Romancing the Recession
At the recent New Jersey Romance Writers’ conference, moderator Terri Brisbin asked a panel of editors about the state of romance in these challenging economic times.
According to Kensington Assistant Editor Megan Records, romance is the only genre that’s growing right now.
Leah Hultenschmidt, who recently joined Sourcebooks, says she was hired specifically for the romance line because the company wants more of the genre.
As Holly Blanck of St Martin’s Press sees it, romance is holding steady while young adult is expanding.
The editors say ebooks sales are growing but the industry is still grappling with how to quantify those sales, which are difficult to pinpoint. However, most seem to agree that romance sells extremely well in ebook form.
They also pointed out that ebook sales don’t count towards The New York Times bestseller list.
If my good friend and conference roomie, Angela (right) is any indication, romance is doing just fine.
Here she is in our hotel room surrounded by her loot: freebies and a good number of books she purchased at the conference’s Literacy Book Fair.
Doesn’t she look like a cover model?
She definitely looks happy!
Girl,
You are sneaky. I had a fabuloous time. The workshops were so good they actually had me thinking I could become a writer too. Congratulations again! I can’t wait to read the rest of Seducing Charlotte WHEN it is in glorious print!
You already knew that! (About the sneaky part :)
Thanks for hanging with me. Hope all is well with you~