Does ‘Commercial’ Mean All Genres?
Q. If an agent lists “commercial” as what he handles, can I assume that would cover all fiction genres? A. “Commercial” means “genre fiction,” so your assumption is a good…
Q. If an agent lists "commercial" as what he handles, can I assume that would cover all fiction genres?
A. “Commercial” means “genre fiction,” so your assumption is a good one, but I would look through some guides and sites (and look at sales on Publishers Marketplace) to see if this agent handles ALL the genres – because there are eight of them: mystery, suspense, thriller, romance, sci-fi, fantasy, horror, and western. Hardly any agents handle, and sell, all these genres. And keep in mind that if an agent says they handle commercial, that does not include some fiction categories, such as literary, Christian or children's.
Chuck Sambuchino is a former editor with the Writer's Digest writing community and author of several books, including How to Survive a Garden Gnome Attack and Create Your Writer Platform.
