Everyday Canvas

Fiction and Marketing

Prompt: From what you see of the books in the market, do you believe that the massive increase in media during the last fifteen years or so has led to a breakdown of people’s understanding of subtlety and is that why the literary genre has taken a back seat to the more exciting genre writing?

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This question was put to me in Barnes & Noble’s by another reader. She complained of the lack of “good” books and that they mixed all the fiction together, except for the romance genre. Although I didn't argue with her, my understanding of this situation is somewhat different.

First, a bookstore’s first goal is a financial one and it depends on selling whatever sells the most. Second, few people write nowadays a la Faulkner, Hemingway, or even Philip Roth, but then, each generation has its own stories and understanding of the world, as also seen in music and other arts.

To begin with, genre fiction can be literary, too, although it had been mostly thought of to be for entertainment in the earlier times, as in for escaping reality. Literary fiction, on the other hand, has been thought of as a means to better understand and feel the world, and for that reason, it has persisted doggedly on highly detailed characterization. In our day, genre fiction also gives importance to characterization, and it is also entertaining.

The way I look at it is, neither the literary nor the so-called genre fiction need to be hyped as being the better of the two since they are in the process of mixing with each other. I also don’t think this has anything to do with the people’s understanding of subtlety. People with better literary experience appreciate all good writing, regardless of the genre, and for that reason, I don’t think any genre has taken a back seat.

As to the massive increase of the media, I applaud it. The more the merrier. It is better to have all writers find a venue for their work than getting rejected by hoity-toity publishers and feeling discouraged. The increase has given voice to the masses and, despite the abundance of lemons, has produced more quality work than ever. Once this excitement simmers down, I am sure serious writers will think twice and pay more attention to their revisions and editing before rushing into the publishing market.