Unshelve Your Collection By Crossing Genres

Many authors and readers are not tied to a single genre any longer so don’t keep your book displays tied to a single genre either. Create a display of “books that are successful as in two genres.” Another version of this idea is a display of books from one genre that would appeal to fans of another. While "romantasy" may be the hottest blend of genres right now, there are certainly many more. 

Your signage can reference "Try romance and..." while including romance/science fiction, romance/mystery, and even romance/horror blends. "Love in Space" could include romance and science fiction. Mystery and horror could have a sign that says "The Dark Side of Crime." Don't forget westerns, historical, and inspirational fiction as well. The titles and subtitles of online book lists can also inspire you. 

I'll include some lists below to get you started but remember to focus on what you have in your collection which could use some attention rather than trying to create a perfect display. 

Murder & Mayhem - 10 Romance Mystery Books to Fall in Love With
Crime Reads - 7 Spectacular Books that Mix Mystery with Romance 
Book Riot - 44 Mystery Romance Novels to Read Right Now

Book Riot - Love & Other Epic Adventures: Science Fiction Romance Books
Goodreads - Science Fiction Romance

Romance.io - Most popular science fiction romance books

Goodreads - Mystery Horror Books

Novel Suspects - Thrillers Brimming With Mystery and Horror
Crime Reads - 20 Essential Crime and Horror Crossovers

Also, genre blending was the topic of the first panel I ever moderated at the Horror Writers Association's StokerCon! I will be in Connecticut for StokerCon this weekend. I hope to post pictures and updates both here and on my social media accounts. Then it's on to ALA Annual in Philly. 

Ideas For Book Displays and Other Passive Readers Advisory - Romance Edition

 Romance is in the air - and on the blog! As before, I am going to try to not repeat any of resources I listed before. Note that you can use many of them for a variety of genres. 

There are so many romance book blogs! I will list a few here but if you are a fan or have a huge patron base for them, you might want to spend time searching for them. 

Harlequin is one of the publishers even those who are unfamiliar with romance know. One of the most useful things on their site is what they call "favorite romance storylines" or what other people call tropes. They also talk about "miniseries" on their site which allow "readers to return to the same town, family or cast of characters to fall in love again and again!" There are non-Harlequin authors who do this. It would be a fun way to market your series fiction - call them a miniseries. 

Smart Bitches, Trashy Books has been around for a long time. It includes a blog, book reviews, book suggestions, and a podcast. They cover romance news and what's trending along with being a great place to go for your next great romance read. 

Dear Author is another long standing romance blog with reviews, new releases, recommendations, and essays. As with SBTB above, books outside romance are reviewed and pop culture like TV shows and movies are also reviewed and discussed. 

WOC in Romance is a blog that promotes and highlights books by women of color. The section labeled Find Your Next Read has tropes, subgenres, and categories of romance fiction. Use this to help make your displays as inclusive as possible and find authors you may not be familiar with. 

For queer romance, check out LGBTQ Reads. There is a section on the site devoted to romance with lists devoted to teen and adult romances with a wide variety of character identities and pairings. There are articles and upcoming titles. They also list books by region, historical romances by era, trope/archetype, and setting.

The Ripped Bodice is an independent bookstore specializing in romance. They produce The State of Racial Diversity in Romance Publishing Report. Besides news about upcoming releases there are also staff suggestions and book lists. 

A Reddit user curated a map with all of the romance oriented bookstores in the US and Canada. Their sites have information about tropes, subgenres, archetypes, and what's hot in romance. 

British romance author Evie Alexander has a list of 150 romance tropes on her website. Any of these can be used for a list, blog post, book display, bookmark...

Romance Writers of America is not without regular controversy but there are some useful pages on their site including a basic breakdown of the genre. 

The Golden Crown Literary Society focuses on sapphic/women loving women literature including romance. Their awards page could be useful for learning more about this subgenre. 

Romance.io is a blog with a unique book finder which you can use to find books with particular kinds of heroes, heroines, tropes, and more. 

Ideas For Book Displays and Other Passive Readers Advisory - Fantasy Edition

 We all have to provide readers advisory for genres we don't read. I have not yet found the high fantasy series that really draws me in. Everyone has those books they can't get into. There is nothing wrong with that - just don't make a big show of how much you don't like reading it. 

Here are some sources for news and ideas about fantasy. Science fiction and fantasy are often grouped together so check the post about science fiction for more ideas. The posts about other genres may also have resources you can use for fantasy, you check them out. 

For a primer on fantasy subgenres, try this article on The Portalist. Other sites like Book Riot also have them. Searching for any of the subgenres will pull up a lot of ideas you can use. 

Goodreads has a page devoted to various genres. They include the most popular books from that genre as well as links to subgenres and related genres. Their fantasy page has new releases, videos, lists, giveaways, and tags that are related to fantasy. The related genres can help you find specific subgenres tied to patron interests like high fantasy, epic fantasy, mythology, elves, unicorns, and more. 

Barnes and Noble has a fantasy page, most filled with what the bestselling titles in the genre are. There is a discussion of fantasy there along with suggestions for series for new fantasy readers. Epic fantasy gets its own page as does science fiction and fantasy as a whole. Bestselling titles don't need our help promoting them but they can be used as a read alike display or list that also promotes the holds list. You will also see upcoming titles and information about new trends you may not be familiar with such as cozy fantasy. 

I mentioned Book Riot before. Don't forget to just go to their page and search for a genre or a subgenre. Their lists and articles can be very helpful and include a lot of diverse authors and hidden gems. 8 of the Most Thought-Provoking Fantasy Books Ever Written is an example. Your collection may not include all of these but you can use the idea to create a list or display with what titles you do have. 

Reactor Mag, formerly Tor.com, is a site to visit for information about fantasy as well as horror and science fiction. There is a section of their site with information about fantasy. Content includes book excerpts, recommendations as well as information about movies and TV shows.

Fantastic Fiction is often used by library workers to find series in order information. There are also pages devoted to genres such as fantasy. There are popular books and upcoming titles along with some subgenre information. 

Grimdark is a subgenre of fantasy that is dystopian, amoral, and violent. Grimdark Magazine covers the subgenre and has article like Grimdark Fantasy: Where to Start Reading. 

FanFiAddict posts reviews about science fiction, fantasy, and horror. There are also blog posts and articles like this one, explaining cozy fantasy. 

Ideas For Book Displays and Other Passive Readers Advisory - Science Fiction Edition

This is the first of some genre-focused posts. Rather than start with genres I know more about (romance and horror) I thought I would do the harder ones first so we are jumping off with science fiction. There is science fiction content on my post about general book content so check those sites as well if you are looking for science fiction book news. 

Whether right or wrong, the worlds of science fiction and gaming seem to have an affiliation so I've included some gaming sites with book related content. 

Also, if you have suggestions here, please let me know!

The Portalist: A site run by Open Road Media (which operates other genre-focused sites like The Lineup) focused on science fiction and fantasy. The focus is on backlist titles. There are a lot of articles with read-alikes and lists based upon a theme such as "Must Read Space Opera Books." They also cover movies and TV shows along with weird news that will appeal to fans of the genre. 

Book Riot has science fiction content and also a newsletter called Swords & Spaceships with recommendations and news. They also host a sci fi/fantasy biweekly podcast called SFF Yeah!  . They make a strong effort to be as inclusive as possible. 

The Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers Association is another great source of information about science fiction as a genre. They present the Nebula Awards, voted on by members. Librarians can join at the affiliate level.

The Fantasy Reviews has a section about science fiction. There are lists that can inspire your readers advisory as well as a lot of content devoted to science fiction properties like Doctor Who and Dune. 

Wired Magazine has a section on their website called Geek's Guide to the Galaxy, devoted to books, TV, gaming, and movies. 

Kirkus Reviews covers science fiction news including adaptions on their website. 

Polygon, a site with a lot of gaming content, has a section devoted to books with news, lists, and articles that you can use. 

Worlds Without End, a fan-run website and online community, has a lot of book related content including information about the various book awards, including international ones, book lists, information about authors, podcast listings, and resources. Their lists of subgenres alone may inspire some book lists or displays. Their lists of websites includes author blogs, awards, and general science fiction focused websites. 

The Hugo Awards are awarded by Worldcon and seem to be unable to stay away from controversy but the past winners, nominees, and readalikes can inspire a list or display. 

Locus  is a long running science fiction, fantasy, and horror magazine. There is news, reviews, feature articles, and creator spotlights. 

IO9, part of Gizmodo, covers movies, television, gaming, and books with news and feature articles. 

Make a display or list based on one author - Colleen Hoover

 More than likely, you have books by Colleen Hoover on your physical and digital holds list. While you may not have the books in your building to include in a physical display, you can use read alike authors on your shelves to give back list titles some attention, bring attention to other authors that fans of Hoover would like, and advertise your holds list. 

Where to find suggestions? There are plenty of lists to get you started on your own display or post. 

Business Insider has a list - 22 books Colleen Hoover fans will love, from suspenseful romance reads to tearjerker YA stories. This list has suggestions from all over fiction and is diverse which I appreciate. It will also give you a taste of the different ways people can approach even a popular author like Hoover. 

A feature you can copy is Book Riot's book recommendation service - using email, online chat, or whatever your library can support even if that's paper requests. Their list of 10 Authors Like Colleen Hoover is another good way to recommend read alikes because it's broad enough that even if a particular title is checked out, recommending an author gives a patron many choices 

Other libraries make lists that can give you a good head start in creating your own display or list. The Topsfield Town Library has a list - Read this next: A Reading List for Fans of Colleen Hoover.  I love that it lists the titles by Hoover they own, points out part of their library you may have missed, and lists tone/theme/plot reasons why you might like the read alikes. 

The Harrison Public Library made a post of recommendations from a staff member that acknowledged the challenge of recommending read alikes from someone who writes books that are in different genres, subgenres, and have a different tone. Their post of Colleen Hoover Read-Alikes is clever and has a great graphic. 

Remember to credit your sources if you borrow an idea especially if it's online. 

Theme to Explore - Blending Genre in Book Displays

 Setting aside any libraryland debates about genre spine labels, genre filing on the shelf versus interfiling and so forth, I thought I would talk about how to use books which cross several genres or are genre blended as a theme for an online list or book display. Many books have crossover appeal. You can use this to gently suggest to your readers that there are books outside their usual lanes that they will enjoy and perhaps create another entire world of books for that patron to explore. 

The easiest option is to do a "If you liked this... Try this" book display/list. You can go outside of the usual similar titles in the same genre and instead match up a memoir or biography with a fiction title. Pick someone who lived in the same era or a biography with a fictional depiction of that person. A recent idea from the news and popular culture would be a novel about the British royal family with a biography of a British royal. Pair a book like Children of Chicago by Cynthia Pelayo with non-fiction books about Chicago, Chicago travel books, and DVDs about Chicago. 

The Chicago Public Library has a convenient list of fiction set in Chicago. 

This is a simple version of blending genres in a book display - pick a setting or character and grab materials from your location, regardless of genre of type. 

Another option using Children of Chicago?  It's also a police procedural so look for romantic suspense, mysteries, thrillers, historical fiction which are also police procedurals in part. There are plenty of titles in other genres which focus on a single police detective. Try adding them to a display. The fact that some are romantic suspense while others are historical mysteries shouldn't matter. Let your patrons explore and trust their curiosity. 

The truth is that while it was nominated for a Bram Stoker Award for best novel, Children of Chicago is not only a horror novel. As was mentioned before it's a police procedural, urban fantasy, modern fairy tale, and serial killer thriller. There are plenty of books in your collection which share these descriptions. Gather them up and put them on a display. 

You can use this sort of display to introduce patrons to the idea of genre blending in novels. Use a picture of a blender on a sign and put up materials from your collection that cross genres. Romance fans are already familiar with this idea due to the proliferation of subgenres in romance  - romantic suspense, historical romance, inspirational romance and so forth. There are also mysteries which are also historical fiction, horror which is also comedic, and science fiction which has elements from thrillers blended in. 

One theme you can use is literary fiction/genre fiction. There are plenty of titles which combine aspects of literary fiction including complex language and a character driven plot. Literary fiction giants like Colson Whitehead (Zone One) have written horror while horror authors like Stephen Graham Jones and Andy Davidson would definitely appeal to literary fiction lovers.
 
While examples of literary genre fiction in all genres can be found, I would caution you that romance readers do expect a central love story and a happy (at least for now) ending. Books that have romantic elements could be called love stories on a display or list. 

Below I have some lists and articles that should help you in your exploration of genre blending and blended genres. Use them as a start to introduce your patrons to books outside their usual reads!

More resources: 

Goodreads has a list of genre blending fiction. 
Books shelfed on Goodreads as Literary Romance.
More from Goodreads with Best Literary Mysteries
Bookriot has several lists: genre-blending literary fiction, genre-blending historical fiction,      redefining romance in literary fiction, best literary mystery
ALA Publishing published The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Blends. 
This article from Writer's Digest talks about cross pollination which would be a cute theme for a genre blending display. 
Tor.com has Five Genre-Blending Young Adult Books. 
Five Books in Which Unexpected Romance Sneaks Up On You from The Atlantic
The Millions has The Case for Genre Fiction: A Guide to Literary Science Fiction and Fantasy