Publishing Terms and Acronyms Defined: Fiction, Freelance, and Genre

Today BookEnds' blog has a nice mini dictionary of commonly used terms in publishing.

I also previously posted some fiction writing acronyms, including a few used in the romance industry. The Renegade Writer also defined freelance writing acronyms for magazine writers.

And another previous Coffee and Critique post rounds up definitions of different genres like cozy mystery, women's fiction, paranormal romance. Writers Digest recently did a list defining subgenres of mystery, science fiction/fantasy, romance, horror, and thrillers.

Learning the lingo can help you get published.

What Genre R U?

Kate's Mystery Books by LenEdgerly Creative Commons


Great post on genre over at BookEnds today.

It looks like the best thing you can do is get it in the right ballpark and then tailor your query to the specific interest of the agents. So though my book is paranormal, it could be a paranormal romance because she has romantic relationships, or it could be paranormal mystery because the whole series is about finding out who killed the MC and her entire family.

Basically don't get too caught up in genre. Regardless of what you think your book is, the writing is what will get your foot in the door. And they can't see the writing if you never send that puppy out there.

Query on.

Writer's Digest Genre Definitions

The newest issue of Writer's Digest has a fabulous genre tree that shows all the subgenre branches of mystery, romance, horror, and science fiction/fantasy.

So if you want to know what is an urban fantasy, sweet romance, or splatter, you can check out Writer's Digest's genre definitions.

Genre Definitions from Editor of Novel and Short Story Writer's Market

So what kind of novel are you writing? A paranormal with romantic elements? A steampunk? A suspenseful murder mystery? Women's fiction? What defines any of these?

With so many genres combining elements, it's getting a little crazy out there folks. Trying to identify your book in a cover letter is like Russian roulette with all the chambers loaded. Most agents say we always get it wrong anyway.

So here are some definitions I've found in various locations. Opinions vary, but hopefully these can give you a general idea.

• Check out these general genre definitions from the editor's blog at the Novel and Short Story Market.
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• Look at the Romance Writers of America website for a breakdown of the different romance genres.
• Check out Writing-World.com for a list of science fiction sub-genres.

• Mostlyfiction.com posted some definitions of mystery sub-genres.