a dominant genre?

[cacian]

which genre do you think take center stage? in order word which genre do you think tend to dominate literature more then others ?

[Oedipus]

In terms of amount released, probably romance.

[PeterL]

which genre do you think take center stage? in order word which genre do you think tend to dominate literature more then others ?

Certainly fiction.

[cacian]

Certainly fiction.

two different answers so far. I was hedging my bets it was science fiction :D

[cafolini]

A genre simply uses it's ability to command the aspects for which it's best. God Dominates as that word states.

[PeterL]

two different answers so far. I was hedging my bets it was science fiction :D

If you mean genre, then it is actually non-fiction; there are many more non-fiction books published than fiction. If you mean sub-genre of fiction, then it probably is romance.

Romance fiction was the largest share of the U.S. consumer market in 2012 at 16.7 percent.

http://www.rwa.org/p/cm/ld/fid=580

While the Romance Writers may be self-serving, those figures are about what I have seen before.

[JBI]

Novels for sure, followed by self-help non fiction

[cacian]

Novels for sure, followed by self-help non fiction

self help non fiction? do you mean therapy books? I am surprised at that.

[JBI]

They sell like wild fire. That whole genre of how to and inspirational self help style literature. Just check best seller lists of non fiction. It's like how to be a whatever is the new religion, especially in China where they eat prescriptive works up like tofu.

[NedSiegel]

Anything that translates most easily to the silver screen is the dominant genre, because nothing promotes books better than movies. So, at some point, it could be thrillers, at other times, fantasy or detective stories. Anything but literary fiction.

[mortalterror]

When I worked at a bookstore the cookbooks and children's literature were both massive sellers. I'm not sure why there isn't just a classic cookbook that's been popular for over a century, but it seems like a genre driven by diets, fads, and celebrities. The children's books sell ridiculously well because they are only about ten pages and a hundred words long, so parents have to buy twenty of them at a time because they run through them all so fast. There really ought to be more large anthologies of children's stories to avoid all of that, but then I'm not a publisher.

[JBI]

When I worked at a bookstore the cookbooks and children's literature were both massive sellers. I'm not sure why there isn't just a classic cookbook that's been popular for over a century, but it seems like a genre driven by diets, fads, and celebrities. The children's books sell ridiculously well because they are only about ten pages and a hundred words long, so parents have to buy twenty of them at a time because they run through them all so fast. There really ought to be more large anthologies of children's stories to avoid all of that, but then I'm not a publisher.

There were many for a long time. I for instance learned to read with something from the 50s that had generic works of prose and verse with mediocre pictures. My mother held on to a several volume set but I never got around to reading it. I also had a largish children's book of jewish stories that I didn't get around to.

Why are they not popular? Dated pictures and they are bulky. People like the joy of reading whole books, so parents get the joy of reading a whole big and beginner readers get a sense of accomplishment at having 'finished'. Publishers make more money this way too, which is all the convincing they need.

[cacian]

They sell like wild fire. That whole genre of how to and inspirational self help style literature. Just check best seller lists of non fiction. It's like how to be a whatever is the new religion, especially in China where they eat prescriptive works up like tofu.

that is very different to what one thinks china is. I wonder why they do read prescriptive. I guess they are interested in that prescriptive talks to them about things. china's culture is much more 'silent' in the sense that people don't raise voices or opinions about each other in a way the west does it is not an open culture and therefore secular in many ways. a book tells them stuff they would not otherwise know and does it quietly too.
I am not sure the west knows what it is doing either by making self help books such as these widely spread in chine and other places.

[cacian]

Anything that translates most easily to the silver screen is the dominant genre, because nothing promotes books better than movies. So, at some point, it could be thrillers, at other times, fantasy or detective stories. Anything but literary fiction.

I agree but up to a point. I am not sure whether the intention of the silver screen is to promote books but more to glamorise the idea of a book rather then a story. many writers know relate to movies in the sense that their books may hit the screen. that is in itself on how to write. I am not sure literature and movie mix well. one influences the other more. I would prefer a book to look like a book and not read like a movie. an enhanced movie book sounds dreadful to me.
in other words a book is written in a way and the movie does it differently. is it good long term? I am not so sure.

[lichtrausch]

china's culture is much more 'silent' in the sense that people don't raise voices or opinions about each other in a way the west does

Perhaps by some degree, but China is no Japan. There is lots of loudness in their culture.

[JBI]

that is very different to what one thinks china is. I wonder why they do read prescriptive. I guess they are interested in that prescriptive talks to them about things. china's culture is much more 'silent' in the sense that people don't raise voices or opinions about each other in a way the west does it is not an open culture and therefore secular in many ways. a book tells them stuff they would not otherwise know and does it quietly too.
I am not sure the west knows what it is doing either by making self help books such as these widely spread in chine and other places.

That is complete nonsense. Chinese people are far more vocal and judgmental about everything. Western people don't understand much about China, and still think they are calm Confucian like sage people, when the reality is far, far different. This is one of the loudest, most in your face cultures in the world.

The only thing Chinese people don't raise their voice about is open politics like the censored events that did not take place in 1989, which, for the most part, the younger generation is completely ignorant about and the older generation is unconcerned with.

As for people's own thoughts. This is not a culture of creativity. Most people think that the answer is to be looked up, rather than arrived at. so in order to better oneself, rather than reflect and discuss, the prescription is believed to be in a book or online somewhere.

It's the same way research here is merely summarizing as many works as one can find, rather than investigating and creatively approaching things - everyone writes the same book over and over again.