Choosing your genre is one of the most important factors to working on your book, for several reasons.

1) You will need to know your genre to choose books and compare word counts so you can select a range that your word count goal should be. (There is a mathematical way to do this shown here).

2.) The book industry is “genre driven”.

3.) As an author or aspiring author it would be an intelligent decision to learn everything you can about as many genre’s as possible. This way you are knowledgeable in the different fields.

The following is the most comprehensive list of genre’s I’ve discovered. If you have any to add, please feel free to comment below.

Action/Adventure
Mercenary
Survivalist
War

Chick Lit
(this is a really broad category and the list could go on and on - the premise of a Chick Lit novel is that it is usually written for women and it is usually something they can somewhat identify with.)
Big Girl
Bride Lit
Christian
Fantasy
Gossip/Glamor
Hen Lit
Humor
Lesbian
Mommy Lit
Multicultural Lit
Mystery
Noir Lit
Paranormal Lit
Tech Lit
Young Adult

Christian
Biblical
Contemporary
Frontier Romance
Historical
Mystery
Mystery/Romance
Romance

Fantasy
Alternate History
Contemporary
Dark
Epic
Gay
High
Humorous
Lesbian
Light
Magic Realism
Medieval
Military
Modern
Science
Sociological
Speculative Science
Traditional
Urban

Gay/Lesbian
Coming-of-Age
Erotic
Mystery
Relationship
Romance
Science Fiction
Suspense

Historical
Biographical
Family Saga
Frontier
General
Generational Saga
Multicultural
Prehistoric
Saga
Western

Horror
Contemporary
Crime
Dark
Erotic
Humorous
Light
Modern
Occult
Paranormal
Psychological
Technological
Traditional
Urban

Mainstream
Biographical
Classic
Crime
Erotic
Feminist
Glamour
Humor
Literary
Magic Realism
Military/War
New Age
Occult
Paranormal
Political
Satire
Speculative
Sports
Supernatural
Women’s

Mystery
Amateur Detective
Biographical Historical
Comic Caper
Courtroom
Cozy
Crime
Dark
Espionage
Fact-Based Contemporary
Fact-Based Historical
Hard-Boiled Detective
Historical
Humorous
Literary
Malice Domestic
Police Procedural
Private Detective
Puzzle
Senior Sleuth
Surrealistic

Romance
Americana
Angel
Edwardian
Erotic
Fantasy
Futuristic
Georgian
Ghost
Gothic
Historical Adventure
Historical Romance
Inspirational Contemporary
Inspirational Historical
Long Sensual Contemporary
Magic
Mainstream Contemporary
Mature Contemporary
Medieval
Multicultural Contemporary
Multicultural Historical
Nurse
Pirate Historical
Regency
Regency Historical
Reincarnation
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Suspense
Short Humorous Contemporary
Short Sensual Contemporary
Short Sweet Contemporary
Time Travel
Vampire
Victorian
Viking
Western Historical

Science Fiction
Adventure
Alternative
Anthropological
Apocalyptic
Avant-Pop
Cyberpunk
Cybertek
Dark Fantasy
Darkly Humorous
Erotic
Experimental
Fantasy
Feminist
Futuristic
Hard
Harsh Parody
Horrific
Humorous
Military
Mystery-Related
Offbeat
Postmodern
Psychological
Religious
Sociological
Space Opera
Speculative
Steampunk
Surreal/Mood
Time Travel
Traditional
Urban Horror
Weird

Suspense
Crime
Domestic
Erotic Thriller
Espionage
Legal Thriller
Medical Thriller
Paranormal Thriller
Political Thriller
Psychological
Psychosexual Thriller
Serial-Killer Thriller
Techno-Thriller
Woman-in-Jeopardy

Western
Adult
Biographical
Fact-Based
Military
Traditional

Young Adult
Adventure
Biographical
Coming-of-Age
Contemporary
Ethnic
Fantasy
Historical
Horror
Humor
Mystery
Mystery Romance
Problem
Romance
Science Fiction
Suspense
Western