Why Mastering Genre Expectations Is the Key to Reader Engagement

Avoid common misalignment errors

Did you know that over 70% of readers abandon a book within the first few chapters if it doesn’t meet their genre expectations? This surprising statistic highlights just how vital it is for writers to understand and honor the conventions of their chosen genre. And maybe it’s not that surprising. After all, if readers expect one type of story and they realize it is something entirely different, they should skip it.

This is probably why some genre lines fail while others come to represent the genre. I remember when Harlequin released a line titled Bombshell, and it had impressive kick-ass heroines. They were assassins, leaders, tough women, not your typical romance novel heroine.

I loved these books, maybe because they were a departure from traditional romance novels. But the first time I read a scene where the female Federal Agent protagonist slept with “the enemy” just to get him to trust her, I was shocked. In the romance genre, the heroine only sleeps with the hero. She might have had a boyfriend in the past or been married, and we can assume she had sexual relations with those men, but during the course of the novel, she will only sleep with the hero because this is the man she has been writing for her whole life.