After reading the 'mirror characters' thread and consequently experiencing a minor light bulb moment regarding the romance genre and writing styles, I'm curious - who reads romance novels and who doesn't? How often do you read them? Are you a big fan or do they mostly leave you cold?
At this point, I don’t think it’s going to surprise anyone if I say I regularly read romances.
I do but not nearly as many as the “average” romance reader. I probably read 3-5 new-to-me romances a month and reread about the same number of previous reads. Occasionally, a couple of mysteries or fantasies will be included in that mix but, yes, the base of my fiction reading diet IS romance.
I like the idea of category romance. But the execution in product varies widely and I don't actually read a lot of it because a lot of it is poor writing.
It will probably surprise everyone that I absolutely agree with the above statement. There is a lot of drek out there in romance-land. No argument. However, the thing that most people don’t take into consideration is the sheer number of romances sold each month. (Thanks, Marilyn for posting that article with actual numbers because I didn’t have anything handy to use.
) Romance truly is the cash cow of publishing and there are quite a few publishers that would literally and immediately go bankrupt on the spot if the romance market dried up. So, yes, there are “more” bad romances out there but, proportionally, there’s just as much drek in the other genres and just as many good romances as the rest, too. The problem is that one has to wade through so much more to find the brilliant ones in romances.
One other thing that I have observed, though, in the thirty odd years that I’ve been reading the genre is that there also seems to be proportionally more romances that fall into that solid middle ground between drek and brilliance than is routinely found in other genres. The sheer number of consistently above average, satisfying and entertaining reads that the industry is able to produce is mind-boggling. A large part of that is because 1) publishers do know and respect their audience in a way that isn’t found elsewhere, 2) romance authors are generally romance readers first and foremost, and 3) and most importantly romance publishers like Harlequin/Silhouette spend quite a bit of time and money “growing” their authors by teaching in them how to be consistent, solid storytellers. Brilliance or drek tendencies are up to their individual talents but it is intriguing to note that many of the current “superstars” of the genre who are also making their mark outside the genre with crossover novels started as series authors. Those books show the same consistently strong storytelling that they learned in the genre. Examples are Nora Roberts/J. D. Robb & Jayne Ann Krentz to name just two but I could name a dozen or more. (Even Evanovich started as a series romance author . . . )
Oh, and there is one other thing that I’d like to mention since this thread is specifically about romance novels. NEVER call them “bodice rippers” to modern, devoted romance readers because you might just be taking your life in your hands. There are several reasons behind and facets to this gentle warning that would take too long to get into in this post but if anyone IS interested I’d be happy to expound on the theme later in another post.
Beverly :-)
http://www.booksanctuary.com
