years, Addie stumbles across a young man in a hidden bookstore and he remembers her name.

Question 2

Question 2- What Best of Genre is this popular book based on the description below?

1. Best Science Fiction & Fantasy b. Best Literature & Fiction c. Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

           The Vignes twin sisters will always be identical. But after growing up together in a small, southern black community and running away at age sixteen, it's not just the shape of their daily lives that is different as adults, it's everything: their families, their communities, their racial identities. Many years later, one sister lives with her black daughter in the same southern town she once tried to escape.

The other secretly passes for white, and her white husband knows nothing of her past. Still, even separated by so many miles and just as many lies, the fates of the twins remain intertwined. What will happen to the next generation, when their own daughters' storylines intersect?

Question 3

Question 3- What Best of Genre is this popular book based on the description below?

1. Best Science Fiction & Fantasy b. Best Literature & Fiction c. Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

           A girl coming of age in L.A. in the late sixties, sneaks into clubs on the Sunset Strip, sleeps with rock stars, and dreams of singing at the Whisky a Go Go. The sex and drugs are thrilling, but it’s the rock ’n’ roll she loves most. By the time she’s twenty, her voice is getting noticed, and she has the kind of heedless beauty that makes people do crazy things.

Also getting noticed is a band led by the brooding Billy. On the eve of their first tour, his girlfriend Camila finds out she’s pregnant, and with the pressure of impending fatherhood and fame, Billy goes a little wild on the road. The two cross paths when a producer realizes that the key to supercharged success is to put the two together. What happens next will become the stuff of legend.

Question 4

Question 4- What Best of Genre is this popular book based on the description below?

1. Best Science Fiction & Fantasy b. Best Literature & Fiction c. Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

           A slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia is an outcast even among her fellow Africans. She is on the cusp of womanhood—where greater pain awaits. And so when another slave who has recently arrived from Virginia urges her to join him on the Underground Railroad, she seizes the opportunity and escapes with him.

Question 5

Question 5- What Best of Genre is this popular book based on the description below?

1. Best Science Fiction & Fantasy b. Best Literature & Fiction c. Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

           Mia carries with her a mysterious past and a disregard for the status quo that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When old family friends of the Richardsons attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town—and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia’s past. But her obsession will come at unexpected and devastating costs.

Question 6

Question 6- What Best of Genre is this popular book based on the description below?

1. Best Science Fiction & Fantasy b. Best Literature & Fiction c. Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

           The alcoholic narrator catches the same commuter train every morning. She knows it will wait at the same signal each time, overlooking a row of back gardens.

She’s even started to feel like she knows the people who live in one of the houses. ‘Jess and Jason’, she calls them. Their life – as she sees it – is perfect. If only she could be that happy. And then she sees something shocking. It’s only a minute until the train moves on, but it’s enough. Now everything’s changed.

Question 7

Question 7 - What Best of Genre is this popular book based on the description below?7

1. Best Science Fiction & Fantasy b. Best Literature & Fiction c. Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

           Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against one of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose.

Question 8

Question 8 - What Best of Genre is this popular book based on the description below?7

1. Best Science Fiction & Fantasy b. Best Literature & Fiction c. Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

           Somewhere out beyond the edge of the universe there is a library that contains an infinite number of books, each one the story of another reality. One tells the story of your life as it is, along with another book for the other life you could have lived if you had made a different choice at any point in your life. While we all wonder how our lives might have been, what if you had the chance to go to the library and see for yourself? Would any of these other lives truly be better?

Nora Seed finds herself faced with this decision. Faced with the possibility of changing her life for a new one, following a different career, undoing old breakups, realizing her dreams of becoming a glaciologist; she must search within herself as she travels through the Library to decide what is truly fulfilling in life, and what makes it worth living in the first place.

Subgenres of these best sellers

In this game you saw book descriptions for novels that hit the Best of Genre categories according to Amazon.  As you will see the Best Literature & Fiction category is very wide in definition.  Colton Whitehead’s Underground Railroad is a completely different story than Reid’s Daisy Jones and the Six. Here is how these descriptions topped the charts:

Best Science Fiction & Fantasy

The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue, by V.E. Schwab

• Historical Fantasy (Books)
  • Romance Literary Fiction
  • Contemporary Literary Fiction

The Midnight Library, by Matt Haig

• Time Travel Science Fiction (Kindle Store)
• Time Travel Fiction
• Romance Literary Fiction

Best Literature & Fiction

              The Vanishing Half, by Brit Bennett

• Historical Literary Fiction
• Women's Literary Fiction
• Mothers & Children Fiction

              Daisy Jones & The Six, by Taylor Jenkins Reid

• Literary Sagas
• Women's Literary Fiction
• Saga Fiction

              The Underground Railroad, by Colson Whitehead

• Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • Black & African American Historical Fiction (Books)
  • Literary Fiction (Books)

              Little Fires Everywhere, by Celeste Ng

• Asian American Literature (Kindle Store)
  • American Literature (Books)
  • Contemporary Fiction (Kindle Store)

              Circe, by Madeline Miller

• Military Historical Fiction
• Classic Literary Fiction
• Classic American Literature

Best Mystery, Thriller & Suspense

              The Girl on the Train, by Paula Hawkins

• Psychological Thrillers (Books)
  • Women Sleuths (Books)
  • Literary Fiction (Books)

Take a look at your correct answers. At 1 point for each correct category and an additional point for any correct titles, how many points did you get? Check the scoring chart and see how you did!

Final Thoughts

Genre is a tricky, slippery beast, and lets take the example of Outlander for a moment. Although historical fiction seems appropriate, the story has time travel (which we said is a subgenre). It fits in other categories.

According to the almighty-Bing search engine (hee hee),

"Outlander is a drama series adapted from the best-selling books by Diana Gabaldon. The series combines multiple genres, such as time travel fantasy, romance, historical fiction, and adventure1"

But also, according to the author, "Outlander is a genre unto itself, which is predominately historical fiction, but also features science fiction, romance, mystery and fantasy1. The author, Diana Gabaldon, conceives the time travel in the book as science fiction, and understands how it works within the fictional world2."

So, genre may just be in the eye of the beholder and a useful tool for marketing one's book to their targeted readers.

But one thing is certain, I should be handled with care as it connects your book to the readers who want your story.

Take a look at that list again and check out the Amazon subgenres listed.  Are any surprising to you? Would you have expected something different?  Share your thoughts below (and your scores if you really want to!)

About Kris

Kris Maze is an author, writing coach, and teacher. She has worked in education for many years and writes for various publications, including Practical Advice for Teachers of Heritage Learners of Spanish and the award-winning blog Writers in the Storm where she is also a host.

You can find her horror stories and young adult writing on her website. Keep up with future projects and events by subscribing to her newsletter. And other writing work HERE, including author coaching and critiques.

A recovering grammarian and hopeless wanderer, Kris enjoys reading, playing violin and piano, and spending time outdoors.

And occasionally, she takes hikes in the woods with her dog.

by Diana Gabaldon

Where most beginning writers screw up (you should pardon the expression) is in thinking that sex scenes are about sex. A good sex scene is about the exchange of emotions, not bodily fluids. That being so, it can encompass any emotion whatever, from rage or desolation to exultation, tenderness, or surprise. 

Lust is not an emotion; it’s a one-dimensional hormonal response. Ergo, while you can mention lust in a sex-scene, describing it at any great length is like going on about the pattern of the wall-paper in the bedroom. Worth a quick glance, maybe, but essentially boring.

So how do you show the exchange of emotions?  Dialogue, expression, or action—that’s about the limit of your choices, and of those, dialogue is by far the most flexible and powerful tool a writer has. What people say reveals the essence of their character.

Example:

“I know once is enough to make it legal, but…” He paused shyly.

“You want to do it again?”

“Would ye mind verra much?”

I didn’t laugh this time, either, but I felt my ribs creak under the strain.

“No,” I said gravely. “I wouldn’t mind.”

Now, you do, of course, want to make the scene vivid and three-dimensional. You have an important advantage when dealing with sex, insofar as you can reasonably expect that most of your audience knows how it’s done. Ergo, you can rely on this commonality of experience, and don’t need more than brief references to create a mental picture. 

You want to anchor the scene with physical details, but by and large, it’s better to use sensual details, rather than overtly sexual ones. (Just read any scene that involves a man licking a woman’s nipples and you’ll see what I mean. Either the writer goes into ghastly contortions to avoid using the word “nipples”—“tender pink crests” comes vividly to mind—or does it in blunt and hideous detail, so that you can all but hear the slurping. This is Distracting. Don’t Do That.)

So how do you make a scene vivid, but not revoltingly so? There’s a little trick called the Rule of Three: if you use any three of the five senses, it will make the scene immediately three-dimensional. (Many people use only sight and sound. Include smell, taste, touch, and you’re in business.)

Example:

The road was narrow, and they jostled against one another now and then, blinded between the dark wood and the brilliance of the rising moon. He could hear Jamie’s breath, or thought he could—it seemed part of the soft wind that touched his face.  He could smell Jamie, smell the musk of his body, the dried sweat and dust in his clothes, and felt suddenly wolf-like and feral, longing changed to outright hunger.

He wanted. 

In essence, a good sex scene is usually a dialogue scene with physical details.

 Example:

"I'll gie it to ye," he murmured, and his hand moved lightly. A touch. Another. "But ye'll take it from me tenderly, a nighean donn."

"I don't want tenderness, damn you!"

"I ken that well enough," he said, with a hint of grimness.  "But it's what ye'll have, like it or not."

He laid me down on his kilt, and came back into me, strongly enough that I gave a small, high-pitched cry of relief.

"Ask me to your bed," he said. "I shall come to ye.  For that matter—I shall come, whether ye ask it or no. But I am your man; I serve ye as I will."

And finally, you can use metaphor and lyricism to address the emotional atmosphere of an encounter directly. This is kind of advanced stuff, though.

Example:

He'd meant to be gentle. Very gentle. Had planned it with care, worrying each step of the long way home. She was broken; he must go canny, take his time. Be careful in gluing back her shattered bits.

And then he came to her and discovered that she wished no part of gentleness, of courting. She wished directness. Brevity and violence. If she was broken, she would slash him with her jagged edges, reckless as a drunkard with a shattered bottle.

She raked his back; he felt the scrape of broken nails, and thought dimly that was good—she'd fought. That was the last of his thought; his own fury took him then, rage and a lust that came on him like black thunder on a mountain, a cloud that hid all from him and him from all, so that kind familiarity was lost and he was alone, strange in darkness. 

Like that.

What has your experience been writing sex scenes?

About Diana

Diana Gabaldon is the author of the award-winning, #1 NYT-bestselling OUTLANDER novels, described by Salon magazine as “the smartest historical sci-fi adventure-romance story ever written by a science Ph.D. with a background in scripting ‘Scrooge McDuck’ comics.”

As of January 2022, Diana’s books are published in thirty-eight languages and sold in one hundred and fourteen countries.

Learn more about Diana on her website: DianaGabaldon.com.

This post is excerpted from Diana's book: "I Give you My Body..." also available as an audiobook read by Diana.

Top image by Yerson Retamal from Pixabay

by Ellen Buikema

There is nothing quite like the joy of seeing your words in print. Getting your poetry and short stories published takes effort and persistence. But if you take the right approach with the composition and submissions process, you’ll have a better chance of finding a home for your poetry and prose.

But first …

Share your work with other writers.

Before you send your work out into the world of editors and publishers, workshop or share your writing for feedback. We all need suggestions for improvement. You don’t need to agree with everyone, just listen and decide what feels right to you.

A finely crafted piece has the best chance for publication.

Reach out to fellow writer friends or acquaintances and ask for their feedback. Remember to return the favor with an offer to critique their writing.

Consider joining a local writers’ group.

Writers meet at a variety of places:

• libraries,
• coffee shops,
• restaurants,
• community centers.

Check online groups via Google searches and Social Media sites. I’ve had good luck with Facebook writers’ groups as well as MeetUp.

When I moved to a new town and couldn’t find a local writers’ group, I joined the local Arts Guild and started a critique group.

Just like Field of Dreams, “If you build it, they will come.”

Read literary journals and magazines.

“If you don't have time to read, you don't have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.”

― Stephen King

If you’d like to be published in literary magazines, you should read literary magazines. Look for online and print magazines with a strong focus on your area of interest.

• For poets, there are publications dedicated entirely to poetry.
• Writers who have a strong interest in short stories can explore these publications.

Reading these publications will help you have a better idea of the kinds and styles of poetry and prose that editors are looking for and being published in different markets now. You can use your research to find niche markets your poetry fits best.

Buying and reading literary magazines helps support and keep these publications running. Also, the fewer places there are for you to submit, the fewer chances you have of getting your poetry published.

Research submission possibilities

Reading a variety of poetry and short story publications will help you begin the research side of the submissions process.

Finding a publication that is a good fit.

Think about the publications you’ve read where you can picture your work fitting in perfectly.

If you write using a specific genre or poetry style, submit to publications that cater to your niche. You’re more likely to be accepted in these magazines than if you choose places that publish a broader range of works.

This advice also applies to calls for themed submissions. In this case a magazine produces an issue in which all pieces focus on a certain topic, word or theme. Writers have an opportunity to submit works that fit the theme.

Poetry anthologies—collections of poems from different writers, often published by small presses—are largely based around themes. Search for anthology calls for submissions too.

Submitting your work

After finding the publications you feel are the best fit for you work:

Check the guidelines.

• Each magazine and publisher have different rules for how to submit your work.
• Read the guidelines with care to make sure your writing makes it to the proper channels.

Format as requested.

• Your writing should stand out, not the font.
• Follow the formatting guidelines to a “T” or it may end up in the trash.
• The goal here is to make life easier on the editor.

Proofread and then proofread again.

• Make sure that your work is error-free.
• Ask others to read your work. Extra eyes-on never hurts.

Be at peace with rejection.

• Don’t give up!
• Everyone who sends out their work suffers rejection. Everyone.
• Many famous writers spent years submitting work before they found success.
• Always be courteous and gracious. If your work is not accepted this time, there will always be opportunities in the future.

The following links may help you find a place to submit your poems and stories:

• pw.org/literary_magazines
• chillsubs.com
• submittable.com

Magazines send out calls for themed writing. Look here to find announcements:

A few words of caution.

Be careful when publishing work on a personal blog, discussion forum or other online publications.

Magazines generally only accept submissions that have not been previously published, and count blogs or other websites as publications.

If you post to a website that invites you to publish your writing for feedback, you may risk the work being considered previously published—therefore unacceptable.

Have you published your writing in a magazine or journal? What advice do you have for writers who want to get their work out into the world?

* * * * * *

About Ellen

Author, speaker, and former teacher, Ellen L. Buikema has written non-fiction for parents, and The Adventures of Charlie Chameleon chapter book series with stories encouraging the development of empathy—sprinkling humor wherever possible. Her Works In Progress are The Hobo Code, YA historical fiction and Crystal Memories, MG Magical Realism/ Sci-Fi.

Find her at https://ellenbuikema.com or on Amazon.

Tip Image by StartupStockPhotos from Pixabay