About Authors

Jun 2

Authors are the backbone of publishing. Romance authors are extremely active on social media and form a closer relationship with fans than authors of other genres.

Authors get vastly different receptions in publicity and media coverage. In one of my qualitative questions, I asked readers to list their favorite authors, authors they believe don’t get enough recognition and ponder why they are underrecognized.

Thoughts On Underrecognized Authors

The authors and/or themes are above each quote. Please note that some are anonymous, as participants could opt in or out of being credited.

Quote on Equitable Access in Schools

Quote in Reference to How Publishing Treats Minority Voices

Quote in Reference to Being "Niche"

For many readers, there were subtle or blatant dings to TikTok and how it’s pushed authors like Colleen Hoover instead of their favorites.

Quotes on BookTok Picking Winners & Losers

There are many opinion pieces on if BookTok is inauthentic or too corporate, but this quote from Barry Pierce’s British GQ article, “In The Shallow World of BookTok, Being 'A Reader' Is More Important Than Actually Reading,” says it best. “Actual reviews became few and far between and many of the smaller, genuine readers on the platform jumped ship.” Pierce reflects that BookTok’s rise is giving him a flashback to his time on BookTube. When he left for the same reason, it had become too corporate.²⁴

Perhaps fellow readers, even influencers, are getting sick of the BookTok community and its part in pushing authors like Colleen Hoover to the exclusion of other authors.

Quote on Indie Publishers

Quote on Publishers Prioritizing Their Darlings

When At Wimbledon

A clear case of publishers picking their darlings is Berkley’s August 2022 release, Carrie Soto is Back, a story about an Argentinian-American tennis player written by a non-Hispanic white woman, Taylor Jenkins Reid. The Emerson alum was given a pop-up stand at Wimbledon. A book that publishing marked as a win for Latinx/e representation was given a promotion a Latinx/e author likely wouldn’t have gotten. This rubbed many reviewers the wrong way, including Carmen of @tomesandtextiles, who shared her thoughts in a viral TikTok.²⁵

This leaves me with the question, what makes Taylor Jenkins Reid a darling to her publisher, and how does this affect underrepresented authors?

New York Times Best Sellers List

Next, I wanted to see how prestige like the New York Times Best Seller List impacts what readers choose to read next. I listed 18 names recognizable to most romance fans. The list is as follows: Ali Hazelwood, Ana Huang, Casey McQuiston, Colleen Hoover, Christina Lauren, Danielle Steel, Elena Armas, Elle Kennedy, Eloisa James, Emily Henry, Helen Hoang, Jasmine Guillory, Julia Quinn, Lucy Score, Nicholas Sparks, Nora Roberts, Taylor Jenkins Reid, and Tessa Bailey.

It is important to note that out of this list, only three are people of color: Ana Huang, Helen Hoang, and Jasmine Guillory. Lack of representation on what is known colloquially as “the List” is one of many ongoing criticisms. Despite popular author James Patterson’s perception that the publishing world is ageist, racist, and sexist against older white men like himself, this is far from the truth. Mr. Patterson’s publisher, Hachette, found that about 65% of their workforce was white, and about 78% of employees in management roles were white.²⁶

Other criticisms of the list boils down to the lack of transparency in how the Times collects book sales. A great comparison from Laura B. McGrath, an English professor at Temple University, compares the New York Times List to the original Coca-Cola recipe. “We have a pretty good idea of what goes into it, but not the exact amount of each ingredient.”²⁷

There are countless examples of authors and publishers buying their way into making the list, so much so that in 1995, the Times created a dagger (†) that they use to indicate books that may have benefitted from bulk orders (typically from the author or publisher). Even the former President purchased tens of thousands of copies of The Art of the Deal (1987) to inflate numbers to make the list.²⁸

Yet, even knowing all of this information, does the NYT List still hold weight for readers?

Chart 21: Fans of NYT Best Seller List Authors

Main Insight: Emily Henry and Christina Lauren reign supreme in this participant pool.

Surprisingly, Colleen Hoover ranked low at only 13%, despite her books being famous and frequently appearing on the List. Some participants don't consider her a romance author, which could explain why she's not a fan favorite. This theory relies on the fact that Chart 16 showed that 52% of respondents believe a romance book must have a happy ending. Since many of Colleen Hoover's books don't have happy endings, this may have affected her ranking on the chart.

Chart 22: NYT Best Seller List Influence on Readers