Romance

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[edit] Romance

Romance novels are the most popular form of fiction sold today. According to the Romance Writers of America's brochure, with 2004 statistics, from the American Bookseller Association, romance garners over 1/3 of popular fiction sales, representing 5.1 million readers. (39.9%, while general fiction sold 12.9%, mystery/thriller 29.6%, "other" 11.8%, and science fiction of all forms 6.4%.) In popular paperback sales, romances hold 54.9% of the sales—over half. In 2004, 2285 romance novels were published. They had $1.2 billion in sales.

Most American romance readers are mostly 25-55 years old, 63% have attended college, nearly half have obtained degrees, and 22%, nearly one quarter, are men. Romance is no longer just the girl's club.

Statistics for England and Australia are probably comparable, as the romance giant, Harlequin, runs out of offices in Toronto, New York, and London for its various lines sold throughout the English-speaking world.

This expansion parallels the loosening of the definition of "Romance." It is no longer confined to its 1920-1970 definition of a sex-free hetero love story ending in marriage in a contemporary setting with completely rational plot, focused on a passive female protagonist. Time-travel romances, vampire romances, male protagonists (and certainly male POV), lesbian romances, romantic suspense ("intrigues"), and notably tough, competent heroines (especially in the Bombshell line), have opened out both the writer's and the reader's choices.

[edit] Definitions and Subgenres

As the RWA defines them, "All romances have a central love story and an emotionally satisfying ending. Beyond that, however, romance novels can be set in any time or place, entertain any number of plot elements, or convey moods from light and humorous to dark and suspenseful. The genre of romance can be classified into various sub-genres depending on their setting and plot elements." For RWA contests, the sub-genres include:

Contemporary romance—romances set after the World Wars; so these would includ Fifties, Mod, and disco settings, though they seem "historical" to many readers. Dorchester has published them set in the 1920s. These break down in size and subject matter from category romances of 50-60,000 words to 100,000 word "sagas," and rate on the sex level from the sweet romance through the spicy romance to the steamy romance. There is also now a considerable market for extremely graphic erotic romance.
Historical romances—romances set before the World Wars: indeed, many houses define this as before 1900.
Inspirational romances—romances containing spiritual themes, usually Christian, occasionally Jewish. One does not find "pagan inspirational romances" per se in the market.
Paranormal romances—romances containing "other-worldly" elements such as magic, mystic characters or fantasy and science fiction elements. Most publishers further divide these into fantasy romances, paranormal romances, and futuristic romances. Vampire romances and werewolf romances or shapeshifter romances may also be broken out of paranormal romances.
Regency romances—romances set in England in the early 1800s
Romantic suspense—romances containing mystery and intrigue
Time-travel romances—(Included in RWA's Paranormal sub-genre) romances with one or both h/h (heroine/hero) "time-traveling" between time periods.

The market also covers the question of "how much can the ethnic reader identify with a blonde and blue-eyed protagonist?" by the existence of specialty ethnic lines. Black readers provide 11% of the overall market, and a number of lines have strictly African-American h/h. Other publishers actively seek romances featuring Asian or Hispanic h/h, or mixed racial couples. Normally, the race of the heroine categorizes the book.