Genre Blends and Genrefication in Readers’ Advisory

 Works that blend genres have been a prominent feature of literature for as long as genres themselves have existed. Blends like science fantasy (science fiction and fantasy) and romantacy (romance and fantasy) have had huge success in book sales, in part due to social media and “BookTok” creators on TikTok. In fact, two out of the top five books on the New York Times are romantacy works (both works by Rebecca Yarro, Fourth Wing and Iron Flame), with another science fiction thriller on the list as well (Mark Greane’s The Chaos Agent) (https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/). With their continued and increased popularity, genre blends do offer their own set of challenges to those working in readers’ advisory, with one of the most obvious challenges presented by the increased prevalence of hybrid genre books being how, and where, to categorize them. And although the Dewey Decimal System is still a common enough way to categorize and organize in libraries, genrefication, in which books are organized by genre, is now gaining traction in public libraries 

With genre blends oftentimes thoroughly muddying the lines between existing categorizations, shelving them becomes far more complicated. Richard Mattheson’s sci-fi horror hit I Am Legend rests easily on the corners of both genres, making placing it in one category dependent completely on the librarian and varying case-by-case. Dewey Decimal System, however, continues to provide a straightforward approach to finding even a genre blend book. In the case of a library that organizes by genres, a reader looking in the wrong section could become frustrated when unable to find the book at first glance. This is just an inconvenience on the path to finding a book, and one that could be easily overcome by a patron’s continued search or seeking out a library employee, but an extra step can be one step too many for some patrons. 

nre blend books also pose a struggle to readers’ advisory specifically. Genrefication has its appeal for a reason. Genres are easy touchstones for librarians and patrons alike to latch onto in order to identify what they are expecting in a book (McArdle, 2015). Readers’ advisory for genre fiction focuses heavily on the assumed traits of books within a genre, such as pacing, tone, characterization, and style (Wyatt & Saricks, 2019). This practice has been the norm, but that does not mean that it is actually the most logical. In a world of genre-blended fiction, assumptions can limit the audience of a book. The label of certain genres carry certain connotations, and those such as romance in particular, or any genre that is seen to appeal primarily to women, can turn some potential readers away on principle (McArdle, 2015). There is an increased potential for readers to find books outside of their supposed comfort zone by identifying books based off of their characteristics, looking at things like pacing, tone, and themes from book to book rather than from genre to genre. This itself is not an argument for or against genrefication with genre-blending books, rather it is a reminder that there will always be limiting factors at play in one’s attempt to classify and categorize books. 

References

Allen, P. G. (2018, October 19). Cross-pollination: The future is genre-blending. Writers Digest. https://www.writersdigest.com/publishing-insights/cross-pollination-genre-blending\\

Armitstead, C. (2022, June 8). ‘After lockdown, things exploded’ - how TikTok triggered a books revolution. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jun/08/lockdown-exploded-tiktok-books-revolution-booktok

Brown, J. & Thoet, A. (2024, January 31). Popular new literary genre mixes romance and fantasy. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/show/popular-new-literary-genre-mixes-romance-and-fantasy

Colyard, K. W. (2023, May 3). Genre blends we need more of. Book Riot. https://bookriot.com/genre-blends-we-need-more-of/

New York Times. (2023, March 3). The New York TImes best sellers. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/books/best-sellers/

Green, W. (2023, September 9). Crossing genres: A new frontier for emerging authors. Medium. https://medium.com/@wilbur.greene/crossing-genres-a-new-frontier-for-emerging-authors-f641fa051bfa

McArdle, M. M. (2015). The readers’ advisory guide to genre blends. ALA Editions.

North Dakota State Library. (2024, February 9). Collection development and maintenance: Gentrification. Lib Guides. https://library-nd.libguides.com/cd/genre

Spratford, B. (2015, March 18). Genre crossover suggestions and resources from the expert. RA for all. http://raforall.blogspot.com/2015/03/genre-crossover-suggestions-and.html

Wyatt N. & Saricks, J. G. (2018). The readers’ advisory guide to genre fiction (3rd ed.). ALA Editions.