In this 5-part series I'll be breaking down the common genres from the perspective of a debut novelist-how do I know what kind of book I've written? Are there any specific rules I should know about the genre I've written? Who is my likely target audience, and how do I reach them?

There has been a lot (a lot.) (A lot.) of buzz about E.L. James' 50 Shades of Grey, but it routinely gets horrible literary reviews. How did this almost universally-acknowledged poorly-written book reach such superstar status, and, most importantly, how can we as writers learn those lessons and improve our own craft? I'm not talking about a...