Here’s some interesting data about mass market paperback romance fiction sales at major non-bookstore retailers in 2014. These guys move a lot of units, btw, tens of millions every year. Contemporary Romance is the largest subgenre right now Romantic Suspense is going strong, with the biggest gain of any subgenre Historical Romance is up Paranormal is up slightly Erotica is a very small part of the market Amish romance is booming! The top 20 authors are up significantly Movie tie-ins are the biggest winners (Nicholas Sparks is considered a romance author here) Promotions that help readers find new authors based on authors they already like are very successful Lots to ponder here…here are some of my personal conclusions: It looks to me as though the subgenres are cycling much faster than they used to As the economy is stabilizing, people are happier to read contemporary romance—they can escape even into the world ...
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