Who Reads Romance Novels?
By Alyssa J. Montgomery
Romance novels have
been outselling every other genre for many years. The most recent figures I found
cited Romance/erotica sales as being at US$1.44 billion dollars and Crime
coming in at second spot with sales of US$728.2 million. According to the
Romance Writers of Australia website, of 10 million books sold each year in the
United Kingdom, greater than 7 million are romance novels, and there is a Mills
& Boon sold every three seconds in the UK!
So, who are all
these voracious romance readers and is there a ‘type’ of person who’s more
inclined to read romance?
In a fabulous article
for Huffington Post, (see link below), Maya Rodale quoted facts and figures to
dispel the notion that “It is a truth universally acknowledged that romance
readers are single women in possession of cats and in want of a man”; “younger
women who use them as emotional porn”; or “middle aged women who are bored in
their marriages and want to fantasise about hard, chiselled men”.
A study of 2000
romance readers, published by the Romance Writers of America found that contrary
to all the negative stereotypes, the basic demographic of the romance reader is
a well educated woman aged from 25-64 years. 82% of the romance readers
surveyed were female and 18% were male. A 2016 ARRA survey revealed that of 275
respondents, only one was male, and 78.1% said that 50% or more of the books
they read were romances.
Now, on some level statistics
may be interesting—particularly to publishers and authors who are trying to
determine the emerging trends in the marketplace. To focus on these figures,
however, is to overlook the essence of what makes a romance reader.
I believe the gender, sexual
persuasion or age of the romance reader doesn’t matter, nor does their
educational level or marital status. As far as I’m concerned, it’s of no
consequence as to what sub-genre of romance he or she is likely to enjoy or
whether they love billionaires, shape-shifters or cowboys.
The crucial commonality
is that all romance readers love to feel an emotional connection to characters
as they read. It’s the emotional journey undertaken by the characters that the
romance reader empathises with and finds satisfying. There’s your answer to the
question ‘Who reads romances?’
Romance readers are
generally compassionate people who feel deeply and possess great empathy. They’re
usually positive people who love a happy ending, and have a knack of making
others around them happy.
Sound like emotional
claptrap? Well, just attend any romance reader event and see the friendships,
the shared laughter and the sense of community! It's great to be part of the world of romance reading.
Who reads romance novels?
I do, and I’m
betting if you’re reading this, so do you!
Love to love:
Romance novels!!
Love to Laugh:
Romance novels make me laugh just as much as they make me teary. It’s that
satisfying emotional journey that counts!
Love to Learn: What
other romance readers are reading and enjoying, especially finding a new
author, so leave a comment below and perhaps make a recommendation of three
romance novels you’d recommend to someone discovering the genre.
References:
