Is romance loved by the Australian literary world?
Joanna Maidment
Introduction
Love is possibly the most coveted human experience. Devised by nature to encourage bonding and procreation, it ensures life on earth continues. It’s not surprising then that romance has inspired a kaleidoscope of human developments across history in the form of stories, songs, paintings, poems, sculptures, vengeance, murder and political conflicts.
‘Romance, as part of the human experience, has existed since the first time a pair of lovers gazed at each other with love-blinded eyes and saw the world around them not as it was, but they wanted it to be.’ Kristin Ramsdell
Ever since stories have been relayed, romance has occupied a fixed space in the world of books, within which the romance genre’s success and popularity with readers are proven by thriving sales. Yet, despite this success, the romance community often feels disparaged and ignored by the echelons of the literary world and by society at large. This marginalisation, possibly founded in misogyny, is an unsettling phenomenon that undermines the genre and its main readership group, women.
This report analyses the Australian literary industry’s attitudes and behaviours towards the romance genre, which, when impregnated by negative social norms, impedes the genre’s full potential and the contributions it can make to its readership. To assess if social discrimination towards the genre exists, the report looks at pre- and post-publishing support offered by the industry to romance writers and books, as manifested by the number of development opportunities, critical reviews and literary prizes offered to them. Then, this report discusses how this support, or lack thereof, impacts romance writers in Australia.
Romance genre
According to an American online education platform MasterClass on which students can access tutorials and lectures pre-recorded by experts in various fields including writing, fiction is subdivided by academics and literary critics into genre and literary fiction. Literary fiction tends to follow unconventional plot structures while embedding symbolism and allegory, exploring philosophical themes regarding the human nature and receiving careful criticism in journals. Genre fiction adheres ‘to formulas for plot and character arcs, typically more literal with fewer obscure symbols and allegories, whatever symbolism might exist is typically clear and easily accessible to all readers. For popular examples of genre fiction, consult the book racks in airports and grocery stores.’
The most accepted definition of the romance genre, also referred to as ‘fiction genre’ is
‘a romance novel consists of “a central love story” and “an emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending”’ Hsu-Ming Teo
This differs from a ‘romantic’ or ‘love story’ novel, as Romance Writers of Australia explain, in that a ‘romantic’ novel has romance as an integral part of the plot but other areas of focus as well, while a ‘love story’ revolves around a romantic relationship but need not end with a happily ever after. According to Carolyn Greenwald, an American romance writer, the most important thing to remember while writing romance is that ‘it’s a story where the biggest thing at stage is a protagonist’s love and the stakes can’t get higher than that’.
Commercial success
The romance genre’s popularity is demonstrated by sales figures and industry opinions, which suggest that romance novels are a large-scale cultural phenomenon, predicted to continue well into the future. In Australia, in 2022, 3.3M copies of romance novels were sold, representing A$51M in value, which accounted for 14% of adult fiction market, representing 3.8% of all books sold. In 2021, romance fiction grew by 79% in volume and 83% in value.
Romance stigma and cultural contribution
The romance genre is written and consumed overwhelmingly by women, with a male readership of around 14%. There is an agreement that the romance genre provides women with a licence to express their needs and desires, which in a way explains the genre’s popularity, and ironically, may be the reason for its derision by academics, critics and society at large.
Romance has had a particularly difficult time being acknowledged in mainstream society for the cultural contribution it makes to push forward diversity and progressive ideas around love, sex, gender roles and happiness. Romance novels are progressive in that they focus on women’s emotions, their internal lives and quest for satisfaction, in a way that no other genre does. In addition, the genre has decreased the inequality of access to erotic material between genders, with male audiences having had more choices in the past.
The widely held belief that romance novels are badly written is a view strongly contested by those close to the genre, with many romance writers lauded for producing beautiful, thoughtful literature. While poor representation, entrenching stereotypes and perceived lack of literary merit are issues, they are not exclusive to the romance genre and not the reasons it is hated. The derision is widely believed to stem from misogyny, which is found by many to be unjustified, and thus, warrants change.
‘there’s underlying sexism when the romance genre is criticized, novelists say’ CBC
If the negative perspectives on the romance genre were to change, it could help society acknowledge that contemporary romance fiction is literature read for both education and enjoyment.
The romance genre is the most popular, yet the least respected of fiction genres and widely dismissed by the critical community. The problem is deeper than apparent lack of literary value, because even when romance novels are recognised for literary merit, historically they have not been explored by critics, with books by female-identifying authors being less likely to be reviewed in prestigious literary magazines.
Genre repositioning
The romance genre’s popularity with readers and recent reverence by BookTok has been forcing the literary sector to pay the genre more attention, resulting in publishers asking for bigger slots, bookseller support and more impactful campaigns for romance novels. Even though Australian mainstream publishers have started publishing romance novels, the overall publishing trends leave Australian romance authors at a disadvantage. While the BookTok revolution has helped to increase sales of romance novels in Australia, most of the books popular on the platform are written by US authors, pressuring local writers to write for overseas markets. This in turn impoverishes Australian readers by decreasing their access to local content.
Discussion
In Australia, the literary industry supports writers by providing a platform for writing work to be developed, recognised and celebrated. The industry relates to a broad range of activities, including courses, grants, mentorships, publishing, promotion, selling, festivals, associations, media coverage, literary prizes and reviews. Many of the industry’s institutional gatekeepers influence what is published, reviewed, celebrated and discussed.
This report examines how the romance genre is supported by the literary industry in Australia. To this end, the number of development programs, critical reviews and literary prizes offered to the romance genre are discussed. The data to support the discussion was sourced from the Australian Society of Authors (ASA), Hawkeye Publishing, Australian Book Review (ABR), Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and Stella Prize, as they represent peak bodies in the literary field. Owing to the limited scope of the analysis, Hawkeye Publishing was chosen randomly out of the many manuscript development programs on offer in Australia. The two manuscript development programs reviewed were the ASA Award Mentorship Program for Writers and Illustrators and Hawkeye Publishing Manuscript Development Prize. These programs were analysed based on the available data range, which was three years for the ASA program and five years for the Hawkeye Publishing development prize.
As the Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and Stella Prize don’t identify genres when awarding literary prizes, assumptions have been made about genres based on the available synopsis or other relevant comments, where available.
The report then follows with reflections from established and emerging romance writers on their experiences of support in Australia. A limitation of the study is the lack of comparison of the literary industry support offered to other fiction genres, such as fantasy, horror, crime and science fiction, which would have provided a stronger evidence to base conclusions on.
ASA Award Mentorship Program for Writers and Illustrators
ASA is the professional organisation, community and voice of Australia’s writers and illustrators. It provides advocacy, support and advice. The report examined the number of mentorships in the fiction category that were awarded by the ASA to romance writers in the last five years.
Out of 39 mentorship programs awarded, one (The Breeding Season by Amanda Niehaus) had a love story at its core, meaning 2.5% of all mentorships were offered to a love story, and none or 0% to the romance genre.
Hawkeye Publishing Manuscript Development Prize
Hawkeye Publishing is an independent, trade publishing house in Australia. It offers an annual manuscript development prize valued at $2,500. The report examined the number of development prizes that were awarded by Hawkeye Publishing to romance writers in the last three years.
One out of the five shortlisted manuscripts (The Need of Comrades by T. L. Jones) identified as Queer Historical Romance, but out of nine prizes awarded, none or 0% were offered to the romance genre.
ABR
ABR is one of Australia’s major cultural magazines that presents high-quality journalism and new writing for the widest possible audience. It provides a much-needed forum for new Australian writers and reviewers, and it is committed to raising the standard of arts criticism in Australia. The report examined the number of critical reviews written for fiction novels in the last 12 months.
Across eleven editions, between May 2022 and April 2023, the ABR published 71 reviews about fiction novels, six (My Heart is a Little Wild Thing by Nigel Featherstone, Faithless by Alice Nelson, Moon Sugar by Angela Meyer, The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell, Stella Maris by Cormac McCarthy and Thirst for Salt by Madelaine Lucas) had love story at its core and one (Love and Other Puzzles by Kimberley Allsopp) was defined by the reviewer as a ‘traditional romance’.
Over the last 12 months, six or 8.4% of ABR critical reviews under fiction were written about a novel with a love story at its core, and one or 1.4% about a romance novel.
Prime Minister’s Literary Awards
The Prime Minister’s Literary Awards grants $100,000 in total annually and is Australia’s richest literary award. The report examined the number of Prime Minister’s Literary Awards offered to romance writers over the last ten years.
One was given to a novel with a love story at its core (The Golden Age by Joan London) and none to a romance novel. Meaning, one or 10% of the awards were given to a ‘love story’ and none or 0% to the romance genre.
Stella Prize
Stella Prize, a major voice for gender equality and cultural change in Australian literature, is a literary award celebrating Australian women’s writing. The winning book of fiction, nonfiction or poetry is awarded $60,000. The report examined the number of Stella Prizes offered to romance writers over the last ten years.
Two were given to a book with a love story at its core (The Museum of Modern Love by Heather Rose and Mateship with Birds by Carrie Tiffany), and none to romance novels. Meaning, 20% of the awards were given to a love story, and none or 0% to the romance genre.
Case studies
To provide insight into lived experience of the level of support provided to romance writers in Australia by the literary sector, two authors, one established and one emerging, were asked the following questions:
What is your experience of the level of support provided to romance writers in Australia by the literary sector?
Do you feel romance writers are offered adequate support through pre-publishing development and post-publication opportunities in the form reviews and prizes?
Anne Gracie – an established Australian romance writer – has written books shortlisted for the RITA Award (USA). She has twice won the Romantic Book of the Year (Australia) and the National Reader's Choice Award (USA), annegracie.com
“In all my experience of writing and publishing romance from Australia, there has been little to no support — or interest — in the genre and those who write it, from the literary community. But most of us are not trying to write literary fiction — we're writing popular fiction (genre fiction) which is a whole other thing, with different requirements and aiming at a different market.
I was one of the first romance writers to give talks in writers centres about writing romance. Romance writing talks are now more frequent, but romance writers are still rarely included in literary events or festivals. There was one Melbourne Writers Festival which had a theme on "Romance" but since then, nothing. It's a kind of ghetto.
Attitudes are very slowly changing, but there is still a general assumption in the literary community that romance writers write to formula — kind of "paint by numbers" in writing — and that is so wrong.
In general, romance writers in Australia support themselves — and each other. It's a case of "sisters doing it for themselves." Romance Writers of Australia is an organization that is dedicated to helping their members get published, not only helping to develop members' craft-of-writing skills, but also educating members about markets, opportunities and business and providing information and support for already published members.
Australian romance writers, because there was little interest at home, were forced to look overseas to sell their work. It's probably one reason why Aussie romance writers are so supportive of each other — our editors were in another hemisphere, so we looked to each other for support.
To be honest, I don't think it's a bad thing that we've been forced to depend on our own resources. We romance writers have been forced to be practical, to consider the market and to write with selling in mind. And we share information in a way that often astounds people from other writing organizations. Mostly our successes fly below the radar of mainstream Australian publishing, but we're no tragic orphans peering wistfully through a literary window. Romance writing in Australia is thriving — internationally and on its own merits!”
Brea Lancaster is an emerging Australian romance writer and student of Writing and Publishing Master at RMIT University, breannalancaster.com
“As an emerging writer, seeing the lack of publishing options readily available to romance writers can be incredibly deterring. I have seen so many romance authors — mostly international because the Australian market just isn’t well known — self-publishing their books because trad publishers just aren’t willing to take a risk on a sure thing. And only once they gain success on their own merit are trad publishers knocking down their doors. It’s quite sad because if you don’t have the knowledge and experience with marketing and everything that comes with selling your book to the public by yourself, then you’re going to have a really difficult time getting your books into the hands of readers.
For somebody just starting out, getting advice, and connecting with other authors in a public forum just doesn’t come as easily as it does for other genre authors. I recently attended RARE (Romance Author and Reader Events) in Melbourne and there were over 60 romance specific authors there-and the turnout from all over the world was incredible! So many people who enjoy the same type of writing congregating in the same place-it was one of the most connecting experiences I've had with the romance genre.
Events like that are few and far between — especially in Australia. The market simply doesn't not exist... except that it does, Australia just does nothing to facilitate it because of the long-associated stigma with the romance genre. We're only just seeing a steady supply of romance books appearing in commercial bookstores — LONG after they've been published and enjoyed.
It's disheartening to any new romance author who wants to get their books into the hands of their local readers.”
Implications
The collected data shows that while romance novels represent 14% of fiction sales and 3.8% of all books sold in Australia, the support offered to the genre by the literary industry does not reflect its popularity with readers. Out of 48 development programs provided by the ASA (over five years) and Hawkeye Publishing (over three years), none were given to a romance novel. Out of the 71 fiction critical reviews by the ABR over the last 12 months, one was written about a romance novel, representing 1.4% of all fiction reviews at a time when the romance genre represented 14% of the fiction novel market. Finally, out of ten Prime Minister’s Literary Awards and Stella Prizes over the last decade, none were awarded to romance novels. The examined data suggests that romance writing, while making a significant contribution to the publishing economy and popular with readers, receives next to no support from the literary industry in Australia.
Recommendations
The popularity of romance with readers in Australia should be a prompt for the literary industry to re-examine its attitudes and behaviours towards it. While some justify the lack of support provided to the genre with the assumption that romance isn’t written as literary work, it’s not possible that all romance writing is devoid of literary merit.
While the industry’s attitudes should realign with more contemporary views of women in society, it’s the lack of development opportunities that is of critical concern. Perhaps to established romance writers the industry’s acceptance and support may no longer be wanted or needed; however, the lack of development opportunities represents an unfair and serious discouragement to emerging romance writers.
This should be of concern to the Australian literary industry, which with all its moving parts—writing courses, grants, mentorships, promotion, critical reviews, booksellers, festivals, associations, media coverage and literary prizes—should bring the romance genre into its fold. To affect practical change, the industry should consider including more Australian romance writers and editors on judging panels for its many development opportunities, critical reviews and literary prizes.
‘It is dangerous to condemn stories as junk which satisfy the deep hunger of millions of people.’ Robertson Davies
Romance writers deserve to be supported and celebrated for their talent and the joy their writing brings to millions of readers. A literary environment that equitably supports and takes advantage of the appetite for the genre would lead to a greater local investment and more meaningful outcomes for Australian writers and readers alike.
About the author
Born in Poland, Joanna lives and writes on Wurundjeri land/Narrm. She manages a disability support organisation, while studying Master of Writing and Publishing at RMIT. Her poems, short stories and novels revolve around a desire for society to see women in a meaningful and equal light. Her writing pursues themes of love, sex and women's right to pleasure and is often accompanied by sensual art, with both the imagery and words, inviting the senses to embrace life’s soft and hard edges.