What is Upmarket Fiction?
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- Опубліковано 4 жов 2024
- Literary agents Jessica Faust and James McGowan sat down to discuss upmarket fiction, and how to know if your book fits that.
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Jessica Faust’s love for books is what first brought her to open BookEnds Literary Agency. It is her desire to be an advocate for all authors that pushed her to create her blog, the BookEnds UA-cam channel and to maintain a vibrant presence on Twitter.
Jessica is proud to have grown BookEnds to an agency that represents authors of all genres for children and adults, allowing her to reach more readers and help more authors and illustrators achieve their dreams.
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Since interning at BookEnds as an undergrad in the summer of 2015, James has (basically) never left. He's just continuously level-up-ed inside of BookEnds. Now he is the Literary Assistant and Social Media Manager for the team. He’s been a reader since his mom gave him the first A Series of Unfortunate Events book and ordered the sequels regularly through Scholastic book orders.
James is currently growing his own list and is actively seeking submissions in adult literary and upmarket fiction, mystery, thrillers, and suspense. He is also actively building his picture book list.
Connect with BookEnds!
Twitter: bookendslit
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Website: www.bookendsliterary.com
Connect with Jessica: bookendsjessica
Connect with James: jmcgowanbks
As a lover of the literary end of the spectrum, my distinction is this: If my friends' eyes glaze over as I ramble about how great this book is and then they ask me "But what is it ABOUT?", it's literary. If they go "Huh, that sounds kinda interesting", it's upmarket.
I think that's about the best explanation I've ever seen!
Going into my third month of querying. Wish me luck.
good luck!
Good luck! Hope your dreams come true!
How did it go?
I truly enjoy the humor in your videos and how you explain the practical side of the marketplace.
I'm such a huge fan of this channel
OMG this video is blowing my mind because I just realized what I write is mostly upmarket fiction. Damn, it feels so good to finally be seen! Thank you so much for this video!!!
I was thinking you were looking Romani, not pirate. Beautiful!
I'm the 2nd view - miracle!
And, it's an answer I'm really interested in.
...edited.... Oh - I just discovered that I write commercial fiction.
One of the most famous examples is "What" by "Whom"? Sorry my audio must be playing up, couldn't decipher it. Any feedback, please. Would like to look it up.
Where the Crawdads Sing
This category is interesting. I still don't entirely know where I would position my own self-published novel, Distorted Perceptions. This could be appropriate, or simply Women's Fiction. It is honestly so confusing. I almost wish I could write genre fiction, but it doesn't come naturally. Thank you for these insights, anyway - appreciated.
What about the terms mainstream fiction and general fiction? If a writer doesn't want to use the term literary fiction, would "mainstream" or "general fiction" be good alternatives? Thanks so much for your very helpful videos.
I am getting ready to start querying but still not sure what genre my book fits in.
where is Djuna Barnes? why have we left her so far behind.
So Upmarket fiction is twist and turn a minute writing, with complex character development? Like Ozark?
A baby with commercial and literary parents. Made me laugh. I'm probably not writing upmarket fiction. But, wherever I'm placed, as long as I get placed.
What's an example of an upmarket science fiction novel? Could a space opera be upmarket? Is it just a matter of elevating the writing?
OK, but you are always saying we have to know what genre a book is before we send it out. So if you say different houses may define it as something else...huh?
Literary Fiction is to genre fiction as music is to the rest of the Arts.
I can explain my novel that makes fun of capitalism in twenty six words. Does that make it commercial fiction?
The edifice in which you dwell is in a state of inflammation
I love Jessica’s cute headscarf
OMG Jessica have I been writing upmarket fiction all along and just didn't know it? Seriously I have been losing my mind for over three years now trying to figure out how to position my work and flailing hopelessly because it is just that: it has "elements of a mystery, but it is not a mystery" and "has a romance in it but is not a romance." It has ghosts but it is NOT horror. Etc. Really it's mostly about the relationships and relationship arcs, characters and their development arcs, just like literary fiction but with conflict/resolution plots, too, and generally happy (or at lest happy-for-now) endings. Is that what you mean? I know you're very busy and I respect that your time is valuable but if you could please, please just glance at my work and let me know, you might just save one woman's sanity! You can learn more about my already published work at kimbeall dot com but if you can't do this I totally understand and will not take it personally. In any event thank you so much for this very validating and dare I even say hopeful video!
I don't think it's a genre per se. It can comprise of many elements, sure, however, there has to be a pre-defined genre for the book...then, if the writing is unique (literary), if it sells (is commercial), and has a hook (high concept), then it becomes labeled an upmarket fiction, but I haven't seen anywhere that it should be queried as an upmarket fiction because it, from what I gather, is "awarded" to the book by editors, reviewers, etc if certain specifications are met, rather than it being forced out there by the writer..who knows though, if we're being honest the description of it is anything but clear, and many books labeled as upmarket fiction left no impression on me, to be frank, while others, that didn't and probably never will be labeled as upmarket fiction, struck me as the perfect balance between the explainable; commercial and literary with an awesome hook. haha
@@urorazbojnik5678 I'm certainly not trying to "force" upmarket fiction. I write what I write. Mainly I write it because I wish it were available in bookstores for me to read. :D (And according to my readers, I'm not the only one who wishes this!) I just can't find a genre for stories that contain real ghosts but the ghosts do not have an OCD about making sure everybody's guts are splattered across walls. These stories are NOT horror. "Ghosts are people, too!" But I'm not going to change my stories just to conform to the genres currently accepted in the market. If I wouldn't read it, why would I write it?
@@maggiepfob Of course! I absolutely support this because i too am writing something "out" of the standard and hard to just compress into a single genre, and I guess that's the best we can do, you know, be genuine and write what we love fantasizing about, and if on this journey someone likes it as much as we do then we'll know it's authentic and real, and that in itself is a great reward already.
JESSICA FAUST Hi. I sent you an important-email Did you ever get to read it??? Jed Ford.