Hardboiled Is Not Only An Egg: And Other Tips For Genre Readers’ Advisory

Many people who work in libraries are hesitant about suggesting titles to patrons in genres they don’t read. And no wonder - with a multitude of subgenres and thousands of new titles per year, it can be hard to know where to start! In this webinar, we’ll share a set of tools you can use to decipher a wide variety of popular genres that reach adult readers in every community. We’ll discuss historical romance, contemporary romance, crime fiction, true crime, science fiction, and fantasy. In addition to providing a list of popular titles and authors in each genre, we’ll decode cover art and use appeal factors to uncover crossover titles. We’ll also share advice on how to approach the RA conversation around genre fiction, including using TV & movie preferences to reach a wide variety of potential readers, including adults who are returning to the reading life.

Objectives:

After participating in this webinar, library staff will be able to:

• Guide readers in conversations about historical romance, contemporary romance, crime fiction, true crime, science fiction, and fantasy
• Relate TV & movie readers’ advisory to print RA
• Suggest genre titles confidently, even if they haven’t read them