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Literary fiction generally focuses on character development, themes, and exploring human experience. Commercial fiction tends to emphasize plot, pacing, and storytelling that appeals to a broad audience.
However, the distinction isn't always clear. Many novels combine elements of both, offering compelling stories with complex characters and meaningful themes. This is often called upmarket fiction.
Let's look at what distinguishes these two categories and why the difference matters to both writers and readers.
Why Should Writers and Readers Care about the Difference?
Knowing the difference between literary and commercial fiction matters for an author, whether they plan to be traditionally published or self-published. Authors need to know how to describe their book to literary agents and publishers and how to market it to readers. This becomes difficult without understanding what literary fiction is as opposed to commercial fiction.
What is Literary Fiction?
Literary fiction is fiction that is based on artistry and style. The stories are character-driven and propelled by internal values and motivations. It focuses on writing as both an art form and a vehicle for telling a story. They pay particular attention to language, theme, and character development. The language is more poetic and symbolic, using in-depth imagery and literary elements like metaphor, simile, symbolism, personification, hyperbole, etc. These books fall into the Internal Content genre and include books in the worldview, morality, and status genres.
Readers of literary fiction often seek depth and meaning in addition to entertainment and diversion. Literary fiction generally reaches a smaller market than commercial fiction. The books in this category require hand-selling. As a result, a book in the literary fiction market sometimes struggles to achieve high sales without critical acclaim, contest wins, or prizes that promote it to the public.
One criticism of literary fiction is that it is purposefully written to be confusing and difficult to understand, and that it “happily sacrifices plot in favor of focusing on stylish writing or daring experimentation with the form” (Burton, 2022). It’s often described as overinflated or pretentious and called high-brow or intellectual fiction.
Some examples of literary fiction include:
· The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
· To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
· The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini
· Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
What is Commercial Fiction?
Commercial fiction prioritizes entertainment, accessible storytelling, and broad reader appeal. It is often called genre fiction, which is misleading because literary fiction also has distinct genres. Whereas literary fiction is character-driven and propelled by internal values and motivations, commercial fiction tends to be more plot-focused and driven by external values and motivations. The story or plot is at the forefront, not the form. This, of course, is a generalization; many commercial fiction books manage to produce a riveting story while fleshing out well-rounded characters and themes. Authors tend not to focus on language, using it more as a utilitarian tool than an end in itself. The quality is often more ‘readable’ or ‘accessible’ to the widest possible audience. Their focus is to make the writing engaging. Authors of commercial fiction are often constrained by genre boundaries—obligatory scenes and conventions—and struggle to be creative and innovative within these boundaries. Commercial fiction usually falls under the external content genre and includes styles such as fantasy, mysteries, horror, romance, and thrillers.
The term “commercial fiction” is often used as a derogatory label, and those who prefer literary fiction may denigrate commercial fiction as “dumbed down” or pedestrian. However, just because a book has mainstream appeal to a larger population doesn't necessarily mean it is intellectually beneath books classified as literary fiction. Commercial fiction can be every bit as thoughtful, complex, and well-written.
Another criticism of commercial fiction is that it prioritizes plot over character development. Again, this is a generalization. Increasingly, books in the commercial fiction genre are incorporating greater and deeper character development to complement a plot-driven narrative.
Some popular examples of commercial fiction include:
· The Harry Potter Series by J.K. Rowling
· It by Stephen King
· The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
· The Client by John Grisham
Fiction That Blurs the Lines
Increasingly, books don’t fit cleanly into either literary or commercial fiction and, in fact, blur the lines between the two, meaning they have qualities from both categories. A hybrid category of books is known as Upmarket Fiction. Upmarket fiction blends the plot-driven action of mainstream fiction with the sophisticated, artistic prose and advanced character development of literary fiction. Upmarket fiction is also frequently associated with book club fiction, although the two terms aren't necessarily interchangeable. Book club fiction describes books that lend themselves to discussion. Upmarket fiction describes a combination of literary qualities and commercial appeal. There's considerable overlap, but they aren't exactly the same. Upmarket is a modifier, as in ‘upmarket thriller’ or ‘upmarket science fiction.’
These books are deep enough to get readers thinking about topics, sparking discussion and study while entertaining them and remaining accessible enough to appeal to a wider audience. These books sell quite well and are gaining popularity in the marketplace. They incorporate both internal and external content genres. As a result, authors of upmarket fiction “are focused on creating nuanced characters and engaging with complex themes.” (MasterClass, 2021)
Three examples of Upmarket fiction include:
· Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
· The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold
· Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
Comparison Table of Literary, Upmarket, and Commercial Fiction
Understanding where your writing falls within these categories matters for publishing and marketing. It helps the author stay focused and on track with the audience they hope to attract. It also allows agents and publishers to categorize the work and, in turn, decide how and to whom to market it. However, as the line between literary and commercial fiction blurs, this classification may eventually become obsolete.
In my writing, I lean toward commercial fiction. However, I often find the obligatory scenes and conventions of external content genres restrictive, and I strive for deep character development with internal and external conflict. As my writing has developed, I've become increasingly drawn to upmarket fiction, which combines compelling plots with complex characters and meaningful themes.
My debut novel, What Remains After, reflects that approach, combining psychological suspense with an exploration of trauma, forgiveness, and the lasting consequences of our choices.
Which category of fiction do you prefer to write and/or read? Do you have a favorite? Let me know in the comments.
For more information about the genres commonly associated with commercial fiction, you may also enjoy my article, Content Genres of Commercial Fiction.
Works Cited
Burton, J. (2022, December 4). Literary Fiction and Commercial Fiction: What's the Difference? Retrieved from Janey Burton: www.janeyburton.com
MasterClass. (2021, September 1). MasterClass. Retrieved from MasterClass Articles: www.masterclass.com/articles
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Pauline J. Grabia
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