Support for Indie Authors discussion

Hi all,

I am working on a book born from November NaNoWrimo, it has grown into a full book, and so far I am doing the editing and happy with the story.

However, I'm not really sure which genre it belongs to.
Three possibilities come to mind, but I personally find them not very fitting: Crime, Mystery, Thriller.

It is not the usual story that fits into those categories, but yes, there are elements of crime, mystery and it's thrilling in a way.

I know it's hard to explain without spoiling the book, so maybe I just highlight it: the protagonist has been given something that makes him curious, and he goes on to investigate the motive or anything he can find. The answers are then revealed in layers. As mentioned, there are elements of crime, mystery and thriller, but it is mostly about the stories of the main and supporting characters that revolve around their intriguing lives.

I'm sorry that is all that I can reveal for now because I'm still tightening up the plot before I'm able to write a proper blurb.

Any advice on the extension of these genres or possible fitting genres?

Thanks in advance.

Is there a crime? if so, look at crime books and see if there is a niche it will fit in. Mystery-is there a body or something lost or something that needs to be investigated. Again, look for similar books in niches.
Thriller- they are very specific. You might want to pull up that conventions and tropes of the genre to see if it fits there.

From what little you've given, It sounds like more of a mystery with crime and thriller elements.

B.A. wrote: "Is there a crime? if so, look at crime books and see if there is a niche it will fit in. Mystery-is there a body or something lost or something that needs to be investigated. Again, look for simila..."

Thank you, that is good advice.
I shall compare them all and see whether it fits the tropes of the specific genre.

Like you, I've written some books that don't fit well into popular genres. One thing I learned that helped me is that though Amazon only allows you to pick 2 or 3 categories when you publish your novel, they actually allow for up to 10 categories. To get the extra 7 or 8, you have to send an email to KDP directly asking to be placed in specific categories which you can find by drilling down on their website...some such sub-genres are very specific like: Science FIction>Space>Aliens>Love (not a real example, but they're like that).
This is a long, tedious process because 1st you have to explore the website to discover each of these sub categories, then you have to list them exactly so the KDP-guys can add your book there....and, you have to do this for every market (.us, .ca, .uk, .nz, .au etc) in which you want them to apply. I can't recall exactly where you find the right email address, vaguely think it might have been on my Author Central page, but I got the info by watching the free videos offered by David Gaughran (a great resource). Anyway, I hope this helps.

Could be a psychological thriller depending on how strong the thriller element is and what this thing is that makes the protagonist curious. Is there a sense of threat? Are other characters keeping secrets? Are there twists?

William wrote: "Like you, I've written some books that don't fit well into popular genres. One thing I learned that helped me is that though Amazon only allows you to pick 2 or 3 categories when you publish your n..."
That is a good idea, I heard about this 'hidden' genres, I think it's probably worth exploring. Thanks!

L.K. wrote: "Could be a psychological thriller depending on how strong the thriller element is and what this thing is that makes the protagonist curious. Is there a sense of threat? Are other characters keeping..."
I'm uncertain because all these elements are complementary to each other, not stand alone, and none of them are too 'prominent' to be clearly associated with the genre I mentioned. So although there are things you mention, I don't think it fits as a psychological thriller because instead of them being the main wheel of the story, they are there to support the story.
Thanks for the suggestion!