How Much Does Genre Matter to Readers?

Book Riot - The Podcast

Riot New Media Group, Inc

Arts, News Commentary, News, Books, Tv & Film

4.3 • 965 Ratings

🗓️ 15 October 2025

⏱️ 73 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Prof. Laura McGrath joins Jeff and Rebecca to talk about what some studies can tell us about just how much readers care (and don't) about genre. Subscribe to the podcast via RSS, Apple Podcasts, and Spotify. The Book Riot Podcast is a proud member of the Airwave Podcast Network. Discussed in this episode: Laura's newsletter: TextCrunch English, James and J.D. Porter, "The Eclectic Reader." JCA: The Journal of Cultural Analytics. August 20, 2025 Peterson, Richard A. “Understanding Audience Segmentation: From Elite and Mass to Omnivore and Univore.” Poetics, vol. 21, no. 4, 1992, pp. 243–58 Check out Zero to Well-Read! Subscribe to The Book Riot Newsletter for regular updates to get the most out of your reading life. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hi listeners, it's Jack Bishop. I'm the ingredients guy on America's Test Kitchen's public television show and the host of our award-winning podcast, Proof. Proof combines history, science, and culture to tell unexpected stories about food. Every episode is filled with aha moments that you'll want to share at your next dinner party.
0:23.4	New episodes drop every Thursday.
0:25.9	Subscribe wherever you get your podcast and you might never look at food the same way again.
0:34.1	Have you ever wondered how inbred the Habsburgs really were? What women in the past used for birth control or what Queen Victoria's nine children got up to.
0:45.3	On the History Tea Time podcast, I profile remarkable queens and LGBTQ plus royals explore royal family, and delve into women's medical history and other
0:57.4	fascinating topics. Join me every Tuesday for History Tea Time, wherever fine podcasts are enjoyed.
1:09.5	This is the Bookeride podcast. I'm Jeff O'Neill.
1:12.5	And I'm Rebecca Shinsky.
1:14.1	And we're here. We just crowned Professor Laura McGrath, assistant professor,
1:18.5	professor at Temple University, our official data correspondent.
1:21.7	And she smiled, Laura, so I assume you accept.
1:24.6	Except her. Yes. Okay.
1:26.3	And you are here to bombard Pepper, entertain, bewitch, bewilder us with stats.
1:32.5	Is that right?
1:33.0	Do I have my head screwed on right?
1:34.1	What we're doing today?
1:35.2	Yeah.
1:35.6	A little less statistics today and more head exploding paradigm shifts.
1:40.7	Whoa.
1:41.6	Yeah.
1:42.0	Laura sent me this email a couple of weeks ago that was like, I have been reading
1:45.2	things and these things are weird and they are exciting and would you like me to come talk about them
	...

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