Cozy mystery a genre that might be more popular with writers than any other genre, past, present, or future. This is probably due to the fact that it is the easiest genre for a writer to insert themselves into. What other genre regularly has the protagonist be an introverted, book-loving, cat person?
Back to mystery One of the most important standing rules of cozy mystery is that you never see the body of the dead guy. Ever. My mother primarily read cozies because she didn’t want any blood or gore. In her case, she also didn’t want any sex, violence, profanity, or nudity. About as G-rated as you could manage. Maybe PG, but the sort of thing that showed up on network television before 9 PM, with all the classical restrictions thereof. If a murder has occurred (and those are quite popular in this genre), the detective in question is usually a...
Back to mystery Amateur sleuth is a category of mystery where the main character solving your crime is not a professional. (Easy enough, right?) As in cozy, they might have skills that help them more than the average Jane off the street, but not the training in crime solving. Or the experience. (Or, probably, the firepower that cops and private detectives can bring to bear when they have to.) Instead, you have an everyday person who has become involved in a crime. They can be a witness, a suspect, or even a friend of the deceased. They might be a...
Remember to read the articles in the Essentials section. These cover all the essential skills you’ll need as a self-published author. They are not just for beginners either. They go in depth on how to successfully write, publish, and market your own books.
Mystery is for those people who like puzzles. Also, for those who maybe think about murder just a little too much. Perhaps a healthy outlet for your murderous obsession, hmm?
In all seriousness, though it's one of the smaller indie genres it's not going anywhere. And its tendency toward series characters and readership makes it very attractive to the indie author.
The mystery category starts with a crime, then resolves it by the end. Simple formula, with nearly infinite variations possible. Science fiction takes that premise and runs with it. Science fiction is a setting genre. As such, you simply start out with “Not Here, Not Now” (presumably a technological future and a surfeit of magic, or you would be in a fantasy category) and tell your story. Where you set your story (the world-building elements) can be pretty much anywhere. If you have magic, presumably you are in some sort of fantasy category, as noted above, but it might be...
Thriller gets its own top-level category these days, so you can dive in over there and go deep, but I want to take a moment to talk about it in the crime and mystery context. Until recently, thriller was a sub-genre of the larger crime category. What changed? Indie Publishing. So many Indie started writing thrillers that it got moved out to become its own BISAC top level. What is thriller, then? Energy. Pure and simple. Start generally somewhere in the middle, and then amp up everything, running like hell. Usually with a ticking clock or a burning building. Kidnapping....
Remember to read the articles in the Essentials section. These cover all the essential skills you'll need as a self-published author. They are not just for beginners either. They go in depth on how to successfully write, publish, and market your own books.
Apocalypse thriller is where SF and action meet. Anything can happen and does in these books. Comets barreling down on the earth. Pandemics turning people into monsters. Climate disaster. Nuclear destruction. Can you think big? World-ending big? And then make it even bigger?
Remember to read the articles in the Essentials section. These cover all the essential skills you’ll need as a self-published author. They are not just for beginners either. They go in depth on how to successfully write, publish, and market your own books.
