Statistics
United Kingdom:
- 10 million books sold each year in the UK, of which over seven million are romance novels
- A Mills & Boon book is sold in the UK every 3 seconds
United States:
Source: Business of Consumer Book Publishing 2009:
- Romance fiction generated $1.37 billion in sales in 2008
- 7,311 new romance titles were released in 2008
- In 2008, romance was the top performing category on the New York Times, USA Today, and Publishers Weekly best-seller lists
- Romance fiction sales are estimated at $1.36 billion for 2009
- 74.8 million people read at least one romance novel in 2008 (source: RWA Reader Survey)
- Romance fiction was the largest share of the consumer market in 2008 at 13.5 percent (source: Business of Consumer Book Publishing 2009 )
- A readership survey conduct by RWA (Romance Writers of America) indicates that 50% of readers are married, 8% widowed, 4% divorced and 1% separated. Also, 75% are under the age of 54. And 22% of romance readers are men. 23% of readers reported having a high school diploma, while 42% have a bachelor's degree or higher.