5 Important Truths I Gained as a Romance Author
By: Courtney Stars
Tags: Books, Love, Relationships, Writing, Life Lessons

In my desire to learn more about writing income streams, I’ve started writing short romance books and publishing them for Amazon Kindle. I use more than one pen name, and I’ve experimented with writing different types of stories.

I’ve only been doing this for a month or so. I’ve made a little bit of money — about $86 in royalties for January. But what’s been most valuable to me is what studying romance writing can tell us about real people — especially women.

The Kindle romance market is huge

A quick Google search will tell you that romance is the largest market for Kindle books. And with the rise of Kindle Unlimited, short, rapidly-released romance novellas are becoming consumables. You can read your fill for “free” once you’ve paid for the monthly fee of $9.99 — and romance fans read these books faster than authors can write them. Kindle romance books are like Starbucks specialty concoctions; a little self-indulgent treat those with a bit of disposable income can relish. In fact, In 2015, Nielsen found that almost half of romance book fans read the genre at least once a week.

I’ve been teaching myself the art of writing romance, and I try to “write to market.” In my quest to figure out what sells, I’ve learned a thing or two about what people really want.

Think about it — surfing the Kindle store is just like searching Google. You can search for what you want easily and privately. So, just as Google search trends can teach us what’s on society’s mind, Kindle search terms give us a rare glimpse into people’s fantasies. And the best part is that it isn’t just insight into sexual fantasies (though you definitely learn about those too). You get a look at people’s emotional fantasies. The type they would likely be embarrassed to admit to others.

Here are five things I’ve learned about people writing Kindle romance.

Above all, people want to be chosen

There’s a reason so many books and movies are about a person who’s “the chosen one.” Being uniquely desired seems to be a common desire. For example, in a straight romance story, the hero becomes enthralled with the heroine. All other women cease to exist once he finds her. That’s why being “claimed” is a popular genre term — meaning sexually claimed and claimed as a prized-possession.

The concept of a focused, unrelenting desire for a particular woman is the force behind the popular “shifter” romance niche. Shifters are supernatural beings who can transform from human to animal. When the male shifter, who has the instinct of a creature like a wolf or a bear, meets his one true mate, he has an unyielding urge to “claim” her. It’s biological, it’s primal, and it’s selective.

Even conservative, vanilla people want hot sex

Let’s admit one thing: most romance books are not feminist. And from interacting with Facebook fan groups, I get the idea that romance fans are often pretty conservative in lifestyle. They are not the type of people who would fall for the sexy motorcycle-riding drifter they bump into in a “meet-cute.”

But what I find is that these unassuming women still love a hot, steamy sex scene. It may not be BDSM or anything wild, but readers want to be turned on. And the characters often go on to have frequent, fulfilling sex lives in their happily ever afters (which we often conveniently learn about through an epilogue).

There is one caveat: clean, inspirational, or Christian romance also does very well. These are stories about chaste women who find love. They are often historical or set in a subculture like Amish country (yes, Amish romance is a thing). Any sex is left to the reader’s imagination after the characters walk into the sunset of marriage.

Nothing’s more comforting than the familiar

Comfort food is familiar food. It’s usually a family, cultural, or holiday favorite. No one wants to try experimental cuisine from an ethnicity they’re not familiar with when they are seeking comfort.

When it comes to romance readers, they don’t want to read your creative, experimental hogwash. It’s all about tropes, tropes, and more tropes.

Kind romance writers go as far as putting the trope right into the title. An example might be: “Home Again: a Second Chance Romance.” Or “My Night with the Billionaire: a Secret Baby Story.” I just made these up, but I wouldn’t be surprised if you could find very similar titles on Amazon.

A few of the most popular romance tropes include:

Secret baby (heroine hides her pregnancy/baby from the father for reasons)

Friends-to-lovers

Enemies-to-lovers

Second-chance at love

Fake relationship — Think “Holiday in Handcuffs.”

Tropes are all about meeting reader expectations. If you’re reading a romance looking for an escape, you don’t want the secret plot twist to be that the man is a fraud or a serial killer. You don’t want the couple to fall on hard times that don’t get neatly resolved before the happily ever after. In fact, a happily ever after (HEA in the biz) is required, according to the Romance Writers of America.

Readers will forgive a lot if your work makes them feel something

One of the pitfalls of rapid-release self-publishing is that there aren’t the same quality controls in place that you’d get when reading a traditionally published book. Most Kindle romance writers are either hobbyists or light side-hustlers. But even those with a big following occasionally publish a book with a typo or mistake. You find a lot of incorrect character names and forgotten end quotation marks.

But, if your story is good and your characters are likable, readers won’t crucify you.

That said, I’m not sure if readers on this platform are equally forgiving. Here, the readers desire to feel intellectual stimulation — or even a sense of intellectual superiority. But romance readers are all about the love. They appreciate that you did the work to write a book for them to enjoy this weekend curled up on the couch.

The Romance genre will never die

During the last American recession, when the sales of most books were declining, the romance genre still grew. Romance readers are loyal, lifelong fans. Why?

Some researchers say it’s evolutionary. Women love romance novels because they want strong alpha mates for protection and reproduction. Women want men who are “wealthy, fit, fertile, and committed.”

But is that the only reason? I know that some would find that reasoning highly sexist.

Romance may be driven by our ancient desire to find a caveman to drag us back to his cave, but in today’s stressful world, I think romance books serve as a simple, affordable escape. Like fantasy sports and social media, romances are a way to make yourself feel happy while giving your brain a break from our sometimes scary and bleak realities.

The ubiquitous Hallmark Channel romance movie has flourished since Trump’s in 2016. “The environment is undeniable contentious. We are a place you can go and feel good,” says Bill Abbott, chief executive of Crown Media.

I know this is true because I was one of those women. After mourning Trump’s surprising victory during November, I turned on cheesy, ultra-predictable Hallmark movies, where love always wins.

All you need is love

Love is the thing we desire most. The purpose of life has something to do with the mystery of love. Dan Pedersen

Love is so precious that we will read about big, over-the-top love affairs that most will never have. Just like our culture values wealth, as displayed by the success of reality shows about rich people, we also value love so much that we will read about it romance novels. Even short, cheesy, self-published, Kindle romance novels — typos and all.

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