Love is blooming

By Alexandra Alter I cover the literary world and the publishing business. There’s a boom in romance bookstores. More than 20 of them have sprung up around the United States in the past few years — up from just two in 2020 — and more are on the way. They have quirky names like the Ripped Bodice, Tropes & Trifles, Love’s Sweet Arrow, and Kiss & Tale. They’re sprinkled across the country, from Alaska to Maine. They’re largely owned and operated by women, and have become vibrant community hubs for romance fans. As a reporter who covers publishing, I’ve been following the soaring sales for romance, which is by far the top-selling fiction genre. But the arrival of brick-and-mortar romance stores struck me as something new, and surprising. For a story in The Times, I visited romance stores in South Florida and Brooklyn, and talked to booksellers, publishers and fans of the genre, to find out why romance bookstores are suddenly thriving. How readers fell for romance Romance writers and their fans point out that, about a decade ago, there wasn’t much enthusiasm for the genre in independent bookstores. Even though romance has long been a major moneymaker for publishers, the literary world tended to look down on it as frothy and unserious, or worse, as smut. Rebecca Zanetti told me that after she started publishing paranormal romance in 2011, it was hard for her to book a signing at a store, even though her novels were best sellers. “Back when I started out, you’d go into a small local bookstore and they might not even have a romance section, and if I said I wrote romance, they weren’t interested,” Zanetti said. The current romance craze traces to the early days of the pandemic, when millions of people were stuck at home, bored and anxious, and rediscovered their love of reading. Book sales spiked in 2020 and 2021, and romance in particular saw a steep and sustained rise. Its appeal during times of turmoil and uncertainty is obvious: Romance novels offer comfort and escape, and the stories often land on what fans call an “H.E.A.” — a Happily Ever After. Many who turned to romance during the pandemic seem to have kept up the habit. Print sales of romance books more than doubled in the last few years, from 18 million copies in 2020 to 39 million in 2023. On her most recent tour, Zanetti had events at three different romance bookstores in Southern California. And she said a new one — called It’s A Love Story — had just opened in her hometown, Hayden, Idaho. Looking for love stories. Natalie Keyssar for The New York Times Judgment-free zones The new crop of romance bookstores look and feel different from your typical local independent shop. They carry thousands of books in every conceivable romantic subgenre — historical, L.G.B.T.Q., young adult, romantic suspense, supernatural, romantasy, sports-themed romance — and many carry a wide selection of self-published novels that mainstream booksellers don’t stock. Some customers I spoke to said that they loved being able to shop without feeling judged for their tastes, and that booksellers were happy to steer them toward whatever they fancy: secret billionaire romance, B.D.S.M. erotica, Sapphic vampire romance, polyamorous hockey romance. A lot of the stores have an unabashedly feminine aesthetic. They are heavy on pink and floral motifs, with bright signs and merchandise that riff on familiar romance tropes — enemies to lovers, forced proximity, forbidden love, secret identity, fake relationships. They’ve become hubs for romance fans, not just to buy books but also to gather for book clubs, writing workshops, trivia contests and cheekily themed craft nights. Melissa Saavedra, owner of Steamy Lit in Deerfield Beach, Fla., said that even though romance sales were soaring, fans and writers still needed dedicated spaces and more recognition from the publishing world. “Even though it is the best-selling genre in fiction,” Saavedra told me, “we still have to fight tooth and nail for people to respect the genre.” via The New York Times

Lisa Lucas, National Book Foundation: Stop Saying Books Are Dead. They’re More Alive Than Ever

Lisa Lucas is the executive director of the National Book Foundation, the presenter of the National Book Awards and a non-profit that celebrates the best literature in America, expands its audience, and ensures that books have a prominent place in American culture

“The book is dead,” is a refrain I hear constantly. I’ll run into people on the subway, in a taxi, in an airport, or wherever I might be and when I tell them what I do, they ask me “do people even still read anymore?” This simple question implies the very work I do at the National Book Foundation may not be worthwhile—or even possible. It’s generally a casual statement, a throwaway remark, a comment repeated so often that it’s taken as fact. The book is obviously dead, or at least dying, right?

False. When people tell me that fighting for books is fighting a futile battle, that’s the moment my optimism kicks in. That’s the moment I power up my very deepest belief in literature. A person who wants to challenge or lament the death of reading with me is a person looking for a fight and, I think, a person who wants to be convinced otherwise. This gives me hope. I’m here for this fight.

Not long ago, I came across an article with the headline “Reading is a rapidly depleting form of entertainment,” which cited recent findings from Pew Research Center that 24% of Americans didn’t read a book in 2017. Now, what I saw was that 76% of Americans did read a book. The reality is that if 76% of any population is participating in a single activity then you are surrounded by people doing that very thing. The article said that books are dying; the research said—to me, at least—that we are a nation of readers.

The glass is far more than half full. After more than a decade of decline, the number of independent bookstores is on the rise — despite the dominance of online retailers. The American Booksellers Association, which promotes independent bookstores, says its membership grew for the ninth year in a row in 2018. Sales of physical books have increased every year since 2013, and were up 1.3% in 2018 compared to the previous year.

Of course, we know that everyone doesn’t read, and we didn’t need a poll to tell us. But we do need to better understand who reads and why and how to encourage them to read more and more joyfully. We need to figure out who has been left out of the conversation around books and welcome them into the fold with open arms. And so the job of people like me is to widen the audience and make sure that books remain steadfastly relevant to our culture. At the Foundation, we bring authors from around the nation to meet would-be readers on their home turf, distribute books to young people living in housing projects, and celebrate diverse, wide-ranging, excellent work on our largest stage at the National Book Awards.

My colleagues at publishers, libraries, bookstores and literary non-profits share these challenges. We all need to figure out how to make more seats at the table. Our job is to build readers. And while some might consider this work an uphill journey, we do this every day because the profound pleasures of a good book are for everyone, everywhere.

Storytelling is fundamental to human beings. It is how we explore and make sense of this world and understand one another. Because books absorb us and harness our imaginations, they are an essential medium for storytelling—as well as a satisfying one. The idea that these benefits and pleasures are for a limited subset of any given population is dangerous. Books are not exclusive.

Literature strengthens our imagination. If we all have the tools to try to imagine a better world, we’re already halfway there. Each day, there are more books being published that speak to every kind of person, from every kind of place. And I believe readers can be built—because I know we have an unlimited number of invitations to this party.

Read more

James Patterson Makes Good On $1M Promise To Indies

Less than 10 months from the day James Patterson swore a million-dollar promise, he has kept his word. The best-selling novelist announced he has donated about $437,000 to 81 independent bookstores — a gift that completes his plan to donate $1 million of his own money to support independent booksellers.

"We're in a juncture right now where bookstores as we have known them are at risk," he said. "Libraries as we've known them are at risk, publishers are at risk, American literature is at risk, as we've known it, and getting kids reading is at risk."

The recent gift marked the third phase of his campaign, and it brings the sum of his donations several thousand past his goal. To date this year, Patterson has donated $1,008,300 to 178 bookstores across the U.S, with no strings attached. Publishers Weekly offers a list of the indies included in the third round, and the School Library Journal details how one of them plans to use the funds.

"Here's to more parents and grandparents coming to their senses and giving their kids books —yes, books — for Christmas and other holidays," he said. "Here's to local governments waking up to the fact that bookstores and libraries are essential to our way of life. Here's to media coverage of books, booksellers, and publishers, and to a wiser, more literate America. Happy holidays to one and all!"