Thanks, Ann! There’s a whole book’s worth of info in this post! Curious if you think publishers’ rebranding of romance titles has anything to do with the influence of Bookstagram, BookTok and BookTube (where covers sell books)? Is social media the new grocery store aisle for these titles/readers? (I’m thinking of the epic rise of Colleen Hoover.)
Also, does Thompson distinguish between romance and YA?
Basically, yes to all! Thompson does single out YA, but he doesn't go into it all that deeply. There is a lot more to be said, there, about the changing reading of younger people. He does say that the boom in YA seems to be traveling with that cohort, now into a "New Adult" category that is commercially strong. Covers are definitely made for social media now, though self-published writers seem able to sell well without fancy design, drawing on their communities, where publishers are playing catch-up. Colleen Hoover is a genius, it seems, at being present as a person for her fans. I feel like I've just dipped a toe in though.
It's all cyclical. When NA books (and Colleen Hoover for that matter) started to sell to indie readers, trad pub snapped up a lot of authors (including CoHo), but they weren't able to replicate the success of indies, for the most part.
I do wonder if you have any info or suspicion of truth to the rumor CoHo's publisher spent 100s of thousands on sponsored posts by influencers to make her recent TT success happen. TT is an interesting microcosm of culture. There are occasional breakouts but once something is popular, it's very hard to get the app to show you anything else, and it's mostly the rich getting richer, so to speak.
Thank you so much for these fascinating insights. The more I learn about this the more I think romance is kind of a laboratory or proving ground for the way all writing is going. Rich-getting-richer is a pattern that keeps asserting itself in these initially democratic platforms. I don't know about the CoHo rumor specifically. My experience of publishers influencer outreach is that it's still pretty improvisatory, but maybe there are a few folks in there who have made a science of it. Paying for recommendations is still a bit unnatural to the publicity apparatus. I would love to know more about this. I should try to cultivate some moles...
Thanks, Ann! So interesting that the traditional marketing logic about covers doesn’t really apply with self-published romances where word of mouth seems to be thriving. Thanks for all the insights!
I don't think this is true. If you look at the indie books that sell well, the vat majority have very appealing covers. The indie market is fiercely competitive. There are some less traditional romance covers because of the influence of TT (a move towards typography and objects; "discrete" covers) but there are still many shirtless men out there. (There is a move towards less overtly sexual covers because advertisers are limiting those images more and more).
Our area (Southwest Virginia) has a large population of German Baptists and "old order" Brethren. A very popular section in our local library is devoted to romances with Amish characters. I've been curious about how these authors guide young hormonal readers through blossoming love. Will add a sample to my stack. Thanks for reminding me not to be a genre snob.
You know, this is a whole thing that I just learned about and didn't have space to get into in the post! I learned from the book "Publishing Romance" that after the appearance of the movie "Witness" there were a couple of romances written about Amish people, and the genre became very popular among conservative Christians but also other people who were just looking for more innocent love stories; it's now a whole thing! There is a genre of Western romances, and Amish romances are kind of Western romances for sexually conservative people, it seems. I loved the idea that this vision of Amish life answered people's need for stories set in a simpler, kind of analog time. There is really something for everyone out there.
Thanks, Ann! There’s a whole book’s worth of info in this post! Curious if you think publishers’ rebranding of romance titles has anything to do with the influence of Bookstagram, BookTok and BookTube (where covers sell books)? Is social media the new grocery store aisle for these titles/readers? (I’m thinking of the epic rise of Colleen Hoover.)
Also, does Thompson distinguish between romance and YA?
Basically, yes to all! Thompson does single out YA, but he doesn't go into it all that deeply. There is a lot more to be said, there, about the changing reading of younger people. He does say that the boom in YA seems to be traveling with that cohort, now into a "New Adult" category that is commercially strong. Covers are definitely made for social media now, though self-published writers seem able to sell well without fancy design, drawing on their communities, where publishers are playing catch-up. Colleen Hoover is a genius, it seems, at being present as a person for her fans. I feel like I've just dipped a toe in though.
It's all cyclical. When NA books (and Colleen Hoover for that matter) started to sell to indie readers, trad pub snapped up a lot of authors (including CoHo), but they weren't able to replicate the success of indies, for the most part.
I do wonder if you have any info or suspicion of truth to the rumor CoHo's publisher spent 100s of thousands on sponsored posts by influencers to make her recent TT success happen. TT is an interesting microcosm of culture. There are occasional breakouts but once something is popular, it's very hard to get the app to show you anything else, and it's mostly the rich getting richer, so to speak.
Thank you so much for these fascinating insights. The more I learn about this the more I think romance is kind of a laboratory or proving ground for the way all writing is going. Rich-getting-richer is a pattern that keeps asserting itself in these initially democratic platforms. I don't know about the CoHo rumor specifically. My experience of publishers influencer outreach is that it's still pretty improvisatory, but maybe there are a few folks in there who have made a science of it. Paying for recommendations is still a bit unnatural to the publicity apparatus. I would love to know more about this. I should try to cultivate some moles...
Thanks, Ann! So interesting that the traditional marketing logic about covers doesn’t really apply with self-published romances where word of mouth seems to be thriving. Thanks for all the insights!
I don't think this is true. If you look at the indie books that sell well, the vat majority have very appealing covers. The indie market is fiercely competitive. There are some less traditional romance covers because of the influence of TT (a move towards typography and objects; "discrete" covers) but there are still many shirtless men out there. (There is a move towards less overtly sexual covers because advertisers are limiting those images more and more).
Our area (Southwest Virginia) has a large population of German Baptists and "old order" Brethren. A very popular section in our local library is devoted to romances with Amish characters. I've been curious about how these authors guide young hormonal readers through blossoming love. Will add a sample to my stack. Thanks for reminding me not to be a genre snob.
You know, this is a whole thing that I just learned about and didn't have space to get into in the post! I learned from the book "Publishing Romance" that after the appearance of the movie "Witness" there were a couple of romances written about Amish people, and the genre became very popular among conservative Christians but also other people who were just looking for more innocent love stories; it's now a whole thing! There is a genre of Western romances, and Amish romances are kind of Western romances for sexually conservative people, it seems. I loved the idea that this vision of Amish life answered people's need for stories set in a simpler, kind of analog time. There is really something for everyone out there.
Brilliant research and analysis. We should pull our heads out of the sand…
Thank you so much!
No, thank you so much!