What genre is the most popular?

[Laura-Mae]

Feel free to move this if it's in the wrong place, I've not quite worked my way around this site yet. :)

Any ideas for the most popular/most written genres when it comes to novels? I've always had the impression that it was fantasy, because browsing through the forums a lot of people mention writing fantasy. This might not be the case, so I'm just curious to know others' opinions.

Laura-Mae

[mscelina]

I'd think romance over fantasy. A lot of people want to write fantasy because they're exposed to a lot of it...ie, books, gaming, video games, blockbuster films and so forth.

But the romance section in the bookstore is a hell of a lot bigger than fantasy.

[Straka]

I think romance is the best selling genre.

[maestrowork]

There was already a thread on this.

[DeleyanLee]

Any ideas for the most popular/most written genres when it comes to novels?

Please define what you mean by "popular", since there's so many different possibilities available.

Do you mean popular by sales figures? Popular by size of the section in the bookstore? Popular by Amazon sales (or some other) ranking? Popular by what appears on a best sellers' list--and then is there a particular best sellers' list you prefer? What gets made into movies? Or just popular amongs us personally?

There are a zillion different ways of looking at popular, so it's kinda hard to give an answer without qualification or more explanation.

[aadams73]

We had this thread already last week. I suggest going back and finding it. You'll find your answer there.

Here it is: http://www.absolutewrite.com/forums/showthread.php?t=156919