Google is my friend! I wuv my Google woogle woogie boogie boo! What? It's true. In an endeavor to quell a sudden onset of extreme boredom, I visited my faithful search engine friend and dug up a most fascinating article on romance novels from the Yale Herald--of all places!
You're probably thinking, how does one find their way to the Yale Herald to dig up such articles as In Defense of Romance: Proving the stereotypes wrong? Sorry, I will never reveal my methods, but take heart because I will share my succulent finds with you--you lucky thang!
When I clicked the link, my eyes were immediately drawn to the picture/bookcover/flyer/whatever the heck that thing is below the heading which reads Olde Timey People Doing It. What can I say? I was smitten.
Beyond that, the article is a pretty serious review of genre romance, citing and stomping on the various criticisms and complaints about the genre, as well as battling those age-old stereotypes with which it's associated.
Without recapping the entire study, (you can read it for yourself if you're so inclined) I can't pay justice to what this article actually says. What I can do, however, is thank Ms. Orazem for setting aside her precious time to set the record straight in an informative, thoughtful, and intelligent review of a misunderstood genre of fiction.
I can also share a few things most people do not know:
1. Romance and its subgenres account for more than half of fiction's total sales. Romance is publishing's largest genre.
2. While other genres of fiction sales flattened out or dipped downward, romance continued to rise despite our harsh economic climate, raking in around $1.35 billion in 2008, (according to multiple sources).
3. Romance e-books outsells all other fiction e-books 3.4% to 1%.
So, if you're at all interested in genre romance, or if you're like me and voraciously devour any sort of writing/publishing news, take a looksy at In Defense of Romance: Proving the stereotypes wrong. Pay close attention to the fourth paragraph that talks about romance readers being insatiable. You never know when this juicy tid-bit will come in handy ;)
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