Friday, May 22, 2015

Changes in Romance in the Last Decade


 
Robin picked an interesting topic for this month. What changes have you seen in romance novels in the past decade? Is there a change in romance novel direction? Is there still a market for non-explicit sex stories?

I think the biggest change in the last decade has been the Kindle, followed by other e-readers. There were eBooks before published by small publishers and in different format read on small palms and phones Kindle made it so easy to buy download and then to publish your own book.
Once this opened up authors could now write the stories they wanted. The book didn’t have to fit into a specific format – hero and heroine must meet in the first three pages. While some books were thrown up there, many have great covers, good editing and proof-reading.  And erotica is so easy to buy online and down to your e-reader. Erotica has exploded over the last decade. Anything  goes. LBGT is popular. A decade ago, I don’t think you could find any on a book shelf.

Steampunk had never been heard of ten years ago and has built a strong following. Sci-Fi is another genre that has become popular and so has Christian romance. The sweet romance has been pushed aside.

 

Is there still a niche? Yes. I believe there is still a readership that enjoys the well written, happily ever after romance with a great relationship and little or non-explicit sex.  Maybe check out the meta tags for sweet romance. That's how I found this book below.

 

I'm looking forward to hearing what all the other authors have to say on this a topic. It should be interesting. lease check out the other authors:
Fiona McGier http://www.fionamcgier.com/
Connie Vines http://connievines.blogspot.com/
Skye Taylor http://www.skye-write4r.com
Margaret Fieland http://www.argaretfieland.com/blog1/
Helena Fairfax http://helenfairfax.com/
Anne Stenhouse http://annestenhousenovelist.wordpress.com/
Marci Baun  http://www.marcibaun.com
Diane Bator http://dbator.blogspot.ca
Rachael Kosinski http://rachaelkosinski.weebly.com/
Rhobin Courtright http://www.rhobinleecourtright.com/
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17 comments:

  1. anne stenhouseMay 23, 2015 at 1:32 AM

    Hi Beverley, yours is the first I've visited of our round robin and I see we have a lot of agreement. I haven't read any steampunk - bad me. Must give it a go. Anne Stenhouse

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    1. darkwriterMay 23, 2015 at 5:42 PM

      Thanks for dropping by Anne. It's hard to read all genres. As I was making the rounds I'd forgotten about Young Adult and New Adult.

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  2. RhobinMay 23, 2015 at 5:32 AM

    Great post Beverley. We agreed on many points. I must admit I like cross genre romances. I've read some great steampunk though as a whole it is not my preference.

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    1. darkwriterMay 23, 2015 at 5:44 PM

      Thanks Rhobin. And you're right, we do agree on many points I do enjoy a cross-genre and try to read at least the occasional book in most genres,

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  3. AnonymousMay 23, 2015 at 8:40 AM

    Enjoyed your post, Beverley. I agree there has been an explosion in variety of romance, which is a great thing fro readers. I enjoy steampunk, but haven't read a lot of it. My preference is for sweet romance!

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    1. darkwriterMay 23, 2015 at 5:45 PM

      Thanks for dropping by Helens, and I think 'sweet' romance will be around for a long time. There's something about those HEA endings.

      Delete
  4. Melissa KeirMay 23, 2015 at 12:20 PM

    I heard that the new "Hot" romance is Amish romance stories... obviously those are sweet stories and I'm seeing them in the grocery store!

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    1. darkwriterMay 23, 2015 at 5:46 PM

      Really? I knew people wrote them. Interesting, and yes, they would be 'sweet' romances. I'll have to look for them Thanks for dropping by and sharing that, Melissa.

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  5. UnknownMay 23, 2015 at 12:28 PM

    Enjoyed the post.

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  6. Marci BaunMay 23, 2015 at 3:01 PM

    We never had those requirements for romance. We look for well-written, interesting stories with characters we can care about.

    Regardless, I agree that diversity is good. (Except maybe dinosaur and bigfoot sex. That just doesn't do it for me. :D )

    Marci

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    1. darkwriterMay 23, 2015 at 5:49 PM

      Dinosaur and bigfoot sex? You're kidding right? That wouldn't do it for me, either.

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  7. SkyewriterMay 23, 2015 at 5:43 PM

    Great post. You are right on with the e-Reader and self publishing not just opening the envelope, but tearing it to shreds. The big publishers that had the romance genre in a straight jacket have been challenged and we get the resulting plethora of great choices, interesting characters, out of the box plots and terrific reading.

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    1. darkwriterMay 23, 2015 at 5:51 PM

      I loved your sentence about not just opening the envelope, but tearing it to shreds. Great description and very accurate. The best part is the diversity and choices people now have, to read or to write. Thanks for the great comment.

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  8. darkwriterMay 23, 2015 at 5:47 PM

    Thanks, Victoria and thanks for popping by.

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  9. AnonymousMay 24, 2015 at 9:14 AM

    Beverley, I never even thought of Steampunk! Good thoughts. I know an author visited my highschool three or four years ago to talk about her book in that genre, and we had no clue what she was talking about. Now, I think people are really interested in it. Good post! :)

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  10. darkwriterMay 24, 2015 at 11:21 AM

    Thanks, Rachael. I don't write Steampunk, but I love the costumes and the covers. It looks like a fun genre.

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  11. Fiona McGierMay 26, 2015 at 8:25 AM

    Yes, you're right about the e-readers changing the industry. Suddenly you could read things with lurid covers, but no one know what you were reading. Nice change.

    Re: Melissa, the sci-fi book that won the EPIC contest this year is "Amish Vampires in Space". It's a great mish-mash of a few genres. It's very long, but an amusing story.

    Re: Marci--I have to agree with you about dinosaurs and big-foot. Can we also add that anything with tentacles is definitely NOT sexy? ;-D

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