diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/catalog/catalog_epub_mobi.py b/src/calibre/gui2/catalog/catalog_epub_mobi.py
index 6ecab3c081..5acda0948c 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/catalog/catalog_epub_mobi.py
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/catalog/catalog_epub_mobi.py
@@ -16,7 +16,7 @@ class PluginWidget(QWidget,Ui_Form):
 
     TITLE = _('E-book options')
     HELP  = _('Options specific to')+' EPUB/MOBI '+_('output')
-    OPTION_FIELDS = [('exclude_genre','\[[\w ]*\]'),
+    OPTION_FIELDS = [('exclude_genre','\[.+\]'),
                      ('exclude_tags','~,'+_('Catalog')),
                      ('generate_titles', True),
                      ('generate_recently_added', True),
diff --git a/src/calibre/gui2/catalog/catalog_epub_mobi.ui b/src/calibre/gui2/catalog/catalog_epub_mobi.ui
index dab8c972c7..cdf91eed6f 100644
--- a/src/calibre/gui2/catalog/catalog_epub_mobi.ui
+++ b/src/calibre/gui2/catalog/catalog_epub_mobi.ui
@@ -80,7 +80,7 @@
     <widget class="QLabel" name="label_6">
      <property name="text">
       <string>Regex tips:
-- The default regex - \[[\w ]*\] - excludes genre tags of the form [tag], e.g., [Amazon Freebie]
+- The default regex - \[.+\] - excludes genre tags of the form [tag], e.g., [Amazon Freebie]
 - A regex pattern of a single dot excludes all genre tags, generating no Genre Section</string>
      </property>
      <property name="wordWrap">
diff --git a/src/calibre/library/catalog.py b/src/calibre/library/catalog.py
index ed41ecb76e..b4fd537729 100644
--- a/src/calibre/library/catalog.py
+++ b/src/calibre/library/catalog.py
@@ -541,7 +541,7 @@ class EPUB_MOBI(CatalogPlugin):
                            "Default: '%default'None\n"
                            "Applies to: ePub, MOBI output formats")),
                    Option('--exclude-genre',
-                          default='\[[\w ]*\]',
+                          default='\[.+\]',
                           dest='exclude_genre',
                           action = None,
                           help=_("Regex describing tags to exclude as genres.\n" "Default: '%default' excludes bracketed tags, e.g. '[<tag>]'\n"