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Genre series

Children’s book genres: Intro and definitions

1024 683 Siobhan O'Brien Holmes

Last year, I created my biggest course yet: Space opera, steampunk and slashers, oh my! A deep dive into children’s book genres for authors. It’s aimed at anybody who has written or is thinking of writing a middle grade or young adult novel and wants a bit of extra support getting their head around the many genres and subgenres in kidlit.

It’s probably my favourite course I’ve made because it’s so full of content that I’ve never been able to find anywhere else when I’ve gone hunting.

There’s often so much focus online and in craft books about the categories of children’s books – middle grade, chapter books, early readers, young adult – that it’s easy to think those are the only categories and distinctions you need to worry about.

But genre is really important, too! And there’s not a whole lot of information out there about what genre looks like in children’s books and you how can make sure your book is really hitting the conventions and expectations for a certain genre.

I’ve had brilliant feedback on this course and it’s something I find myself turning to again and again when talking to authors about genre. I often copy and paste snippets from a lesson for them, or send them my ‘monster guide to genres’ booklet. In fact, it’s been so useful that I started including the course for free when anybody orders The Monster from me.

So I started thinking: how can I help more people get value out of this course without the price tag? Because I truly believe the stuff in Space Opera, steampunk and Slashers, oh my! is crucial for any kidlit author navigating a new genre or working out where their book fits in today’s publishing landscape.

And that’s why I’ve made a slightly radical move! I’m going to be publishing the lessons from the course here on the blog, for free, over the coming months.

Follow along here or get it all at once!

You can follow along here and read through all the course content. Or, if you’re impatient and need to know this stuff now, you can purchase the course and get everything immediately.

The course itself is £168 and comes with lots of added extras that you won’t get here on the blog:

  • An interactive workbook
  • Genre bingo cards
  • Pretty slides and videos (with subtitles) for every lesson
  • Recommended resources and extra links
  • A personalised book recommendation
  • A discount code for future courses and services

And the biggest (and brand new for 2025) extra of all…

  • A personalised video giving feedback on your assignments and helping you work out what genre your book is.

So if you’d like to grab all those goodies, sign up for the course today.

Otherwise, follow along here while I share all my kidlit genre secrets!

Definitions

For this first post, I’m going to look at some terminology that crops up a lot when talking about kidlit genres. There’s a lot of jargon in publishing (and in this course!) so here are a few terms that will crop up here and what I mean when I use them.

⭐️ Kidlit: children’s books. This can apply to everything from picture books up to young adult novels but I’ll be focusing on books for readers around 8-18 years old here

⭐️ Middle grade: fiction aimed at children aged approximately between 8 and 12

⭐️ YA/young adult: fiction aimed at teenagers aged approximately 13 to 18

⭐️ Traditional publishing: getting your book published through the ‘traditional’ route of submitting to agents and eventually getting a publishing deal

⭐️ Self-publishing: publishing your book yourself without using agents or publishers Trope: a recurring theme or device that often features in books of a specific genre. Not a bad thing!

⭐️ Comp title: short for comparison or comparative, this is a book that is similar to yours in some way and gives agents and publishers an idea of your market and who might read your book when it’s published

⭐️ Genre fiction: books that fit into specific, easily defined genres like horror, science fiction, romance or western

⭐️ Speculative: any books that speculate on what could be as opposed to how things really are, imagining an alternative reality by asking ‘what if?’. Science fiction, fantasy and supernatural horror and anything featuring magic, nonhuman characters or the future sit under this umbrella.

⭐️ Genre bending: books that defy genre conventions or blend multiple genres within one book

⭐️ Diversity/representation: these terms refer to the importance of ensuring authors and readers of all races, sexualities, genders, abilities, religions, backgrounds and experiences are represented in publishing. It’s vital that all young readers see themselves reflected in the books they read and that children are exposed to ideas and experiences that differ from their own in order to encourage empathy, kindness, understanding and curiosity.

Next week: Guess the genre quiz

Siobhan O'Brien Holmes

Siobhan O'Brien Holmes is a developmental editor working with middle grade and YA authors. She specialises in speculative and genre fiction, particularly horror, fantasy, mystery, sci-fi and anything with a dash of magic or macabre. She is a member of the SfEP, EFA, ACES, British Fantasy Society, Horror Writers Association and SCBWI. She has an MA in Novel Writing and an MA in Children's Literature.

All stories by: Siobhan O'Brien Holmes

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