Romance Literature Statistics: Industry Statistics

2010 ROMStat Report

Romance endures in 2010

Challenges continued to bombard an already battered publishing industry in 2010: fewer Americans purchased books, economic uncertainty remained, and e-book sales accelerated as physical bookstores’ presence decreased. As a result, the Association of American Publishers (AAP) and Simba Information report the consumer book publishing industry’s net revenue decreased from $10.27 billion in 2009 to $10.11 billion in 2010.1

Romance’s Popularity

Romance fiction sales remained relatively steady in 2010, though dipping slightly to $1.358 billion from $1.36 billion in 2009. And romance fiction continued its dominance of the consumer market at 13.4 percent (in terms of revenue of market categories), beating out mystery, science fiction/fantasy, and religion/inspirational titles.2

In addition to strong romance sales, there was a 1 percent increase (from 8,159 to 8,240) in the number of new romance fiction titles published in 2010.3

Romance also made a strong appearance on the best-seller lists with 482 editions of 469 titles by 239 authors under 56 imprints. There was high turnover with 435 new entries, and 77 new romance authors hit the best-seller lists.

Which publishers had the most romance bestsellers? The top 10 romance imprints on the lists in 2010 (in order of rank) were: Mira, Grand Central Publishing, HQN, Jove, Berkley, Avon, Pocket, Signet, St. Martin’s Press, and Silhouette. The top-performing romance subgenres included history, suspense, fantasy, movie/TV tie-in, paranormal, and Christmas titles.4

The Romance Buyer

Across the board, women were important to the publishing industry in 2010. Experian Simmons data shows women are “far more likely to be buyers to begin with (62 percent of all women nationwide compared to 44 percent of men) and are more than twice as likely to buy 10 or more units in a given year: 9.7 percent of women compared to 4.4 percent of men.”5

Women buyers were the “most dominant in mass market paperback,” accounting for 67 percent of unit purchases. Eighty percent of romance unit purchases were in paperback format in 2010, down from 84 percent in 2009. Not to be ignored, however, is the e-book format, which accounted for 7 percent of unit sales and 5 percent of spending in the romance category.6 In 2010, “women had caught up and surpassed men as [e-book] readers…the influx of women meant the group was made up of readers who were more frequent and more committed to book buying.”7

And where are readers buying their romance novels? According to the 2010–2011 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics & Buying Behaviors Annual Review, bookstores accounted for the largest romance book-buying channel with 32 percent of spending; other retailers were 27 percent; e-commerce sites, 26 percent; direct-to-consumer, 13 percent; and all others, 12 percent.

The author “is the key factor in both driving consumers to buy a book as well as making consumers aware of a particular book.” 8 This is especially true of romance authors, as 50 percent of romance buyers stated the author was the reason for the book purchase.

Challenges and Forecast for 2011

Several challenges lay in store for the publishing industry through 2011 and beyond. One difficult challenge to address is the fact that, according to the last Experion Simmons estimate, “over 100 million adults did not buy a single solitary book in 2010.”9 With other forms of entertainment competing for consumers’ attention, the activity of reading needs to be promoted and encouraged to sustain the publishing industry in the long term.

Even if readers are encouraged to read more, it will be tough for them to discover new books since shelf space at retailers is shrinking, millions of square feet of retailing space was lost with Borders’s closing, and thousands of books are published every year.

Romance publishers and authors also should keep an eye on the decline of adult mass-market paperback sales, as the majority of romance purchases are in the mass-market format. The AAP reports domestic net sales of adult mass-market books were down 6.3 percent in 2010. In contrast, e-book net sales were up 164 percent.10 While the e-book segment has experienced large growth in the past few years, analysts claim that few new readers have been created—the segment’s growth is due to “siphoning” off print book readers, and gains on the digital side are not making up for losses on the print side.

What remains to be seen is if romance readers will continue to prefer reading in the mass-market format, or if they will abandon print for e-books in greater numbers.

The good news for the romance community is that romance book market revenue is estimated to grow to $1.368 billion by the end of 2011.11 No matter the format, readers will want the happily ever after that can only be found between the pages of a romance novel. So, get writing!

Romance Fiction Sales from 2005–2011P

(source: Simba Information, AAP)

2005: $1.4 billion
2006: $1.37 billion
2007: $1.375 billion
2008: $1.37 billion
2009: $1.36 billion
2010: $1.358 billion
2011P: $1.368 billion

2010 Romance Fiction Sales in Comparison

(source: Simba Information)

Romance: $1.358 billion
Religion/inspirational: $759 million
Mystery: $682 million
Science fiction/fantasy: $559 million
Classic literary fiction: $455 million

Notes:

1. Norris, Michael, ed. Business of Consumer Book Publishing 2011. (Stamford: Simba Information, 2011), 11.
2. Ibid, 140.
3. R.R. Bowker’s Books in Print.
4. Norris and Stuart Johnson & Associates, Business of Consumer Book Publishing, 141-6.
5. Norris and Experian, Business of Consumer Book Publishing, 176.
6. R.R. Bowker, 2010-2011 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics & Buying Behaviors Annual Review. (New Providence: Bowker, 2011), 7-8.
7. Norris, Business of Consumer Book Publishing 2011, 176.
8. Bowker, 2010-2011 U.S. Book Consumer Demographics & Buying Behaviors Annual Review, 45.
9. Norris and Experian, Business of Consumer Book Publishing, 203.
10. Norris and AAP, Business of Consumer Book Publishing, 12.
11. Norris, Business of Consumer Book Publishing, 75.

*Statistics were compiled by RWA from Book of Consumer Book Publishing 2011, Simba Information, R.R. Bowker's Books In Print, the AAP, and other named sources.