Is the novel dead? That’s one of the first questions I ever addressed when I started my own blog, and I still believe it’s an interesting one.
While the publishing industry itself appears to be in relatively good shape, several articles and reports over the past few years have tackled the subject of weak growth and/or declining sales in adult fiction, particularly in the mass-market paperback format, with some (such as this article that appeared in Publishers Weekly) asking whether mass-market paperbacks even remain a viable format in today’s marketplace.
Since the explosion of the romance genre, beginning in the 1970s, most romances have been published as mass-market paperback originals, so these are questions that directly affect us, both as romance writers and as romance readers.
There are a number of different factors contributing to the sluggishness of mass-market paperback sales.
Traditionally, such books have been impulse buys. But as the cost of mass-market paperbacks has risen, so, too, has the impulse factor declined. Historical romances that cost, on average, $2.50 when I first began my career now have cover prices of $6.99 or more. This increase in the cover prices of mass-market paperbacks has, among other things, contributed to a burgeoning used-book market. The Book Industry Study Group reports that in 2004, used-book sales experienced an 11.1% growth over 2003, and grossed $2.2 billion. The fastest growth of used-book sales was through online outlets, with such sales jumping 33.3% and accounting for $609 million of the overall sales of used books.
But higher cover prices are not the only reason for the weak sales of mass-market paperbacks. Baby Boomers, who have traditionally formed the core of mass-market paperback buyers, have turned increasingly to hardback and trade-paperback formats instead, which have larger type that is easier for aging eyes to read. Unfortunately, however, these Baby-Boomer buyers are not being replaced by their younger counterparts from Generation X and the Millennium Generation.
Since my son is a member of the latter, I decided to quiz him and several of his friends (both male and female, aged seventeen to twenty) for this post. Although I had hoped to discover otherwise, the truth is that, aside from what is required for school, the vast majority of them don’t read a whole lot of fiction. That didn’t surprise me. Never before in history has the novel faced so much competition from so many other forms of entertainment. These are kids who grew up with ever-advancing technology and gadgets of every description.
When I asked them why they didn’t read, what they thought books were lacking, they shouted out, “Pictures!” We all had a good laugh. But the real irony is that that’s actually not so far off the mark, after all. These are kids glued to televisions, dvds, video games, and computer screens. They have been accustomed from birth to visual and mental stimulation from sources that simply didn’t exist for most previous generations.
If you could read a novel about Lara Croft, Tomb Raider, and her adventures, watch a movie about her and her adventures, or play a video game in which you actually became her and experienced her adventures, which would you choose to do? Most of these kids are selecting the last option.
Still, I pressed them. Eventually, from among the young men, one author’s name emerged: Chuck Palahniuk. I wasn’t surprised to hear it. But I was startled to hear the amount of scorn heaped on what they termed “Palahniuk wannabes.” Originality is highly prized, it seems. Copycatting is not. Nor was this exclusive to the young men. “With all due apologies to you, Mrs. B.,” I was informed by the young women, “romances are all the same.”
Hearing that, what struck me was that despite all our best efforts, we in the romance genre have not done as well as we might at educating potential readers about our genre. Obviously, romances are not all the same. But still, the genre’s insistence on adhering to a series of “Rules” has given many potential readers the impression that every single romance novel follows one specific formula and that if you’ve read one, you’ve read them all.
Whole subgenres within romance were written off with a wave of the hand. Chick-lit was for thirty-somethings (who were old). I smiled ruefully and pointed out to the young women that, being fifty, I must be ancient, and that being the case, they would have to tell me what, if any, romances they actually did read. Finally, Bantam’s Love Stories series was agreed upon as their pick. Why? I asked.
A number of reasons were given, but primary among them was the fact that the young women could relate to the heroines of that series. Interestingly, the hero was merely a secondary consideration, and despite the fact that these are all savvy young women, sex didn’t even figure into the equation. Erotica was a turn-off. They wanted what we have long called sweet romances.
Is the novel dead—and the romance genre along with it? No, not yet, not quite. But more than at any other time in history, both are in jeopardy, facing increasingly stiff competition. While the format of books themselves is evolving, we, as authors, still bring stories to readers via the written word. We already have interactive books for children. Maybe, in the future, there will be adult versions, in which readers can in some way actually become part of the story: Lara Croft, Tomb Reader.
I think it’s an idea that has possibilities. What do you think?
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Well, I don’t know..my son, who will be 40 in a couple of weeks, and my grandson, who is 11, are both great readers of novels. My grandson has read all the Harry Potter books and is now deep into the Redwall series. My son reads more non-fiction than do I, but I read the classics of literature in addition to romances, mainstream novels, and historical novels. I only buy hardcover books at a discount, trade paperbacks when there is not a massmarket size available, and used whenever I can — I know writers hate to hear about people buying used, but with prices increasing many can only afford to buy new as a treat or splurge.
As to introducing younger women to romances, I agree that the genre may be its own worst enemy: it appears as formula writing to many, even those who are committed fans of the genre. Although I am not a fan of erotica, I think that it and chick-lit are probably good for the industry, as they illustrate not everything is written on a template. Multi-cultural romances, especially African-American, are the reading of choice on my commuter bus, so that genre is IMO busting open. Younger women are being handed the books by older women, and coming back for more!
One of the problems is this: Our mothers read them.
Yeah, we are shallow. We don’t want to be seen as old-fashioned. I’m not saying anybody is, but it’s a fact. That’s how romance appears to a lot of us.
And Chick-lit? Well…See those covers? There’s such a thing as too cutesy, you know.
The writers whom we’d like to read if we knew about them are typically tarred by the same feather too.
Wow. How discouraging this data is. Both from a writer’s perspective for hope in getting published, and a human perspective for what it means to society that the imagination has been replaced by imagery spoon fed via television, movies, video games, DVDs, video iPods, and the like. If these kids are – for lack of a bette word, not to be disrespectful – so lazy in that they’d rather have images served up to them rather than use their own minds to build worlds from words, I worry about the future and their ability to be inventive and innovative.
Too, I’m surprised with the breakout of the paranormal subgenre that more young people aren’t interested in romance. I don’t think our mothers were into vampires and werewolves, and we ourselves have just tapped into this realm.
Really, I’m so saddened by this outlook.
I think the paranormal romances that have come out will help teenagers get into reading.
It took me until I was out of high school to really get into reading. I read throughout highschool but it was hard to find the time between all the reading required.
Now teenagers are making money at part time jobs, not like they used to. I am betting a good number of them will pick up a book. If it isn’t romances, it will be fantasy or something else in the commercial fiction district. I don’t care what they buy as long as they buy something.
I do not think books will ever die. It will take a part of our lives. There is just something about reading it yourself that makes a real difference. Books you can sink into and share with friends are important, no matter what format it is in.
Just my opinion.
Well I think I may have just wet my knickers, lol.
But I have to agree that the following generations just aren’t typically readers. Harry Potter has been hailed as reintroducing children to that mysterious thing called “a book”. But thats a good two generation gap from the last two somewhat vapid groups that are allergic to the written word (which sadly includes my own.)
I have several family members that hate to read. Books I read in an hour, they might finish in a month. One sister valiantly pushes her way through a book one page at a time. She was so proud to have finished a 500 page book for the first time ever. I had sister in laws going on about how they don’t like reading, but every now and then, a book is totally worth it and went on to brag about about how quickly they read it. Again, we’re talking weeks. (I smiled, but said nothing because they’d bludgeon me, I’m sure of it, lol.)
I’m not trying to say any of these people are unintelligent, but they seem unable to relate to anyone who is willing to sit down and disappear into a book. They even mock people who do. If a kid in my generation wanted to be a reader, they paid dearly for it, particularly romances. So, is the answer a better PR to prove we’re an industry of unique books? I’m not sure. While it’s disheartening, everyone who might be there to listen is wearing their iPods full blast.
But, that all said, I still plan on writing.
Gotta lure em with sumpin’, right?
Dee
Do you think books really are more expensive? I agree, I’d have paid £1.50 for a paperback twenty five years ago, and am always dismayed to be charged £7.99 for a paperback – but I wonder if that’s just a function of middle age – the same inflation-proof part of my brain that’s shocked when I take a daughter for coffee and it costs £8.
I don’t know if children read less than before – but my children own more books than I did, even though they read less that I would have. And I certainly owned more books as a child than my mother, who was young during WW2, ever did. So maybe you have to factor in the greater affluence of society – even if people read less, is it possible that to some extent that’s balanced out by an increase in the number of people who can afford to buy books?
My town has grown, so it’s not possible to make a straight comparison, but it currently supports three bookshops where five years ago there was only one – plus the supermarkets all now stock books – on the surface, it doesn’t seem to be a disappearing market.
Two of my kids are big readers, the third reads, but not as much. They prefer fantasy/paranormal type fiction.
I think graphic novels are pretty popular with the middle school and older kids. I’m wondering if we won’t see those explode into the romance world one day.
As someone who grew up with her nose in a book, it shocks me that so many people today hate to read, or just don’t have time for it. The trend is disturbing, but if the wave of the future is graphic novels [or manga], or video novels or e-books, I plan to adapt. I don’t think the novel will die out completely, but we may find fewer choices in the future if the market declines.
I don’t see that it was any different 15 years ago when I was in high school. Out of the three hundred-odd kids in my school. Despite spending every free minute in the place, I *never* saw another kid in the library for anything other than school work. No one even read our mother’s mail-order Harlequins.
Now that we’re in our 30’s, all of my friends read fiction. Our reunion committee even has an on-line book group going. These teens probably will too.
i’m 18, and i’ve been reading romances since age 10. i’m addicted. i read almost nothing else. and how did i get into them? my mom. so its not strictly true that young people dont read the same books as their parents–i actually get a kick out of reading the same books as my mom (and reading them faster!) and then sometimes we talk about them too. some of the more erotic ones make me feel a liiiitle awkward thinking that MY MOM is reading that(:oops:), but i guess its gotta go both ways.
as for my friends…i’ve got some that never read, but i have plenty of friends who love science fiction and fantasy, especially mercedes lackey and her ilk, as well as some who are addicted to Fanfic and other such sites. oh, and manga is big among my friends too–i have one friend who is so protective of her manga that she doesnt even crack the spine. eek.
of course, most of these friends are girls. my guy friends generally dont read, because they’re too busy! they’d rather be hanging out with their friends or doing their math hw.
in general, though, there are still enough young readers out there that, though we’ll never equal the gamer set in numbers, will not let the novel die. k?
Manga. A quick look at most shelves will show that the amount of space dedicated to Manga (and other graphic novels) has grown in leaps and bounds in the last few years.
When I was a kid, I wasn’t allowed to read comic books. Now, ahem, much older and free to purchase and read what I want, I’m reading more and more stories in a graphical format. Some rather nice examples of romantic graphic (manga) novels would be Dramacon and Sorcerors and Secretaries, available via Tokyopop.
Because it is graphical, the media lends itself to the Internet, and promotion thereof.
I’m so in love with the media, that I’ve rediscovered my love of drawing with the goal of submitting a proposal to that publisher. And in my defense, and defense of the media, it’s damn hard to tell a story this way.
Also [ducking fruit and flames]…though I like romantic fiction and chick lit, I’ve found most romance novels….
…
…
formulaic.
Sorry.
“medium” not “media” because I’m an eediot.
When I was in high school (more than 20 years ago now), the other kids did not read. I was considered a freak because I always had my nose in a book.
I think the big, big mistake romance publishers are making today is that they ignore the fact that bookworms — the oddballs, the freaks, the eggheads — will always buy the most books. Publishers increasingly try to make romances very bland and mainstream and identical to appeal to the biggest possible audience. But genre novels are almost always going to be niche products, not blockbuster mega-hits, and publishers need to appeal to the quirky people who actually read them.
That means much more variety and originality and freshness, which is what will catch the attention of young readers and keep them from thinking “those books are all the same.”
I always laugh at these alarmist reports. People have been lamenting the demise of the book since the rise of radio.
I remember how my much generation was looked down on in the 80s. We had no class. We :gasp: didn’t read. That wasn’t true then, and it isn’t true now. I know a lot of non-readers true, but the readers I know more than make up their buying power.
My kids are readers (10,9,5). They have a ps2, gameboys, tvs and dvd players…all the popular gadgets, and they like those things. But they much prefer a trip to the bookstore. My 10yo blew through the last HP and all the Narnia books the week after Christmas and then turned to her new games. They are bugging me as I type about the bookfair at school tonight lol. This bookfair is the biggest fundraiser our school manages every year too, I might add.
Is the Romance market in trouble? I don’t think so. I was at the local BAM day before yesterday and by far the biggest section is the Romance section. There is so much more variety now compared to 20 years ago. Back then I had a hard time finding interesting contemporary or fantasy/sf. Now it seems like just about everything is possible. If not at the brick and morter bs, then certainly at one of the many e-booksellers.
I’m always asking younger people what they read, especially young female readers, since this is what I am writing for. The answers are always dismal. The biggest hit recently was Twilight by Stephanie Meyers. Surprisingly, I find that most of these younger readers are reading mainstream fiction. So how can we push romance into the mainstream. SFF has helped. But who knows. The target reader is a person born after 1980. That’s a difficult group, in more ways than one.
I’m an English teacher, and I have been struggling with the fact that today’s generation of kids just don’t want to read!
I have tried nearly everything to get them to find something they like to read. I want to inspire them to read for fun. I want them to experience the love of reading I have. But I feel like I’m fighting a losing battle.
That said, I know I didn’t read a lot when I was a teenager. Maybe there’s hope yet!
J.K.Rowling has done WONDERS for this generation of kids. Oh, I know many people want to ban Harry. To that, I respond, “Oh, PLEASE, don’t take away the ONLY books I can get my kids to read.” I love Harry Potter, myself.
I read it to my kids (the home-grown ones, not my students). The first in the HP series is written on a fifth grade reading level, and as her characters grow up, so does the reading level! Her books gradually got more complicated, with more complex language and themes, allowing struggling readers to feel comfortable reading them. A student who is reading HP is moving himself/herself up to a higher reading level without realizing it! Shhh! Don’t tell them that. As a matter of fact, keep telling them they can’t read it– so that they’ll keep reading it! LOL
I don’t think the romance novel is dead or that genre novels as a whole are dying. But I do think they have been priced out of impulse buy mode. The waiting lists at the library for popular authors are often months long — this used to be a phenom of only hardbacks but now even paper backs have long waits. I don’t know that there is a solution to the problem (thinner, cheaper paper? Less corporate profit?) but I do think price has overall contributed to dropping sales.
As far as kids not reading, I think some will pick up the habit as they get older. However, that won’t happen if we don’t do something about our national reading average (now at sixth grade level, tetering towards fourth). No one wants to spend precious leisure time doing something that is really hard. I don’t know what the solution is to that either. But I do know as a nation, we should start taking it seriously. Darn seriously.
maggie b.
If anyone asked, I would tell them that I am a romance reader. I started reading romances at age 12 when I read Dragonwyck by Anya Setona and The Convenient Marriage by Georgette Heyer.
Unfortunately, the reality is that I am reading fewer and fewer romances. I buy more and more fantasy and mystery novels. However, I still look for fantasy and mystery novels, which have a romance. Why am I reading fewer romances.
In the last few weeks, I have been reading some of my older romances. There is a huge contrast between these 30 and 40 year old novels and the current romances on the market. I just reread Watch the Wall, My Darling by J.A. Hodge. This 40 year old historical romance had a twisting, fast paced plot. If you read a Georgette Heyer novel, the secondary characters are well developed and complex.
While there are some outstanding romance writers writing novels, I think that the romance market has been flooded with inferior writing. Some romance novels barely have the semblence of a plot. The characterization lack any depth.
People who love to read, will spend more on a book. Bookworms are constantly on the look for a good book. We go to book review sites. We seek out the opinions of our friends. But we do want a book that fully engages us. Personally, I do not want to spend $6.99 on a book that I throw aside in boredom.
I do not have anything to add that would be different that what has already been said. I will concentrate on the last thought. Of a romance book with illustrations for adults.
It has been done. I was charmed, entertained and amused. The art was quite visual and beautiful, but I believe, at the expense of the story. There was great potential there. I came away wanting more. The biggest drawback for me was the reason the heroine and hero got together. It was not acceptable to me. The reason wasn’t good enough to make me believe that she would fall for him that fast and hard. Would I recommend it? Probably. The art alone was eye-worthy.
Oh, you may want to know the name of the book:
Ellie and the Elven King
The concept was good. It needs to be expanded. So your idea is sound. I think there could be a market for it. But, then you’d have to have models for men and women that readers would identify with. That might be a challenge in itself.
I’m open to new ideas. The ride can be fun!