Understanding the demand of genres...

[Kaelren]

In looking at the forums, I see there are often twice as many if not more people watching fiction/horror. What percentage of people do you suppose prefer horror?

I can understand to some degree that fiction encapsulates a much broader scope than science fiction or horror individually. What about mystery books? Books like Nancy Drew or the Hardy Boys.

I'm curious how some of you more seasoned readers will assess the market in this regard.

[ian_sales]

In the UK, fantasy outsells sf about 7 to 1. Horror was in the doldrums for many years but has recently seen something of a resurgence. That may well be driving its popularity. All three genres, however, probably sell less than crime fiction - and certainly less romance. Literary - or contemporary - fiction often sells less than genre fiction. A sf hardback in the UK might top 10,000 sales, but a literary fiction hardback will often sell only half that. But the big sellers in literary fiction - McEwan, Faulks, Ishiguro, Atwood, etc - likely do better than the big sellers in genre - not counting Pratchett or Rowling, of course :-)

[Kaelren]

Very insightful Ian_sales, thank you!