Why Knowing Your Book’s Genre and Tropes Is Crucial for Marketing and Sales

If you're a writer preparing to publish a book—whether you're going the indie or traditional route—one of the most important steps you can take is learning how to properly classify your book. We're talking genre, subgenre, category, and tropes. It might not sound glamorous, but it can be the difference between a book that gets seen, read, and loved... and one that sinks into obscurity.

Genre is often the first thing a potential reader will use to decide whether or not your book is for them. Romance. Thriller. Fantasy. Horror. Mystery. Sci-Fi. Each of these comes with a built-in promise. If your book doesn’t deliver on that promise—or worse, if you mislabel it—you’ll lose the trust of your readers.

For example, a romance reader expects a central love story and a satisfying, happy ending. If your story ends with one lover dying tragically and no hope in sight, you’re not selling a romance—you’re selling a tragedy with romantic elements. Misclassify it, and you might end up with a lot of one star reviews...event if you've written an excellent book.

Then, within each genre, there are subgenres and categories that help narrow down your ideal audience. For instance, romance alone includes:

• Contemporary

• Historical

• Romantic Suspense

• Paranormal

• BDSM

• LGBTQ+

• Dark Romance

• Romcom

Each of these has its own readership, tone, pacing, and expectations. Identifying the right subgenre helps your book show up in the right Amazon categories, get recommended in the right Goodreads lists, and reach readers looking for exactly what you're offering.

Tropes Are the Reader’s Shopping List

Tropes aren’t clichés—they’re storytelling tools. And readers love them.

Enemies to lovers. Fake dating. Second chance romance. Grumpy/sunshine. Forced proximity. Secret baby. These are all tropes that readers specifically seek out, or avoid, when choosing their next read. They go on TikTok and search for “books with forbidden love” or browse Amazon looking for “slow burn romance.”

If you know your book includes certain tropes, use them. Mention them in your blurb, add them to your metadata, and highlight them in your marketing. You’re not giving away the plot—you’re signaling that your book checks the boxes a specific reader is craving.

Why It Matters

When you understand your book’s genre and tropes, you can:

• Target ads more effectively
  
• Craft a compelling blurb
•  Pitch to influencers and bloggers
•  Choose the right keywords and categories
•  Create social media content

Writers often think of their books in terms of themes or characters, but readers shop based on genre and tropes. If you want your book to find its audience, you need to speak their language.

So before you hit publish, ask yourself:

• What is the primary genre and subgenre?

• What tropes are at play?

• What reader expectations am I meeting?

• Where does my book fit?

Because when your book is in the right hands, marketing feels less like shouting into the void—and more like connecting with the people who were waiting for your story all along.

 

 

 

 

 

Why Writing In A Series Makes Smart Business Sense

The best way to gain traction in the fictional author world is to write a series. Readers fall in love with the world you've created and want to read more. As your series grows, so does your readership as you build your backlist with related books. Traditional or self published, it's common to see trilogies, or even series that go on for ten or more books. 

But what makes a series?

In truth, it can be just about anything. Series can be built around small towns, families, friends, office romances, or even profession. The idea is to build a set of books around something readers can get connect with.

When I set out to write Behind Closed Doors, I'd originally planned for it to be a standalone novel. However, as I continued to write it, I knew I want to write stories for Chris's brothers as well. Each book in that series takes place in a different town. There are very little similarities as far as setting, personality, or storyline. The connection is the fact that they are brothers.

In contrast, the books in my Serpent's Kiss series are all set in St. Louis. That series also happens to be centered around the members of a private BDSM club, so it's pulling from two different connections. If readers are looking for stories set in the midwest, St. Louis, or if they're simply looking for a kinky story, then they know this one fits the bill.

That's another great thing about series. It saves readers time.

Most readers are drawn to certain types of tropes they enjoy. For some, it's small town romance. For others, it may be family sagas. Having your books grouped by series helps readers to weed through the millions of books available and gives them a quick glance as to what they can expect from your story and if they might be interested in reading it.

This is another reason why genre hopping isn't the best idea for authors who are wanting to write to the commercial market. Now that doesn't mean you can't write what you want. Certainly, you can. But it does mean that if you're going to write a sci-fi romance, then an erotic historical romance, followed by a sweet small town contemporary romance, you may have trouble finding your footing with readers.

Pick a lane and stay in it. At least, for a little while. It's a lot easier to build traction that way and give readers the chance to discover you and your stories.

If you want to write in three vastly different genres, then it's probably a good idea write under different pen names. Not only will this be a sign to readers what type of book they're getting, but it also helps with the algorithms. 

When you're writing in a variety of genres, especially ones that don't have a huge cross over of readers, it confuses the computers. They don't know who to show your books to and often they choose wrong. That can lead to low sales and/or low ratings for your book.

It Was A Graveyard Smash!

 

Halloween is right around the corner, which means its the perfect its the perfect time to talk paranormal romance. On this week's episode of Bound by Books, Danielle Bannister and Marianne Morea are talking witches, ghosts, vampires, shifters, and more.

Click below to listen, or go to www.boundbybookspodcast.com to find out more about all the hosts of the show.

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The Hosts 

 

Amazon

Amazon