I asked Jane on Monday if there was any place she knew of that had done a study of romance numbers since the one RWA had a while back. She remembered a company that had been talked about in the October RWR from RWA. And she posted them today. (oops they are at RWA as well)
I was looking for this info because I came across a review blog My Bookcase by Amy Case, with such gems as the following quotes…
“For a real book it would have scored a 5.4, barely passable into print IMO. For a romance novel/BR it was a 7.4, great read for your mother.”
“As it is a romance novel (aka bodice ripper, even though there’s only a hunky chest/bicep combo on the cover) it necessitated the author to add Happily Ever After with lots of babies crap.”
“Overall rating: 9.0 (an 11 if you needed a qualifier to make it compete in the “real” world of literature. Honestly, it doesn’t need it to hold its own against great books. I think the publishing house should be fired, and the writer picked up by Dan Brown’s people.)”
“Overall: 7.4 a Solid score for a romance novel“
“Overall: A solid score for a romance novel. Not so solid if you wanted to put it up against literature. But overall a satisfying entry. (not like Dream Hunter) 6.9″
There is more since the reviewer seems to read…. wait for it… mainly romance. And there is such a since of shame to that. We need handicap points to make romance novels = “REAL” novels? Really?
If you write a bad book, it is a bad book. I am not going to give you ‘gimme points’ for the genre. There are many romance novels that are far better than what you will find in the fiction section.
Does this mean if we decide to review one of those “real” books we should handicap it and give the book a +2 points to start with because there is no way a “real” book can be as awesome as a romance novel all on its own?
On another note while at RWA I found this very interesting…
Settings or Subgenres Romance Readers Enjoy
Romance readers ranked the following setting or plot elements for romance novels in order of most enjoyable:
1. Mystery, Thriller, Action plots preferred by 48% of readers
2. Exotic Settings preferred by 36% of readers
3. Contemporary themes preferred by 33% of readers
4. Inspirational romances with a spiritual sub-plot preferred by 31% of readers
5. Colonial American settings preferred by 27% of readers
6. American West settings preferred by 25 % of readers
7. Historical romance set in England preferred by 24% of readers
8. Scottish-set historical romances preferred by 21% of readers
9. Medieval set romances preferred by 21% of readers
10. Paranormal romances preferred by 18% of readers
11. Futuristic romance preferred by 14% of readers
What’s up with THAT?
You can access the last 8 or so years of RWA’s ROMstats as well. Makes for interesting reading. Well, I think so.
Gwen rants on the retail and review side of the romance disrespect coin here.
I think this is my favorite:
A real book, huh? As opposed to what, exactly? Last time I checked romances were written by authors and published on paper, just the same as every other genre.
I’m with Holly! I will admit that I used to turn my nose up to romance novels due to the corny covers. It wasn’t until I had inadvertently read one (it was disguised with a perfectly normal cover and title – LOL), that I realized what I had been missing. Thus, my love affair with romance began. She, on the other hand, has no excuse! If you don’t like it – fine. But, don’t keep reading it and portraying yourself as some kind of martyr for doing so. That is just pathetic and lame!
I also agree with Holly! A “real book?” Still scratching my head over that one…
This translates to….
A solid score for a book that was written with the intent to NOT bore everybody to tears or have them ready to start popping prozac by chapter 3. Not so solid if you were aiming for the literary genre, which either depresses people, annoys people or that nobody understands but people stand around talking about how PROFOUND it was~because it’s the “IN” thing to do.
Lit bores me. Just like it bores a lot of people. If it doesn’t bore me, it depresses, so for my book to ‘fail’ as a lit book, would be huge praise for me.
There is no definition of a REAL book. Half the stories I’ve read…or started… don’t really qualify.
But to insult a book because it’s a genre book instead of a book that landed on Oprah’s list?
The people with this mindset are the people I try not to worry about. They won’t ever ‘get’ it, so why frustrate myself trying to change that?
😉 And considering that ‘romance’ and those ‘not real books’ outsell literature and those thought provoking, insightful books that look into the human soul (gack) , they can think what they want. I’ll just continue to sell my not real books and cash my not real checks and smile a not real smile.
LOL Shiloh. I’m with you on the lit thing–although I do ferret it out from time to time, but if I see a paragraph two pages long, I’m gone.
The, ahem, disrespect label was tacked on me years ago, when writing was just a misfiring neuron in my gray matter. Being the ill-informed slob that I was, I decided to take a writing class. Didn’t know I’d stumbled into a, ahem, literary group. My first offering to the class–admittedly very, very bad–was passed from hand to hand, and finally deemed “too commercial.” I thought that was a good thing until I noticed the pitying gazes of my classmates. Thank God, it was an 8 week class . . .
LOL I agree with you Shiloh. Lit bores me too. High School English classes cured me of the need to read any more lit books.
I love literary fiction, but I approach it differently — my standards aren’t lowered when I read a romance, I just expect something different.
No matter what, I expect competent writing and an engaging storyline. I’ve had it work for me reading literary fiction and romance (or any other genre) and also fail spectacularly.
So the throwaway “real book” stuff, I just don’t get. I do understand the frustration she seems to be talking about, not necessarily in the HEA or even the formula (lovers meet and fall in love) but the repetition of elements within the formula (baby epilogue).
So sad that a reader and reviewer has to denigrate books that she obviously enjoyed, b/c they aren’t literary fiction.
Those stats are so odd. Certainly not reflective of what’s on the shelves. perhaps it’s time for a change.