Romance Novels Don’t Get No Respect
Ever thought about why romance novels, with their happily ever afters, are so disrespected? It isn’t because no one reads them. According to Words Rated(2), Romance novels are a very successful genre of fiction, generating over $1.44 billion in revenue annually and accounting for more than 33% of mass-market paperback sales. Romance novels were the highest-earning fiction genre and had the highest sales of any genre, more than doubling the sales of the next most popular genre, crime/mystery.
So, why the disparity between financial success and respect? Is it the lurid covers? How many times have you been browsing the bookstore or Amazon, and your eye were drawn to a particular kind of cover? Appearances do matter, that’s why companies have marketing departments and graphic artists. Those lurid covers abound because that’s what people buy. But we are back to financial success Is it the formula plot? It can’t be that, since all genres have formulas Is it because they are associated with women? Do romance novels lack all literary merit because they are mostly written by women for women? This is closer to the truth. Many women who wish to be respected in the workplace reject anything “too feminine.” These women joined men in their disrespect of the feminine gender and now have the idea that if most women like something, it must be invalid. This attitude is borne out by research. Studies show that when women enter fields in greater numbers, pay declines — for the very same jobs that more men were doing before.(1) Once women start doing a job, “It just doesn’t look like it’s as important to the bottom line or requires as much skill,” said Paula England, a sociology professor at New York University. “Gender bias sneaks into those decisions.” Something sneakier? Maybe the disrespect for the romance genre comes from something more insidious. I think that we are taught that romances are not real literature because we are taught by academicians, and academicians are serious people. I suppose a happy ending is okay if we focus on a hero up against immeasurable odds and oppressive circumstances. But even as we cheer his success, we must then rein in our optimism by ensuring the reader’s attention never strays far from the oppressive forces that remain, of setbacks down the road, of other characters left behind. If you’re not that serious, and you’d rather feel happy when you finish a book, try one of mine.
Sad is more serious than happy, so serious people usually gravitate toward sad. After all, there is a lot more to analyze about folks who are dysfunctional. When things are happy, what is there to caution about. If things are looking bright, point out the shadows. If things are looking dark, show just how serious the dark is.
