Types of Fiction Genres: Literary vs. Commercial vs. Upmarket Fiction
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Genres are both a blessing and a curse to fiction writers. On the one hand, knowing your genre helps you classify your story. And if you're looking to publish your book, identifying a genre helps you position it in the markets.
But on the other hand, fiction genres can feel creatively stifling, and trying to slot an unclassifiable novel into one of the existing categories can be frustrating and make you doubt the quality of the work that you've written.
Genre is one of the biggest elements I see writers stressing over. So today I want to go through the types of fiction genres to help you understand where your book fits in the publishing landscape.
It's important to note that genres are often fluid and may not mean the exact thing to each individual person. My professional background is in the traditional book publishing industry, so the terminology I use to classify books has largely been informed by that. Hopefully my perspective helps provide a general framework for you to think about your book’s traits.
The Basics of Fiction Genres
Novels are typically classified by publishers under one of three main umbrella categories: literary fiction, upmarket fiction, and commercial fiction. But, to the average writer or reader, these phrases mean absolutely nothing.
Frankly, it took me years of working in the publishing industry before I truly understood these definitions. What helped me conceptualize these terms is to think of these three categories as a spectrum, with literary fiction on one end and commercial fiction on the other. Upmarket fiction, of course, lies in the middle. Every book falls at a unique point on the spectrum.
What Is Literary Fiction?
Literary fiction refers to novels where the pleasure of reading comes from the beauty of the writing itself. These novels tend to prioritize the craft of writing over other elements like plot or pacing. Writing prizes like the Pulitzer or the Booker tend to go towards works of literary fiction.
A major defining component of literary fiction is that the writing quality has to be superb. Novels in this category usually have a distinct use of language, whether it comes from poetic imagery or unique narrating voices, and they typically offer poignant insight into a thought-provoking theme.
They're often considered more “serious” than other types of novels, as they tend to cover provocative or sobering subjects. Novels that are designated as literary fiction won’t have any associated subgenre.
They also tend to be standalone novels, meaning there is no sequel or series. Some examples of recent literary fiction novels include The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, Circe by Madeline Miller, and my personal favorite, An American Marriage by Tayari Jones. Classic novels, like The Great Gatsby or To Kill a Mockingbird are often considered literary fiction as well.
What Is Commercial Fiction?
Now let's slide over to the other end of the fiction category spectrum to talk about commercial fiction. Commercial fiction is written with the primary intention of being engaging and entertaining. It's important to note that this definition does not mean the writing quality isn't excellent, because it certainly is in many cases, but the author prioritizes things like a fast-moving plot, charming characters, and satisfying conclusions instead.
Commercial fiction is also called genre fiction because, unlike literary fiction works, commercial novels will fall into one of many sub-genres. These sub-genres are likely what come to mind when you think about genre in the traditional sense: thrillers, suspense or mystery, women's fiction or chick-lit, sci-fi, fantasy, historical fiction, romance, etc.
Commercial novels may either stand alone or they may be part of a series. Often, authors who work on commercial fiction will write many books in the same genre and release new books every year or two.
Some examples of popular commercial fiction include The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks, Me Before You by Jojo Moyes, and Lee Child's Jack Reacher series.
What Is Upmarket Fiction?
Now, where does that leave upmarket fiction? As mentioned earlier, this category falls in the middle between literary fiction and commercial fiction.
Honestly, in my opinion, this term is a bit of a catchall phrase for novels that have some kind of genre element, but also strong writing. So perhaps they center around a romance or a mystery, but the writing is also uniquely crafted and differentiated from other books in the commercial realm.
One good example of an upmarket novel is Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn. At its core, this story is a thriller about a missing wife. But if you've read the novel, you know that the narrative is uniquely constructed with two dueling unreliable protagonists, and this approach to the narrative moves it into the upmarket category. A fully commercial novel about a wife gone missing would approach the subject matter in a more straightforward or traditional way.
Literary agents and editors at publishing houses often use the term “upmarket” to indicate that the story is rooted in a commercial genre, but has something else going on that sets it apart from existing books in the category. For instance, there might be an emphasis on character development, or the structure might be really innovative.
But if I'm being totally honest, the upmarket category is a bit of a gray area.
What Fiction Genre Definitions Mean for You
It is really critical to emphasize that these genres are a spectrum. Rarely does a book fall squarely on the commercial side or squarely on the literary side. That said, these terms will help agents and publishers position your novel in the current book marketplace and help you determine your target audience or even the book’s ideal length.
Now that you have an idea of what these classifications mean, I thought it might be helpful to discuss how you might describe your genre. As I mentioned, this will come into play if you're writing a query letter to a literary agent. You could say that your novel is a “commercial romance,” for instance, or an “upmarket thriller.” If your novel is literary fiction, then you can just call it out as “literary fiction.”
You might be wondering if agents and publishers prefer one type of fiction over another. The answer to that is somewhat complex. Agents will typically have a broad range of specializations, so it's very possible that you'll find an agent who has represented commercial romance as well as literary fiction.
Editors at the Big Five publishing houses, on the other hand, specialize in one or two genres typically. This is because the major US publishing houses are divided into smaller divisions called imprints, and each imprint has its own specialty.
I worked at Ballantine Books, which is a division of Penguin Random House focusing on commercial fiction. That meant that all of the editors at Ballantine worked on some type of commercial genre, whether it was romance or thrillers or historical fiction.
Another question you might have is if one fiction category is considered better than another. I'll just come out and say it: there is an inherent elitism with literary fiction, enough that writers who fall on the more commercial end might worry they won't be taken seriously. But that is not true at all.
There are incredible authors writing all types of fiction, from the most commercial mystery novels to the highest fantasy novels. The genre spectrum has less to do with the quality of the writing and more to do with the priorities and intentions of your story, as well as its overarching theme.
There is no reason to feel any less professional because your work is a commercial romance rather than a Pulitzer Prize style literary novel. And there are extremely financially successful authors on both ends of the spectrum.
My advice is to write whatever you love and write whatever flows naturally. Then, after you have the full novel draft down on paper, you can start to think about genre and how you might position your book in the market.
When it comes to writing your novel, don’t feel constrained by fiction genre definitions—after all, these are largely organizational labels for querying and publishing. But I hope that this article offered some insight into what specific genre your novel falls into, especially if you’re looking to start querying soon.
Thanks so much for reading and happy writing!