To what genre of popular fiction do the following statistics apply:
- it is the best-selling genre in the United States
- 22% of its readers are male (an increase of 15% over the past 6 years)
- 64.6 million Americans read at least one novel in this genre last year
- 42% of its readers have a bachelor's degree or higher
- 2% of its readers read between 51-100 such novels per year
Here's a clue:
Despite the fact that romance novels have for years been one of the great success stories of the publishing industry, critics almost uniformly despise them:
- they are dismissed as "badly written"
- they are dismissed as "schlock"
- they are dismissed as "capitalist tools" that "subjugate women"
- they are dismissed for "reinforcing the traditional female role"
- they are dismissed for "shaping life as an infantile fairytale"
Why on earth would anyone want to build a private library out of such...such...trash?!
Well, aside from the fact that we have repeatedly advocated that you should collect what you dang well please, building such a collection would present a formidable challenge, and most book collectors love a really good challenge!
The earliest romance novels, like the earliest novels in other genres that are routinely dismissed by critics (e.g., science fiction), were almost uniformly printed as paperbacks. The paper used was very acidic. The spine often was broken when the book was read. To put together a comprehensive collection of such early romance novels in Fine condition might not be financially prohibitive (you can still find these books at garage sales, yard sales, library book sales and the like), but it might take the better part of a lifetime....
You will encounter fewer condition problems if you focus on modern romance novels (printed in conformity with the ANSI/Niso Z39.48 standard for paper permanence), but only if you store them properly. Even with proper storage, the sheer magnitude of what is published in this genre may well tax your ability to keep up with it: in 2007, the last year for which we have seen firm numbers, this genre saw almost 8100 titles published!
To deal with the deluge. many collectors of this genre focus on a few select publishers, such as the "Big Five:"
- Harlequin
- Random House
- Penguin Group
- Harper Collins
- Kensington
Another way to build a private library in this genre without trying to buy over 8000 titles a year is to focus on a sub-genre of the genre, such as:
- mystery or thriller
- exotic locale
- contemporary theme (e.g., AIDS)
- spiritual subplot
- Colonial American or other historical setting
- paranormal theme
- scifi theme
The genre's critics notwithstanding, the cover art of romance novels, among other distinguishing features, is extremely "attractive" to scholars of book publishing, for reasons we'll examine tomorrow....
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