In order not to get ahead of ourselves, my definitions are as follows*:
“Category” references the audience of the book: is it a middle grade (10-14-year-olds), a young adult (15-19), an adult book? “Genre” is a description of content. So you can have a book where the category is middle grade and the genre is fantasy. A MG Fantasy. The combination of category and genre tells booksellers where to shelve your bastion of literary greatness.
You should know where your project fits in the category/genre morass even before you’re finished with the book, and certainly long before you start querying. Obviously, don’t obsess. Good writing trumps all. But if you don’t know where your books fits on the shelves, it will be hard for you to know a lot of other things. Like to whom to pitch and what to say when pitching.
Know what’s out there, and know what’s similar to your book. If there’s something out there like your project, don’t panic. You're still way out on the publication timeline, and an agent will know how to position you. Embrace the similarities between you and the published work. It won’t be identical, so mention (briefly--remember that a query must say what your book, not another one, is about) what makes yours different. You can mention these comparable titles in your query.
Note: You should not, when discussing other works, say anything remotely like “The
re’s this other, totally crappy book out there soiling bookshelves, readers’ minds, and, unbelievably, the Times list. Mine is vastly superior.” Statements like this are among the most maddening things you can do in a query. Comparisons are only useful when 1. not hostile 2. the referenced work(s) is(are) compatible with your project and 3. they've done well. But that’s a whole other blog post. Seriously. Comparisons are not easy. Beware. Pitfalls lurk everywhere.BUT! Help lurks everywhere too. There are resources out there that will help you with queries and with defining genre. Once you’ve figured out where your project fits, you’ll be in an infinitely better place as far as knowing who to query and how.
Once you’ve decided where your book fits, put that info in your query. I think queries should start right in on telling me what’s going on in your kickass book, so I think that The Facts (word count, genre, category, title) should go at the end, before any bio paragraph you might choose to include:
Dear ______,
ENTHRALLING DESCRIPTION OF PLOT
My (number) word (category/genre—e.g. YA Fantasy), (title—in all caps) is complete and ready to send.
Love,**
Author
…Or something like that.
Check back here in the next few days for some more talk on comparisons. Because I think that's a pretty opaque topic for a lot of people. And we can talk about any questions you pose in the comments.
*These, like the query format, are my opinions and are not considered law, no matter how many tantrums I throw.
Once you’ve decided where your book fits, put that info in your query. I think queries should start right in on telling me what’s going on in your kickass book, so I think that The Facts (word count, genre, category, title) should go at the end, before any bio paragraph you might choose to include:
Dear ______,
ENTHRALLING DESCRIPTION OF PLOT
My (number) word (category/genre—e.g. YA Fantasy), (title—in all caps) is complete and ready to send.
Love,**
Author
…Or something like that.
Check back here in the next few days for some more talk on comparisons. Because I think that's a pretty opaque topic for a lot of people. And we can talk about any questions you pose in the comments.
*These, like the query format, are my opinions and are not considered law, no matter how many tantrums I throw.
**Don't be crazy and really say this.