Comments on: Romance pie a la mode

By: Natalie J. Damschroder

Natalie J. Damschroder — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 05:17:00 +0000

The numbers don’t surprise me because I assume a high number of those slots (if not all) were taken by the “top” authors of the genres. So the most bestselling historical authors never stopped selling at the top of the list–references to genres doing poorly or whatever have a far bigger relevance to midlist authors and unpublished authors trying to break in.

Just like when a Harlequin or Silhouette line increases the number of releases per month. More money in the bank for the publisher, but less per book per author.

That depends. If the increase in releases means an author gets to publish three books in the year instead of one, she’s coming out ahead.

Of course, nothing is simple, static, or absolute about any of this, so I’ll shut up now.

Good topic, Shannon!

By: Shannon Stacey

Shannon Stacey — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 01:51:57 +0000

Definitely. Just like when a Harlequin or Silhouette line increases the number of releases per month. More money in the bank for the publisher, but less per book per author.

And with the urban fantasy, I put books by…umm…Kim Harrison, LKH, etc in there, but Ward, Liu, etc in paranormal romance. I read the Amazon descriptions for any I was unsure of, but that’s another reason for the unscientificness—my perception of the classifications. The ones I absolutely wasn’t sure of, I didn’t count, so I know it’s not far off.

I would have lumped â€˜urban fantasyâ€™ with â€˜paranormalâ€™ myself.

I did think about it, but I’m personally a bit of a ‘romance means at least one HEA per book’ purist. Series like Harrison’s or LKH’s don’t fit that for me. But because I know they’re popular and Dear Author listed them, I included them. But if you did move them to paranormal it would definitely change things up a bit.

By: Susan Kelley

Susan Kelley — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 01:41:09 +0000

It is funny how I hear historicals are making a comeback when it seems they didn’t go anywhere. I was surprised at the contemporary numbers but then I looked at my TBR pile and saw I only had two and one of those is more likely a mystery. As a writer of fantasy and futuristic, I say ‘Way to Go!”

By: Sarai

Sarai — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 19:52:47 +0000

Historicals will be around for a while and more then likely will survive any fad. I was surprised about suspense beating paranormal but I bet by the end of the year they will either be tied or closer

By: KeVin

KeVin — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 18:31:24 +0000

I would have lumped ‘urban fantasy’ with ‘paranormal’ myself. Given that, and asked to predict before seeing your data, I would have expected the ranking to be:

Paranormal
Romantic Suspense
Historical
Contemporary

One out of four ain’t bad.

By: Kacie J

Kacie J — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 17:35:19 +0000

I’m surprised at the low numbers for contemporaries and the high numbers for historicals, but I’m glad to see that historicals–rather than making a comeback–are already there.

Regarding the “unscientificness” of the study, it’s worth considering whether genres like “romantic suspense” or “contemporaries” were hurt simply by the sheer numbers on the market.

If the number of readers were equal for all genres, and there are twenty books to choose from in one genre, and two to choose from in another, the two books in the latter genre will probably have better sales records than any single book in the former category. Essentially, more options divide the vote so that fewer stand out–even if the readership as a whole is larger.

Just a thought…either way, the numbers are interesting. Thanks, Shannon!

By: Jill Sorenson

Jill Sorenson — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 16:42:18 +0000

I’m kind of surprised by the numbers in urban fantasy. It seems like that genre is exploding right now. A year ago, I didn’t even know what an urban fantasy was.

By: Wendy

Wendy — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:37:55 +0000

I’m not terribly shocked by these numbers. I think there’s been a misconception that historicals are “dying” when it’s really a matter of sales being “flat.”

Re: Debbie Macomber – I think of her current work as women’s fiction and her older work (the books currently getting reprinted) as romance.

By: Ciar Cullen

Ciar Cullen — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:29:22 +0000

I wonder about the distinction between paranormal and urban fantasy. I bet we could draw that line a number of different ways. I continue to be amazed by the popularity of historicals. What kind of comeback is expected for a genre leading the pack?

By: Victoria Janssen

Victoria Janssen — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 14:03:23 +0000

Just from browsing bookstore shelves (B&N and Borders), it didn’t surprise me at all that historicals did so well. I think they’re fairly perennial.

I’ve started noticing historical paranormals, a trend which I like–I wonder how that will shake out?