October 4, 2012
BISACS I have wanted
by Sal Robinson
Anyone who’s ever had to assign a BISAC subject heading to a book and wondered if the book in question actually fits under “FICTION/Psychological” has probably been tempted to come up with some categories of their own. Here are some suggestions I think the old Book Industry Standards and Communications folks should consider:
BIOGRAPHY/Begins With A Genealogy
BIOGRAPHY/Doesn’t Begin With A Genealogy
CRIME/Hilarious
EUROPEAN MEMOIR
FICTION/About A Writer
FICTION/About Two Writers, One of Them May Be A Poet
FICTION/About A Painter
FICTION/No Paragraph Breaks
FICTION/Women Identifying With Houses
HISTORY/Rogues
LITERARY CRITICISM/Bracingly Aggressive
LITERARY CRITICISM/Frighteningly Aggressive
NATURE/Brave Dogs
TRAVEL/ “I’m Such An Idiot And I Still Got Home Alive”
SCIENCE/With Anecdotes
SHORT STORIES/Unresolved Domestic Drama Indicated Through Small Motions
Feel free to add your own. We can make up a petition.
Sal Robinson is an editor at Melville House. She's also the co-founder of the Bridge Series, a reading series focused on translation.