Yesterday we talked about literary fiction, and what is it. But there are some other genres popping up out there for those of us who don’t delve into paranormal.
One of the labels I see bandied about as I cruise agent websites—looking for the lucky person who is going to represent my novel and perhaps all future works—is the term upmarket fiction.
Somewhere in my research I developed the impression that upmarket fiction was intelligent stuff, but not highbrow enough to call it literary. Rather it was smart writing.
Turns out I was correct. I came across an online article by Chuck Sambuchino in Writer’s Digest a few days ago that described upmarket fiction as something that “blends the line between commercial and literary.” As Sambuchino points out, it is the kind of stuff book clubs and discussion group just love to suck up. The article was written in 2009, so upmarket has been around a while.
Sambuchino cites Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold as good examples of upmarket fiction (two novels I have yet to read). I might add This Much I Know is True by Wally Lamb and most of the stuff written by John Irving and Barbara Kingsolver.
Tomorrow we will discuss another new genre—new adult fiction.
See ya’ later.
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