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Mystery: June 29, 2016 Issue [#7725]

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Mystery


 This week: Inside Amazon's Mystery Section
  Edited by: Jeff Author IconMail Icon
                             More Newsletters By This Editor  Open in new Window.

Table of Contents

1. About this Newsletter
2. A Word from our Sponsor
3. Letter from the Editor
4. Editor's Picks
5. A Word from Writing.Com
6. Ask & Answer
7. Removal instructions

About This Newsletter

A header image for my official Mystery Newsletters.




"The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense
of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery."

-- Anaïs Nin



Mystery Trivia of the Week: In addition to his five published novels, Noah Hawley is also an accomplished film and television producer, writer, and composer. He wrote and produced the first three seasons of the television series Bones, as well as created and wrote on the television series Fargo, The Unusuals, and a handful of other projects.


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Letter from the editor


INSIDE AMAZON'S MYSTERY SECTION


Like many bookstores and libraries, Amazon's book listings lump their Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense books all into one genre category. Unlike with a traditional bookstore or library, however, who may have a handful of subgenres, Amazon's website allows for listing subgenres within subgenres within subgenres in order to help readers drill down and find exactly the kind of book they're looking for. Since Amazon is the biggest book retailer in the world at the moment, I thought it'd be worth taking a look at the way they categorize the mystery genre.

First, here's a nested look at Amazon's subgenres in under their "Mystery, Thriller & Suspense" heading:

         Mystery, Thriller & Suspense
                   Crime Fiction
                             Heist
                             Kidnapping
                             Murder
                             Noir
                             Organized Crime
                             Serial Killers
                             Vigilante Justice
                   Mystery
                             African American
                             Collections & Anthologies
                             Cozy
                                       Animals
                                       Crafts & Hobbies
                                       Culinary
                             Hard-Boiled
                             Historial
                             International Mystery & Crime
                             LGBT
                             Police Procedurals
                             Private Investigators
                             Series
                             Traditional Detectives
                             Women Sleuths
                   Suspense
                             Ghosts
                             Horror
                             Occult
                             Paranormal
                             Psychics
                             Vampires
                             Werewolves & Shifters
                             Political
                             Psychological
                   Thrillers
                             Assassinations
                             Conspiracies
                             Crime
                             Espionage
                             Financial
                             Historical
                             Legal
                             Medical
                             Military
                             Political
                             Psychological
                             Pulp
                             Technothrillers
                             Terrorism

I won't get into detailing or describing the different subgenres... that's a topic that's been covered before. But what I want to look at instead is the sheer number of subgenres and subsets of the Mystery, Thriller, and Suspense genres offered by Amazon. It allows for customized browsing that you'd never be able to get at a place with physical shelf space (except maybe at Powell's City of Books in Portland, Oregon, which has 68,000+ square feet of retail space!). Another great feature of an online marketplace like Amazon is that you can categorize your book in multiple subgenres. No need to worry if you should label your book as Crime Fiction >> Heist or Thriller >> Crime, an author can label their book as both! In addition to the overall store ranking, Amazon allows you to have up to three subgenres listed, so you can appeal to multiple targeted segments of the mystery-loving public.

Once you start browsing, you'll find several other filters that you can use to further customize your search. For example, you can refine your search results by format (e.g., paperback, hardcover, audio, ebook, etc.), by moods and themes (e.g., action-packed, humorous, racy, religious, romantic, etc.), by character (e.g., amateur sleuths, British detectives, gay protagonists, government agents, etc.), and by popular author, book series, language, and award winners. The best part is that each of these additional search refinements adjust to the subgenre you're searching, so Robert Galbraith and CJ Lyons are featured authors on the Mystery >> Private Investigators page while John Grisham is featured on the Thrillers >> Legal page. You can also sort by the book's star rating and recent releases with various windows of time (e.g. within the last 30 days, 90 days etc.).

All of this gives readers an immense amount of control and specificity over what they read and where they look for it. Fortunately, those are also tools that writers in the genre can use to find their audience. Especially if you independently publish and don't rely on a publishing house to do it for you, your book can be optimized to fit into some of these categories. Many authors, for example, will heavily promote a book while it's still in the 30-day release window. Or they might optimize a book for a particular and very specific subgenre where their chances of being noticed are significantly better than they are going up against the likes of perennial bestsellers Brad Thor, James Patterson, and Lee Child.

Amazon's Mystery, Thriller & Suspense section is extremely large, but also provides you with the ability to really drill down to specific parameters that interest you. As readers, we can use the opportunities those search options provide to find new work... and as writers, we can similarly use those opportunities to find an audience that might have previously passed us by when people bought books at physical bookstores that lumped might only have a handful of subgenres, if any.

Until next time,


Jeff Author IconMail Icon
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Editor's Picks



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What a Character! : Official WDC Contest Open in new Window. [E]
Create a memorable character using the given prompt for huge prizes!
by Writing.Com Support Author Icon



I encourage you to check out the following mystery items:


 Robert The Haunted Doll Open in new Window. [E]
Based on a True story in Key West Florida
by Nevaea Author Icon

EXCERPT: In 1897, a family named Otto lived in a nearby house in Key West Florida, They owned a plantation and had a lot of servants working for them who they treated very badly, One servant girl gave their son Gene a present of a doll, What the Otto family didn't realise was that this servant girl knew voodoo and black magic.



 Angels (need help with a new title) Open in new Window. [13+]
Joanna is thrown into a new life with a strange boy
by aunnakristie Author Icon

EXCERPT: THE OUTSIDE OF THE BUILDING LOOKED DARK AND DUSTY. The boy shivered, pulling his jacket to where it was tighter around his body. It was the middle of summer, yet his body felt frigid and raw almost as though his skin should be blue and he should be shaking from hypothermia. The boy dreaded the idea of walking into a building that was normally bustling with students and proffesors but now sat empty.



 What Lies Beneath Open in new Window. [18+]
1922: A massacre at Winterhaven estate. Blight continues to lurk; waiting to surface
by HippyDippyGeekyChick Author Icon

EXCERPT: Here she was again, walking down this dark corridor searching for the way out. Every time she found herself in this house, the layout was different. Just enough was recognizable for her to navigate through the hallways but the rooms were always different.

Tonight the room she entered was expansive. It was empty upon entering but as she scanned the room, things began to appear like boxes and toys. She could hear a soft crying off in the distance that unnerved her. It wasn’t a good sound. She knew she was about to discover something she didn’t want to find.



 Wake Up Barton Fitch Open in new Window. [13+]
A short story about a reality where the ability to get younger actually exists.
by Jkruse Author Icon

EXCERPT: Beautiful people can get away with murder. Anything they do is appealing and sexy, even eating spaghetti like a starving street person with sauce on their chins is somehow attractive.



 McCarthy's Bind Open in new Window. [18+]
A project idea I'm working on. A mystery novel. I'd appreciate feedback.
by Adrian Author Icon

EXCERPT: The fan did little to cool the humid air. The blades laboured and the head slow turn was agonising. All James could do to feel relief was huff. Jimmy dropped into the recliner and slapped a heavy hand on the desk. The fat American was sweating heavy, his dark hair glistening in the shards of light that pierced through the gap in the blinds. He eyed James for a moment, smiled and nodded.



 
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Ask & Answer



Feedback from my last newsletter about Memorial Day:



Quick-Quill Author Icon writes: "My kids and I have lots of movies. We play a marathon game where we start with a movie and pick a character or actor then find another movie we have with that actor in it. Then it goes from there. Sometimes you get a movie with lots of popular actors, we try to find obscure ones to move to the next movie.

Yeah, I play that game on long car rides too. And you definitely have to get to the obscure ones if you want to stand a chance of the game ever ending! To add an extra level of difficulty, we'll sometimes say that the person can challenge the last actor named and if the person who named the actor can't come up with another movie him or herself, then they lose. *Smirk*



Patrece ~ Author Icon writes: "Hi Jeff, Thank you very much for including my work in your "editors pick". I am honored."

You're very welcome!



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