Agents looking for literary fiction are often seeking voice, depth, originality, and emotional intelligence. Plot still matters, but prose and perspective matter more.
If you’re writing crime, thrillers, historical sagas, book club fiction, high-concept women’s fiction or plot-driven contemporary novels, you’re likely writing commercial fiction. And the good news is this: there are UK literary agents actively seeking it.
Women’s fiction continues to dominate the commercial fiction market in the UK.
Often centred on women’s lives, relationships, identity, family, career and transformation, women’s fiction can range from light and uplifting to emotionally layered and complex. It may include romance, but the romantic relationship is not always the sole focus.
Blending fantasy world-building with central romantic arcs, romantasy thrives on tension, chemistry, high stakes and emotional payoff. Think epic settings, dangerous alliances, morally grey love interests and slow-burn desire.
Book club fiction sits in that rich middle ground between literary and commercial.
It is character-led but accessible. Emotional but plot-driven. The kind of novel readers press into a friend’s hands and say, “You have to read this.”
If you’re writing contemporary fiction with strong themes, layered relationships and discussion potential, you may be writing book club fiction.