To be fair, Twilight is probably most properly categorized in YA, which is a different beast (though writers I know who think YA is a genre in and of itself would blink at that inclusion also). Paranormal Romance in the marketing sense seems to refer to a very specific, category romance styled formula of fiction that Twilight doesn't fit. (Then again, neither does Richelle Mead's "Succubus" series, and that's where marketing categorizes that. They obviously didn't ask me!)
I'm amused that the Twilight fandom comes off like Muggles, since the tales I've heard of that group have been some of the scariest, most rabid fandom stories. (Girls cutting themselves at movie premieres and asking Pattinson to drink them? Not cool, kids!) But that's a whole different set of issues. :)
One of the posters on sartorias's blog also noted the literary-fiction-as-genre issue, and I think I'd like to hear more about that as an idea, since "literary" seems so very ephemeral to me as a term. Many people to use it in dissimilar ways -- or, frequently, as a short-hand for "not that genre crap" in a highbrow review, which, of course, is what probably started my aversion to the term in the first place. "Realistic" seems to be yet another genre subdivider, so I certainly see where you're going with that thought!
When JS&MN came out, we hand sold it like mad at my local B&N, and it was displayed all over the store, so people couldn't avoid seeing it, regardless of what section they were looking in. I've not actually spoken to a lot of (actually, any) fantasy adverse readers who did read it, so I don't know if the marketing ploy was successful in that venue. But, as it irks me when J. K. Rowling says that the "Harry Potter" books aren't fantasy, it strikes me as somehow disingenuous to claim a book that is clearly one thing is actually another. As a different example, I felt awful for J. R. R. Tolkien's grandson (whose first name I miserably can't remember), whose first mystery novel came out and was shelved in general fiction at the bookstore where I worked at the time. It looked like an excellent mystery novel, and garnered quite good reviews, but I never saw any of our regular mystery readers find it. JRRT fans weren't likely to be interested just based on name (though I think more of them picked it up than any other group, anecdotally), and mainstream readers could easily identify it by its cover as a mystery novel.
For what it's worth, I know SFF readers who aren't involved in any online communities and who only find books by browsing or friend suggestions. These folks would miss books my library categorizes as fiction if I didn't send them into the fiction section after them. Even with a Neil Gaiman endorsement, some of the real target audience might miss a book shelved where they weren't looking. Which maybe says more about how modern bookstores and libraries shelve fiction than anything else. :)
Of course, at this point my comment is as long as my original blog post, so I should stop burbling and get back to it! Thanks again for the LeGuin link -- she may be fodder for an original post. :)
Re: UF vs Literature: Death Match
I'm amused that the Twilight fandom comes off like Muggles, since the tales I've heard of that group have been some of the scariest, most rabid fandom stories. (Girls cutting themselves at movie premieres and asking Pattinson to drink them? Not cool, kids!) But that's a whole different set of issues. :)
One of the posters on
When JS&MN came out, we hand sold it like mad at my local B&N, and it was displayed all over the store, so people couldn't avoid seeing it, regardless of what section they were looking in. I've not actually spoken to a lot of (actually, any) fantasy adverse readers who did read it, so I don't know if the marketing ploy was successful in that venue. But, as it irks me when J. K. Rowling says that the "Harry Potter" books aren't fantasy, it strikes me as somehow disingenuous to claim a book that is clearly one thing is actually another. As a different example, I felt awful for J. R. R. Tolkien's grandson (whose first name I miserably can't remember), whose first mystery novel came out and was shelved in general fiction at the bookstore where I worked at the time. It looked like an excellent mystery novel, and garnered quite good reviews, but I never saw any of our regular mystery readers find it. JRRT fans weren't likely to be interested just based on name (though I think more of them picked it up than any other group, anecdotally), and mainstream readers could easily identify it by its cover as a mystery novel.
For what it's worth, I know SFF readers who aren't involved in any online communities and who only find books by browsing or friend suggestions. These folks would miss books my library categorizes as fiction if I didn't send them into the fiction section after them. Even with a Neil Gaiman endorsement, some of the real target audience might miss a book shelved where they weren't looking. Which maybe says more about how modern bookstores and libraries shelve fiction than anything else. :)
Of course, at this point my comment is as long as my original blog post, so I should stop burbling and get back to it! Thanks again for the LeGuin link -- she may be fodder for an original post. :)