A funny thing happened to romance fiction on its way to the bank – it got more popular and more diverse.
If you doubt it, consider these numbers compiled by Avon Books, one of the world’s largest mills of romance titles and an imprint of the giant HarperCollins publishing house:
Romance fiction has annual sales of $1.41 billion worldwide.
Half of all paperback books sold internationally are romance titles, and a third of all popular fiction sales are romance titles.
64.6 million Americans read romance fiction, 22 percent of them men.
Further, a look at a recent New York Times best-sellers list for paperback books showed that five of the 16 titles were romances: Night Tales and Black Rose by Nora Roberts, The Summer I Dared by Barbara Delinsky, Hunting Fear by Kay Hooper and It’s In His Kiss by Julia Quinn.
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Actresses over 40 may find it hard to get work in Hollywood, but U.K. and U.S. romance book publishers are featuring middle-aged heroines.
Mills & Boon, the world's largest publisher of romantic fiction, and Britain's Transita are among the publishers offering books for readers no longer interested in tales of young love, reported the Sunday Telegraph.
Transita has produced 14 books in six months for older women readers.
Women in their mid-40s and early 50s have now become the target audience, said Jenny Haddon, the president of the Romantic Novelists' Association. Not only do they have the time to read books they also
Scott Pomfret and Scott Whittier discussed how they developed Romentics, a brand dedicated to "true love for gay me," Wednesday at the Rainbow Center.
Romentics is Pomfret and Whittier's company under which they have publish gay romance novels.
Pomfret and Whittier met, fell in love and are currently living together in Boston. Although they say the concept for their gay romance novels came from their love for each other, Pomfret said he also got the idea from his mom. His mom subscribed to a Harlequinn book of the month club, and he realized romance novels were something everyone could enjoy. According to
You can't mistake a romance novel, with its richly illustrated cover -- usually depicting a beautiful woman and a handsome man in some type of embrace -- and a title that promises passion inside the covers -- Dead on the Dance Floor… Dangerous Affair… Learning Curves… Eye of a Hunter… Kiss and Make Up. But there's more to romance novels than romance; they're a source of entertainment, comfort, even spiritual inspiration. And they're a big part of the global publishing industry, as was easy to see at the 25th annual Romance Writers of America conference last month.
Some 2000 mostly female
Harlequin Enterprises Limited, the world's leading publisher of series romance and women's fiction, announced today an agreement with OverDrive, Inc., the national provider of download Audiobooks and eBooks to libraries, that will make many of Harlequin's famous collection of novels available as downloadable eBooks through library websites. From the comfort of home, avid readers will be able to checkout, download, and read best-selling romance on their PCs, Macs, PDAs and Smartphones.
The agreement between the two companies makes dozens of Harlequin's most popular and captivating titles available to millions of library patrons at home, the office, or on-the-go. Harlequin
In romance novels you get inside the bedroom door but not down to naming body parts, Hobart romance writer "Melanie Milburne" says.
"You are talking about romance, not all the clinical detail. It's not erotica but it is erotic," she said.
"I have a reputation for my sensual writing."
Melanie Milburne is her pseudonym.
The 46-year-old mother of two grown sons, and wife of a medical specialist and former teacher would rather be referred to by her pseudonym when discussing her career.
Ms Milburne was at Launceston's High St Adult Education centre yesterday conducting a workshop entitled: How To Write a Romance Novel That