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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Demystifying Genre Program Gets a HUGE Overhaul: With Slide Access

I am currently in the process of my annual major update to my genre program. From Becky's most popular programs page:

Demystifying Genre: Nothing is scarier than trying to help a fan of a genre you yourself don’t enjoy. You want to help that, for example, Romance reader, find the perfect book, but you are having trouble knowing where to begin because...eek!... you don’t read Romance. You are afraid they will find out you are a fraud. How can YOU possibly help THEM?!? Never fear, in this program, Readers’ Advisory expert, Becky Spratford, will teach you the basic appeals of the major genres, give you the inside track on what a fan of that genre is most drawn to, and provide you with talking points to get your genres readers to tell you what they want. This program focuses on providing you with a diverse and inclusive list of up-to-date authors; only living authors will be discussed. You will leave this session with the confidence and skill to help fans of every genre, regardless of whether or not you have ever read a book in that genre yourself. And that will leave a trail of happy patrons in your wake. 75-90 mins

I have given a version of this program going back over a decade. It all began as an outshoot of the work I did when I was adjunct faculty at the graduate school. When I taught the RA class, a majority of the weeks were spent focusing on genres, their appeal factors, current trends, and their readers. Once I stopped teaching in 2012, I didn't want to lose my connection to all genres. 

Yes, I immerse myself in Horror, but it is when you pull back and take a broader look at all of adult fiction, that you are able to appreciate what readers are gravitating towards and what authors are writing. 

I also include YA genre trends in this talk as well because the teen readers will become adult readers soon. The years I spent serving teens made me realize that trends with teens make their way into adult books with regularity.

Here is the 2024 version of my Genre Overview program. I have given this program a HUGE overhaul. I use the work I do at the end of each year, analyzing the stats, trends, and bestsellers for the year that was and combine it with the titles that are called out my the RUSA Reading List committee, Goodreads Best Picks by readers, Bestsellers, and NoveList Recommended Reads. 

My goal with this program is to highlight a sampling of the titles that most represent the genre as it is RIGHT now. No dead authors. No history of the genre. Rather how it is defined by the most relevant writers and its most rabid fans.

Every time I give this program, I get a chorus of people saying things like... But you forgot this and this. Or what about this. ETC... 

I embrace that because if I have inspired people to get riled up and share their favs, it means I have done exactly what I am trying to do-- have a vibrant conversation about genre fiction. In fact, when I give this virtually, I have the person running the webinar encourage this by putting the name of the genre on the screen into the chat and asking everyone to share their favs in the chat. Then, after the event, participants have my slides, with 141 titles and all of their crowd sourced authors and titles.

I tell the audience to engage with the genres you love during the presentation but then go back and choose an author for the genre you are least comfortable with after the event, to give it a try based on the joy of your fellow library workers.

I will be giving the overhauled version of this talk tomorrow for the first time. And I have a bunch more already scheduled throughout the rest of 2024. 

Finally, here is the link to my most popular free, genre resources. That was also updated and the link is in the slides as well.

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