Romance is the biggest selling genre on Kindle and has always been incredibly competitive for both authors and publishers alike. The good news: according to the latest genre report by Alex Newton at K-lytics, the category has benefited from the pandemic. Seasonal lows for the category, usually in January, have become negligible since the first lockdown in spring 2020. As of this writing, there are more than 1 million ebooks available on Kindle, and the supply has grown 15 percent over the last 12 months. Given that volume, savvy authors typically focus on specific niche markets and tropes to have a chance at competing.
The leading subcategory sales in romance include contemporary, mystery & suspense, and romantic comedy. Contemporary romance in particular has strengthened its position as the highest-selling romance subcategory over time, and it has shown the highest 12-month sales rank improvement, driven by sales of Colleen Hoover, mafia romance, and billionaire romance.
The multiracial and interracial romance subcategory is showing increased sales. Newton says that some believe this is driven by Black woman, white man romance (BWWM) or urban romance, but he sees other types of romances being categorized in this way, including mafia and organized crime romance, with sci-fi and monster romance also contributing to growth.
On a current decline: paranormal romance involving werewolves and shifters. However, Newton says the cool-off in this submarket might be short term; over the last 10 years, one paranormal romance trope that’s continued to grow is shifters. Plus interest in shifters remains strong. Elsewhere: Amish romance is also on a negative trajectory, and there have been similar downward trends in the overall Christian romance market.
To break into the market, consider a submarket with an attractive sales-to-competition ratio. This means writing to market in a category in which there are fewer overall titles but strong sales. Right now, these submarkets include the later-in-life category (a new Kindle romance category with older protagonists), medical, gothic, action & adventure, sports, demons & devils, and new adult & college. Also, regarding that later-in-life category: This is where many women’s fiction books end up being categorized.
Romance books carry among the lowest prices of all main Kindle categories. The only categories that sell for less are humor and entertainment (our apologies to Hot Sheet cartoonist Bob Eckstein) and religion and spirituality. However, over time, prices for romance ebooks have inched upward. In 2017, the category hit a low point where average pricing was less than $2.50. Today, it’s $5.11. Newton advises authors, “Don’t undersell your work.”
Romantic erotica has been performing better over the last couple years, possibly because of TikTok. It is very difficult to market and promote in this submarket because of restrictions on advertising on Facebook and Amazon. But these challenges don’t (yet) exist on TikTok. Newton says, “All of a sudden people find ways of really getting traffic [via TikTok] to these steamier books … with a 44 percent sales improvement in romantic erotica alone.”
Bottom line: Ten or 15 years ago, vampire and paranormal romance were the hot subcategories, but these have given way over time to fantasy romance and dark romance. Romances have been getting darker, grittier, and steamier—and in some areas, more abusive, Newton says. To gain more in-depth insights into the romance category on Kindle, you can purchase the K-lytics October 2022 report.
Jane Friedman has spent her entire career working in the publishing industry, with a focus on business reporting and author education. Established in 2015, her newsletter The Bottom Line provides nuanced market intelligence to thousands of authors and industry professionals; in 2023, she was named Publishing Commentator of the Year by Digital Book World.
Jane’s expertise regularly features in major media outlets such as The New York Times, The Atlantic, NPR, The Today Show, Wired, The Guardian, Fox News, and BBC. Her book, The Business of Being a Writer, Second Edition (The University of Chicago Press), is used as a classroom text by many writing and publishing degree programs. She reaches thousands through speaking engagements and workshops at diverse venues worldwide, including NYU’s Advanced Publishing Institute, Frankfurt Book Fair, and numerous MFA programs.
