The Classics. Most of the time, classic stories are classic for a reason. Many of these types of stories are timeless, but even the ones that feel outdated from another era are worth considering because of the influence they have on contemporary hits. Science fiction, for example, is a genre where many concepts and stories can quickly become outdated. But the stories of masters of the genre like Isaac Asimov, Philip K. Dick, Robert Heinlein, and Ray Bradbury can still teach us lessons about what it means to write a compelling story in the genre. In addition, when you do read The Hits (see below), you can see how those modern authors incorporate influences from these authors, which might help give you some context about how to incorporate an homage to your contemporary favorites into your own work.

The Hits. Just like The Classics can teach you where the genre has come from, you need to know where the genre is going. Authors should know what's currently popular in their genre(s) so that they aren't rehashing old ideas, especially ones that are no longer popular or have been played out already. Keeping with the above example, if you're a science fiction author, you should be familiar with the success stories like Hugh Howey, Andy Weir, A.G. Riddle, and Ernest Cline. Not only will these authors allow you to see what kinds of stories are popular with modern audiences, but they'll also - when compared with The Classics - allow you to see how the genre has evolved and possibly give you a sense of what trajectory it's headed along.

BONUS: The Bad and The Ugly. I'm including this bonus category because it's useful (to an extent) to read the kinds of stuff that's not successful. If something just plain doesn't work, there's value in learning from someone else's mistakes and making note of what pitfalls to avoid in your own work. The reason it's of limited use, though, is that there's a lot of bad writing out there and you could easily find yourself stuck in a downward spiral where you're just discovering multiple ways of failing rather than new ways of succeeding. You need that juxtaposition of good work to bad work so you can see the difference and understand what the successful ones do differently.