Have you ever wanted to just escape the real world and run away from your everyday problems? To live in a perfect world where happiness and love come easy. For me, I accomplish this by diving into a good romance book. Where all my problems don’t exist, and I can live through a fictional character. I have often wondered why it is we, as women, are drawn to romance novels in the first place. The marketing for romance novels is mostly geared towards women for the sole fact that we are the main consumers of romance novels. I would like to believe that it began as of more recent times due to the output of romance movies spawn from romance novels, however it seems to date back to the Victorian Era. With women’s “growing independence” in the roaring 20’s, we saw in increase in sells from woman as Gone with the Wind and Forever Amber hit the shelves (Mohammed, 2019). As we set in the 1960’s, we see a decrease in sales due to lifestyles changing within society. So, does this mean that societal norms impact our reading habits?
In the 70’s, we see two novels published, The Flame and the Flower and Sweet Savage Love. These novels were different from the past romance novels published as they featured overly sexual scenes. Because of the graphic scenes written in The Flame and the Flower, it was constantly turned down hardcopy publishers (Mohammed, 2019). Even with the troubles to publish said books, over 2 million copies were sold, shaping the romance novel scene we see today (Mohammed, 2019). The lingering question is, who are those purchasing this type of book?
The market for romance novel readers leans towards married women from the ages of 25-40 (Mohammed, 2019). This can tell us a couple of things. For one, it can mean that married women are not meeting their expected fill of romance in their daily lives. It can also mean that women of these ages seek love and crave fictional love lives of those in their readings. When reading these novels, it can help fill that void. It can mean women might feel unhappy in their marriages or are left with a feeling of unsatisfaction. It’s no surprise that the market shifts to married women who probably just need a little distraction from the problems at home or the boring everyday routine.
I listened to a Podcast recently that spoke on the marketing of romance novels. Erotica was a topic that caught my attention, as it is not a topic some would associate with romance novels. Including such a topic within books helps hook in readers who have unfulfilled needs in that department. A good example of such romance novels is Fifty Shades of Grey (Mohammed, 2019). Taking the everyday female student to fall for a young, rich and good-looking CEO with a dark past. As a fanatic myself of this series, one cannot help but fall into the storyline and dream that just for a second, this could be a reality. After all, who doesn’t love a dominant man who not only take lead and initiative but also provides a dreamy escape from the everyday men we encounter.
Leaving it on this note, I think we see that the state of our lives as women might have an impact on the type of books we gravitate towards. They can serve as escape routes for us to forget our current lives and fall into fantasy if only for thirty minutes.
Please feel free to listen to the podcast episode I listened to and share your thoughts below. I will also include the articles I read below so you may read and interpret as well!
Hopeless Romantics 
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