Pinpointing the genre of your novel can be almost as difficult as writing it—especially if you’ve bent or blended some genres. But at Writer’s Relief, we know that defining the genre of your book is an important element of a successful query letter. Genre tells a literary agent exactly what to expect from your book and even identifies the appropriate word count.

In this installment of our “Ask Writer’s Relief” series, we present everything you need to know to determine the correct genre and write an appropriate, effective query letter for your book.

Ask Writer’s Relief: “How do I pinpoint the genre of my book, and how do I write the perfect query letter for that genre?”

Here are some great, informative articles about genre to help you get started:

Genres Defined, Part I: Our first deep dive into some of the best-known genres in publishing, as well as some of the subgenres. This is a good place to start to familiarize yourself with the various genres and see where your book best fits.

Genres Defined, Part II: The second half of our dive into popular genres and their subgenres, this article will continue to expand your knowledge of the many categories within book publishing.

Don’t Know Your Book Genre? Here’s What To Do: If your book’s genre seems complicated or you’re really not sure where it best fits, this article will help you make the right choice.

How Do You Know If Your Novel Is Literary Or Mainstream Fiction? How Long Is A General Fiction Book? An explanation of the differences between literary and mainstream fiction, this article can help you better pinpoint the genre of your novel.

Tricks and tips for writing the best query letter for your specific genre:

Query Letter Genre Essentials: Pitching An Ensemble Cast Novel

Query Letter Genre Essentials: Pitching A Cross-Genre Book

Query Letter Genre Essentials: Pitching Sci-Fi And Fantasy Novels

Query Letter Genre Essentials: Pitching A Collection Of Short Stories

Query Letter Genre Essentials: Pitching A Romance Novel

Query Letter Genre Essentials: Pitching Mystery And Thriller Novels

Writing your own query letter may seem daunting, but the experts at Writer’s Relief can help! For our Full Service clients, our professional letter writing team creates effective query letters that are skillfully crafted to entice literary agents and build interest in their books.  If you’re a DIY-type, you’ll find an easy-to-follow, step-by-step blueprint for writing a successful query letter using proven marketing techniques in our book, The Ultimate Query Letter Tool Kit by Writer’s Relief.

Question: How did you determine the genre of your book?