Introduction

Written By Julia - Romance Book Expert

Imagine a young girl searching her mother’s bookshelf for an exciting read to escape the monotony of her 12-year-old life. She comes across a small book with a shirtless man on the cover, and at first, she’s turned off by the idea of boys. But her curiosity leads her back to the book, and she becomes hooked on the captivating story set in Regency England. This experience of discovering romance novels through seemingly taboo or provocative titles is shared among the genre’s enthusiasts. Even if they didn’t fully understand the content when first encountering them, these books became a guilty pleasure for many, often leading to a deep love for romance novels. This scene has created a large community of avid romance readers.

Gan, Nina. (2019, June 14). [Photograph] Campus Magazine.

Multiple participants in the Examining the Romance Reader study recounted this same heavily gendered and heteronormative experience. As readers see themselves represented in the genre, they become all the more passionate. They share a common theme: the romance genre was often portrayed as a secret love affair. However, as the readers of romance novels aged and the genre developed, being a romance reader became a point of pride. It allowed them to take ownership of their narratives.

History of Romance Novels

The numbers speak for themselves. The romance book genre is a $1.44 billion industry with unprecedented growth in the past few years. In print alone, romance reached 19 million units sold over the last 12 months as of August 2022. In 2021, Penguin Random House, the largest publisher in the United States, reported that their romance sales grew 50%.¹

Romance novels have been popular for centuries, dating back to the 18th century. The first romance novel is widely considered to be Samuel Richardson’s Pamela, published in 1740.² Throughout the years, romance novels have expanded to include various sub-genres, such as historical, paranormal, and contemporary romance. However, they have also faced criticism for perpetuating unrealistic expectations of love and relationships and reinforcing gender stereotypes.

Despite this criticism, romance novels remain a beloved and lucrative genre, with millions of readers worldwide. As a result, many authors have gained a vast following. Some have achieved celebrity status and even outsold the Bible.³ Love may be complicated, but it is clearly a favorite topic of readers.

Kent, R. (2014). Penguin Random House Logo [Photo] PRH.

Richardson, S. (1902). Pamela. [Photo] Chapman & Hall.

About Me

Badessa, J. (2022). Flatlay of Romance Books Covers [Photo]. Purposely Unperfect.

My name is Julia Diaz-Young, and I recently graduated from Emerson College with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing Communications and a Minor in Publishing. I avidly consume romance books; I read 104 last year alone. I started reading romance books in 2019 after finishing high school in the summer before college. As my first year began, my reading slowed and dramatically increased when I was sent home in 2020 for the Covid-19 pandemic.

After a few years of enjoying romance books privately, I became a bookish content creator with my platform Chick Lit Is The Sh*t. I started @chicklitistheshit in August 2021, which expanded to a blog and book club in early 2022. This complex genre intrigued me as a reader and marketer, which motivated me to complete this assignment as my final coursework for my Publishing minor.

Examining the Romance Reader was a unique assignment where I designed the final project from start to finish. This directed study required me to get an advisor and departmental approval, create the syllabus, and complete an application with Emerson’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) to conduct a study with human subjects.

Existing Demographics

Romance novels have a diverse and inclusive readership, with people of all ages, genders, and backgrounds enjoying them. However, recent research shows that women make up 82% of romance readers, and 45% have a college degree. Over the past decade, publishers and authors have successfully expanded the primary audience from ages 35-54 to a broader range of 18-54. Their most significant achievement in getting new and younger readers? TikTok, specifically BookTok, is vital in marketing romance books to Generation Z (defined as anyone born from 1997 to 2012). In 2022, 44% of readers purchasing romance books were between 18-44 years old. 

While becoming more diverse, most romance readers (73%) identify as White/Caucasian. Contrary to the stereotype of romance readers as single spinsters, 59% of readers are in a relationship or married. 

As for reading habits, 29% of readers typically carry a romance novel with them, whether in print, ebook, or audio form. A remarkable 78.3% of readers read more than one novel per month, with 46.4% reading at least one book weekly.⁴ Romance enthusiasts have a strong appetite for reading, providing ample opportunities for authors and publishers of romance novels to benefit from consumer interest. However, are these authors and publishers genuinely maximizing their audience's potential? That’s what I sought to find out with this project.

The first step was to gather the latest demographic information to better understand the diverse group of romance readers. However, the available data doesn’t fully capture the complexity of this community. As a member and creator, I find this community fascinating. It's unfortunate that publishers are not addressing this complexity, as it negatively impacts both readers and authors.

I’m a big believer that romance is for everyone, and when marketed properly, it can do so much good—helping people feel less alone and more worthy of love.

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