Vampire romance books still hot, hot, hot! November 29, 2009

We love our romance books. And not even a recession can stop us from buying our beloved novels.  As of June 2009, the most recent Association of American Publishers report says book sales are up 1.8 percent for the year. Sales of romance novels were strong in 2008 at $1.37 billion, down slightly from $1.375 billion in 2007, according to industry figures tracked by Romance Writers of America.   Romance fiction also accounted for the largest share of the consumer market at 13.5 percent.

Image from CNN.

Of the romance releases tracked by RWA in 2008:

• Contemporary (series): 25.84 percent
• Contemporary: 18.37 percent
• Historical: 15.91 percent
• Paranormal: 12.65 percent
• Romantic Suspense: 8.4 percent
• Inspirational: 7.82 percent
• Romantic Suspense (series): 4.79 percent
• Other (chick-lit, erotic romance): 3.78 percent
• Young Adult: 2.34 percent

For an interesting read on why this genre (in particular paranormal) is still hot, check out this CNN story HERE.  It quotes several authors, including J.R. Ward, Heather Graham (who also writes under the name Shannon Drake) and Laurell K. Hamilton, who says she was a “little blown away” that women are still looking for a white knight to rescue them:

“One twentysomething woman explained it to me like this,” Hamilton said. “She said ‘Well, I just got out of college and I can’t get a job, none of my friends can get jobs that will let us be able to move away from home, so if we can’t wait for Prince Charming to come rescue us what are we going to do?’ I thought that was interesting.”