The latest from Tiffany Yates Martin
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[td] “My story is a work of literary fiction that will appeal to fans of…” Abraham Verghese…George Saunders…Barbara Kingsolver…. Because I frequently work in a literary-adjacent market—“upmarket” or book-club fiction—I see a lot of this kind of story pitch, ones that categorize the author’s work with that shiny coveted label of “literary” and drawing comps with some of the most lauded books of the category. I’ma wade into another hotbed here, friends, and talk about why your manuscript probably isn’t “literary,” but mainstream. Look up the definitions of these terms and you'll find literary fiction summarized as realistic, serious, character-driven, with complex themes and elevated prose. Mainstream or commercial fiction is often described as plot-driven, bound by tropes, formulaic, with functional, simplistic prose. There’s more than a whiff of classism here, as if a story that's not full of highbrow concepts and prose is merely a yarn, pulp entertainment for the masses, whereas literary fiction, so this perception goes, concerns itself with the profundity of the human condition. Literary fiction is “art,” commercial fiction mere “entertainment.” Ugh. Who can blame authors for not wanting to classify their own stories—which they may have labored over for months, years, sweated and bled into, spent untold hours and effort honing into something as finely wrought as they are capable of making it—as anything other than the often more prestigious connotation of literary fiction? The problem with that is that this descriptor is not always accurate, which may get your otherwise entertaining and marketable story judged according to the wrong metrics and limit your efforts to get published or reach your target readers. If authors want to increase their chances for success—by whatever yardstick you measure that, be it publication or sales or reviews, etc.—then it’s essential that you understand what category your story is likely to be slotted into by industry professionals, the market, and readers.
Read the rest of this post and leave a comment here. I love hearing your thoughts and will always respond. Okay, authors, weigh in: What do you think of as “literary fiction”? Examine your standards: Do you subconsciously (or consciously) think of it as “better” than mainstream or genre fiction? If you’re using the term for your own stories, why, exactly: What specific elements of your story and style denote that genre for you? What do you hope for your published book—are you interested in healthy sales or broad market appeal, seeing your books in airports and libraries and Costco? Or are you aiming for a more niche market of readers? I want to know your thoughts and your thought processes! |
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