For immediate release | September 16, 2014

Readers' advisory for genre blends

CHICAGO — Genre fiction has always been a complex mixture of themes and elements. The increasing popularity of “genre blends,” or fiction that straddles the traditional labels, means greater pleasure for readers but a greater challenge for readers’ advisory. “The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Blends,” published by ALA Editions, gets library staff up to speed on these engaging titles, showing how such crossover fiction appeals to fan bases of multiple genres.

Complete with booklists, summaries, read-alikes and thorough indexes, Megan M. McArdle’s guide:

  • covers suspense, fantasy, historical fiction, horror, mystery, romance and science fiction, as well as non-genre titles that don’t neatly fit into any categories;
  • offers guidance for shelving, displaying and marketing genre blends;
  • shows how to make the most of online discovery tools in cataloging these titles;
  • includes “Blend MVPs,” a section spotlighting several popular authors who regularly move between genres and a useful bibliography of additional resources.

McArdle is a librarian with more than 15 years of experience in public libraries doing collection development and readers’ advisory. She is the Science Fiction and Fantasy columnist for Library Journal and has a website devoted to genre blends at Genrify.

ALA Store purchases fund advocacy, awareness and accreditation programs for library professionals worldwide. ALA Editions publishes resources used worldwide by tens of thousands of library and information professionals to improve programs, build on best practices, develop leadership, and for personal professional development. ALA authors and developers are leaders in their fields, and their content is published in a growing range of print and electronic formats. Contact us at (800) 545-2433 ext. 5052 or editionsmarketing@ala.org.

Related Links

"The Readers' Advisory Guide to Genre Blends"

Notes from the Field: Genre Blending with Megan McArdle

Readers’ Advisory Bundle

Contact:

Rob Christopher

Marketing Coordinator

American Library Association

ALA Publishing

rchristopher@ala.org

312-280-5052