Readers: What’s your favorite romance novel?
Romance novels have been exploding in popularity in recent years, even as book sales decline.
The romance genre has found its happily-ever-after in the publishing world.
Fueled by the pandemic and with the help of social media (namely TikTok), the genre has undergone a renaissance in recent years and has found lasting success.
TikTok’s community for book lovers, #BookTok, has amassed 223.4 billion views and garnered 28.6 million posts to date. It was the top hashtag in 2022 on the platform, where romance had four of the top five books with the most engagement, according to Bloomberg.
Novelists like Colleen Hoover have rose to superstardom in part due to the social media platform’s “BookTok effect” — in 2022, her novels sold 14.3 million print copies, thanks to a push from the platform’s romance readers, according to Publisher’s Weekly.
Offline, romance novels have gained steam even as book sales decline. Book sales saw a 2.7% decline in the first half of 2023 compared to 2022, according to Publisher’s Weekly.
But despite the drop, romance was the fastest-growing adult fiction genre in the first six months of 2023, boosting sales up 34.6%, the magazine found.
Booksellers, like the genre’s dedicated fanbase, are eager to ride the wave of the genre’s success.
“We created our romance section a few years ago, a labor of bookseller love that has become one of the most successful and popular sections of the store,” Brookline Booksmith’s events director Alex Schaffner told WBUR.
It’s easy to understand why the genre has become so popular: It offers its readers escapism, feel-good stories, and it’s easy to consume. But it hasn’t always enjoyed such mainstream success.
Historically, the genre has been relegated to the margins of literature. But some romance authors, like Rochelle Bilow, told GBH the genre should be taken more seriously.
“We do not vilify people who are watching light television or movies that make them feel good,” she told GBH. “But for some reason, we have this bizarre requirement that all books have to be deeply educational, academic reading experiences, and sometimes you just want to read or watch or eat something that makes you feel happy. And there is nothing wrong with that.”
Whether you’re a long-time romance novel veteran or a tentative newbie, we want to hear about your favorite romance novel.
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