An Interactive Literary Genre Map

Penguin’s Book Country has created a pretty neat interactive genre map that you can explore here. The map is aimed at authors using Penguin’s Book Country publishing platform:

Editors, booksellers, and readers describe books by their literary categories, or genres. It’s how books are placed in stores and sold online. It’s how readers discover your book. As a writer, knowing your book’s category is essential to finding an audience. It’s like the country filled with people who love to read what you write. A country filled with writers just like you.

Click on a genre land and the site gives you an overview of the genre and lists classic works. In addition, some genres like Fantasy and Science Fiction are given a host of subgenres like “Weird Fiction” and “Cyberpunk.” The fact that the map is aimed at current self-publishing authors explains why YA is it’s own continent while genres like Gothic fiction don’t exist.

You can explore the whole map here.