Gender politics, history, sex education, royalty and even paranormal activity … you can learn a great many things inside the pages of a romance novel. But how authentic does an author need to be to satisfy their legion of fans?
That's the question UNE sociologists Lisa Hackett and Jo Coughlan are seeking to answer through a series of surveys investigating this highly successful genre of fiction, worth more than US$1 billion in annual sales in the United States, alone.
According to the Australian Romance Readers Association, romance fiction accounts for more than one-quarter of all books sold and holds the largest share of the consumer book market internationally. The number of romance novels self-published in Australia between 2010 and 2016 skyrocketed by 1,000%.
"They are the engine house of publishing," Lisa says. "They are platforms for exploring a variety of topics and can be very influential in terms of what readers think. Like other forms of popular culture, it's important to understand what's attracting people to these stories, why and what they expect of them."
As part of research partially funded by the Romance Writers of America, Lisa and Jo are surveying readers and authors of romance fiction to establish just how much authenticity matters.
"When we looked at historical romances in a previous study, we found that some readers really cared about accuracy in terms of speech, social norms and relationships, whereas others just wanted the fantasy of crisp dresses, horses, big houses and lots of balls," Lisa says.
From a gender perspective, romance fiction is important because the bulk of it is written, edited and read by women. A strong fan base that is very active on social media, in forums and on blogs also distinguishes this genre.
"It's not a passive audience but a very interactive one, and we have seen critical changes over time that influence how women perceive of romance in the real world," Lisa says. "Contemporary romance novels now celebrate women's place in relationships and, when it does feature in novels, sex focuses more on female sexual pleasure.
"The books are serving an educational role in terms of how sex is performed and negotiated, especially around questions of consent, and what is and isn't appropriate within relationships. Women generally have more agency in modern works and we are seeing greater diversity represented."
Romance novels can be a fun and accessible way to learn about the world, and the guarantee of an uplifting "happily ever after" or at the very least a "happy for now" conclusion to a love story is clearly very appealing. But what of accuracy?
"People can read historical romance to learn about a historical time period, but they may not be learning something that is true or accurate if the author has taken liberties," Lisa says. "Others look at the way private lives and relationships are portrayed, and may be happy to pretend that it's okay in the pages of a book when they wouldn't permit it in their own relationships. This playing with ideas and suspension of reality is what we want to un-tease through our surveys, to determine whether fact and reality even matters in the name of a good story."
Lisa believes authors, many of whom self-publish or publish their works online, will be interested in discovering what things are important to readers, so they can improve engagement and create books that reflect their readers' views of the world. Conversely, readers are likely to be interested in where writers are coming from.
"Romance fiction is a broad genre that includes a huge range of distinct sub-genres, such as rural, medical, paranormal, erotic, LGBTQI+, ChickLit and futuristic," Lisa says. "The fact that the genre is dominated by women makes it a rarity in popular culture and important to understand."
People have until July to complete the surveys, by genre:
- For historical romance readers and writers - https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_9NQNk8mn8ni1bT0
- For crime romance readers and writers - https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_cMiIOZXI5bsbOd0
- For royal themed romance readers and writers - https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3qjPA2jTRUF4D5Q
- For paranormal romance readers and writers - https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_3azcOigxBaTLkPk
- For medical romance readers and writers - https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_abdW6OgBRcBbuzc
- For inspirational romance readers and writers - https://unesurveys.au1.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_6X1y6GML84txBVc
