Women’s fiction is an umbrella term for women centered books that focus on women’s life experience that are marketed to female readers, and includes many mainstream novels.

Different from:

Women’s writing, which refers to literature written by (rather than promoted to) women. There exists no comparable label in English for works of fiction that are marketed to males.

Wikipedia

The Romance Writers of America organization defines women’s fiction as, “a commercial novel about a woman on the brink of life change and personal growth. Her journey details emotional reflection and action that transforms her and her relationships with others, and includes a hopeful/upbeat ending with regard to her romantic relationship.”

At the Women’s Fiction Writers Association, women’s fiction is described as a story where the plot is driven by the main character’s emotional journey. Women’s Fiction includes layered stories about one or several characters, often multi-generational that tackles an adult character’s struggle with world issues resulting in emotional growth. It may include elements of mystery, fantasy, romance or other subgenres, but is not driven by these elements. The writing is high quality and accessible. Upmarket fiction often falls in this category, and is appropriate for book clubs.

In the indie ebook world, the genre is king… How Indie Genre Fiction Ebooks Are Thriving Online 

In both traditional and indie publishing, there is substantial gender-based sorting of authors. Both types of publishing sort authors into genres, but in traditional publishing there is also an additional pathway for allocative discrimination related to publisher type… Comparing gender discrimination and inequality in indie and traditional publishing

Moving away from the word Women…

People read fiction to travel to fictional worlds, where one’s responsibilities are few and one’s experiences are many. But fiction also enables us to change our personality… Change Your Self: Read Fiction

… it appears that the science fiction genre prompts a style of reading that is less attentive to characters, more attentive to the world of the narrative, and yet results in poorer overall comprehension… The perception of literary merit seems to be tied to the inclusion of explanations of a character’s thoughts and feelings, and not the absence of such explanations… The Lowbrow Status of Science Fiction 

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