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These pages contain
information and articles about romance books, the romance genre and romance
writers - with particular reference to Australia.
But first, a little bit
of background information on the romance writing industry:
Romance Writing is a Big Industry:
Romance fiction comprises 54.9% of all popular paperback fiction sold in
North America.
In North America, romance fiction accounts for 39.3% of all fiction sold
(Different from above, this figure includes not just paperbacks, but hardcovers
and trade-sized paperbacks as well.)*1
To compare:
- Mystery/Detective/Suspense is 29.6% of popular fiction sales
- General Fiction is 12.9% of popular fiction sales
- Science Fiction/Fantasy is 6.4% of popular fiction sales
- Religious, occult, westerns, male adventure, general history, adult and
movie tie-ins was 11.8% of popular fiction sales
(*1) Note: These are Nth. American figures (source listed at the end of this
article). Most of us are first published in Nth. America or the UK and our
books are imported or reprinted here. Australian publishers publish very little
romance, so they don't collect statistics on it.)
Romance Writing is an International Industry:
* Australian romance writers are published all over the world, in 120
countries, in 26 different languages.
* Australian romance writers are mostly published by large international
publishers :
We do very well in the world of international publishing. Our authors are
published by Avon Books (Harper Collins), Bantam Books, Harlequin (Mills and
Boon), Hodder & Stoughton (UK) NAL and Berkley Books (Penguin/Putnam ), Simon &
Schuster, Transworld, Robert Hale (UK), Virgin Publishing, UK.
A few are published mainly
within Australia/NZ: Pan MacMillan, Random House, JB publishing. Many more are
published in e-book format, which is a growing international field.
* Australian romance writers contribute to Australia's international economy
We are regarded as exporters by the taxation department. We are paid in US
dollars or UK pounds or Euros.
We promote Australia and Australian locations to an international readership --
without any funding from Austrade or the Australian Tourism Commission. Readers
all over the world love reading about our “exotic” downunder locations.
Articles and information:
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