What is Upmarket Fiction? Book Club Fiction? Are they New Genres?

SOURCE: Anne R. Allen

“You can find lots of lists of fiction genres, but you won’t see ‘Upmarket fiction’ included. You may have seen somebody mention ‘Book Club’ novels, but you won’t find that section in a bookstore, either.

According to what I’ve read, ‘Upmarket’ and ‘Book Club’ fiction are pretty synonymous terms, and you can use either when querying an agent.

They define fiction that fills the gap between genre and literary fiction.

These are meaty stories that book reading groups can discuss over a nice chardonnay. They have thought-provoking themes and memorable characters. But they’re not so dense that everybody has to lie about having finished them.”