Genre. It’s one of the first things we look for when buying a fiction book. Genre is a useful tool for defining our taste, learning what sort of stories we enjoy and refining our search in the endless sea of literature available today, as well as connecting us with readers of similar taste. But where did these categories start? How do publishers signpost a book’s genre to potential buyers? And how does social media and the way we talk about books online impact the way we think about genres?
The history of genre is the result of a long process of refining categories into narrower and narrower boxes. In the Medieval period, literature was only available to a very elite group. Books were not published for the public, the majority of whom were illiterate, instead being sold directly to universities. As literacy and education became more widespread in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries, books became commercialised. Literature was now no longer primarily for education purposes, and reading for leisure was on the rise. The Victorian Era, after the Industrial Revolution and the Enlightenment, saw a massive growth in the publishing market, and the novel became the leading literary genre. It was this shift in popularity and demand for fiction which made genre-fiction categorisation necessary. The success of Conan Doyle’s Sherlock Holmes series, for example, saw a demand for more detective fiction. Cheap magazines began to group together stories with similar themes and settings, making it easy for readers to search out recommendations based on the work they’d previously enjoyed. This trend carried on through to the twentieth century, where categories broke down into more and more specific groupings, leaving us, finally, with the distinct genre signifiers we see in the market today. Now, when a book is published, its genre is a vital consideration when marketing a book to ensure it reaches the appropriate audiences. But how are these genres signposted to potential buyers? And how does this work with modern marketing in a digital age?
Cover design is probably the biggest signifer of genre to a potential audience. When a book cover is sent to be advertised to a bookstore, it is these booksellers who must be swayed first and foremost before the eventual reader. Books without a clear genre are in danger of slipping through the cracks, being passed over by potential fans. The booksellers work with this in mind, organising stores and websites to ensure that categories are clearly defined and easy to navigate. If a store doesn’t know where to place the book, if they don’t know where it will receive the most traction, they will be unlikely to want to display it. Taking a look at the Waterstones website, a few design trends across genres become apparent. Fantasy covers tend to feature ornate, swirling designs with a serif typography, perhaps reminiscent of traditional fantasy stories and folklore. Colour schemes are often dark, alluding to typical fantasy tropes of light versus dark, good versus evil. Romance covers tend to feature more simplistic designs, with bright block covers, sometimes featuring only the two protagonists, emphasising the focus of the book being on their relationship.
In a digital age of constant, short-form content, it’s no surprise that the way we receive marketing and recommendations is evolving rapidly. With the ever-growing rise of social media, one platform clearly dominates – TikTok. Recommendations, opinions and information are being circulated faster than ever, available at a tap or a swipe. The lockdown saw a boom in young people reading, and TikTok provided the perfect place for readers to reach out and connect with each other, resulting in the niche known today as BookTok. BookTok rapidly became one of the leading places for young people to get recommendations for their next read, and its effect on the publishing market hasn’t gone unnoticed. Now, many high street bookstores will have a whole table dedicated to “BookTok recommendations”. But what does BookTok mean for the future of genres? As previously mentioned, the genre system grew out of a need for the publishing market to target more refined categories of fiction. On BookTok, it seems this trend is only continuing. With such a vast array of fiction available today, it’s becoming ever more necessary for readers to find ways to refine their search. No longer are people recommending books as just fantasy, now they’re looking for “morally grey” characters or “enemies-to-lovers”. Sub-genres are, of course, not a new concept, but now readers are searching for more and more niche categories that they know they can rely on. Books are increasingly discussed and marketed not by genre, but by tropes and conventions. While it’s definitely important for a reader to know their taste, this constant breakdown of categories has risks. If the only books which are being read, spoken about and sold are those that comply with these tropes, how long is it before the whole market appeals only to these niches? At what point does every book become a cookie-cutter copy?
BookTok’s influence on the way we engage with fiction is definitely an important one. It’s a positive force for encouraging new generations of young adults to read, discuss their reading, and make genuine connections with readers of similar tastes across the globe. After BookTok’s initial explosion in 2020, the publishing market is catching up to its potential, making the most of its incredible popularity and taking advantage of the immense, ever-shifting trends which draw huge amounts of attention and publicity. Engage with the community, discuss your favourite trends, but don’t forget to explore a little too! Don’t be afraid to read outside the trends, and don’t be afraid to be the only one talking about a book you love – even if it isn’t TikTok’s favourite!
—Rose Williams
This blog post is in collaboration with the 2025 Beyond the Walls Anthology. The anthology is available to order from Valley Press here. The cohort behind the anthology are constantly producing high quality work surrounding the publication. You can find similar blog pieces in collaboration with the anthology here on the Where Ideas Grow blog. You can also listen to their podcast episodes on Spotify and find updates on the anthology on their social media platforms, all linked below.