Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors

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 ...

Let’s face it: turkey is fine, mashed potatoes lovely. Cranberry relish, green bean casserole, squash—all very nice. But truly, it’s all just a prologue to the pie. One year, we counted 13 pies at our family gathering…for 20 people. Pecan, apple, raisin, mincemeat, pumpkin, cherry, banana. Whatever happens to be handy, you can guess that someone in my family will make a pie out of it. I wish I had a recipe to share with you, but for the most part, the folks in our family (Grandpa included!) are big fans of the wing-it method. You peel and slice some apples, throw them into a pie crust, add butter, sugar and cinnamon and pop it into the oven. You just make it so it tastes good. I think many would look at writing the same way. So many people try to say that romance is formulaic, that it’s all the same. Yes, we know there have to be certain ingredients (a pause here while we silently recount the criteria for a romance novel to ourselves), but it’s hardly a strict ...