Pretty obvious, right?
Of course, each reader is going to go to their favourite genres first for a book. Some love horror; some love romance. Others can’t stand either.
So, then how come it’s become so dang mixed up?
I’m reading descriptions that look to me like the author can’t make up their minds if their book is a paranormal horror erotic fantasy. Oh wait, it’s all the above.
What?!
What the heck happened to a simple straightforward paranormal story? Where are my horrors? When did fairies and garden gnomes become so sexy and adventurous…no, not sexually adventurous – oh wait a moment, they’re that, too, nowadays.
Marketing?
Marketing did that? It’s insisting you have to make your story stand out by listing every different and possible combination of genres or themes so when I type in a search word it’s your book that pops up.
Uhm, I’ve never typed in fairy sex. Or paranormal horror.
Oh, you don’t think I have time to wade through screen upon screens of uploaded books to find you. No, I don’t. And that’s why I don’t ever find new authors that way. If I want to find a new author to read, I’ll ask friends. Search publisher sites. Search review sites. And, just to be a pain, I’ll search through screens and screens of main genre listings…think covers and titles here.
And yes, I’ll even search brick and mortar stores (most likely then checking to see if they have an eBook format).
Yes, I’m a writer and I’m arguing with myself cause I want to put in all those genre listings to get your attention. The editor in me wants those different tags cause I want you to find my authors’ work.
Me, The Reader, I’m screaming in frustration cause I hate all those muddled-up, jumbled, mix-matched genre names that make no sense.
Will someone please just write an old-fashion horror story where the werewolf kills and eats the victim. Where we’re vampire food and not vampire lovers. Where the butler did the murder in the wine cellar with the corkscrew, without getting screwed. And, yes, I want a heroine and hero who are without flaws. Give me back a villain who doesn’t have one redeeming quality to save their life; someone no one falls in love with.
Please!