Genre Guide — Fantasy

LitRPG is an exciting new genre, but it breaks a lot of the rules that speculative fiction was built on. If you find traditional spec-fic stodgy and old-fashioned, then litRPG should appeal to you. It is also very specific to gaming. If you’re not a gamer, it will likely be difficult for you to get inside this genre. You should consider writing litRPG if… You should probably try a different genre if… The formula for success in self publishing for a litRPG writer should be like most other genres.  The hard part of all this is writing a good book....

If you want to write in a genre, you have to read that genre. Experts in the industry are consistent with their advice that you must be an avid reader of a genre to write well in it. There are only two books here, as I have not read widely in this genre.

With so few books here, it is incredibly important for you to do your own research. Search for litRPG books...

LitRPG is a very new genre, the term only being coined in 2013. As such, it doesn't have an official category on Amazon, and unlike grimdark, I don't think it has enough mainstream support that it will get one. However, you will find plenty of self-published fantasy books with litRPG as part of their title or subtitle. It's a sought after keyword, and you'll find litRPG titles in high spots of other fantasy genre's

If you want to write in a genre, you have to read that genre. Experts in the industry are consistent with their advice that you must be an avid reader of a genre to write well in it. Depending on what kind of grimdark novel you're writing, you'll want to look at the instructional and informational books in the epic fantasy, military fantasy, and gene

You should consider writing grimdark if… You should probably try a different genre if… The formula for success in self publishing for a grimdark writer is not as straight forward as other genres, because until it is an official category, you need to figure out where to market it.  The hard part of all this is writing a good book. Even though grimdark is (obviously) a grim genre, spots of levity and gallows humor are also a big part of the genre. Make your characters bad but clever, evil but hilarious, vicious but loyal....

If you want to write in a genre, you have to read that genre. Experts in the industry are consistent with their advice that you must be an avid reader of a genre to write well in it.

If you like your urban fantasy with a side of romance; if you like Twilight or True Blood; if you think werewolves are underrepresented in modern fantasy; then paranormal might be a good fit for you.

The real thing to figure out is do you like romance? Because most of what is referred to as paranormal is actually paranormal romance.

Paranormal is a subset of intrusion fantasy that gets its own page here as it is unique in both its popularity and the fact that it's almost never written except in genre combinations.

There is some confusion/discussion about what paranormal fiction actually is.

If you want to write epic fantasy, you must read epic fantasy. Experts in the industry are consistent with their advice that you must be an avid reader of a genre to write well in it. The books listed below will teach you about the genre and help you get a feel for all the different things you can do with it. 

There are only a few books noted here, because most likely your portal fantasy will owe more to its genre combination than this genre. It is especially important to look at what is hitting the top of the list when you type in portal fantasy. If your book doesn't fit with these (currently mostly romance, erotica, and LitRPG), then I wouldn't bother using portal fantasy in your advertising/search term strategies