Romance News and Trends and Publishers November 18, 2022

Lots of interesting news and tidbits to share this week, plus a few new romance imprints to submit your manuscript to.

Amazon Limits Categories:

When you publish your book through KDP, you select 3 categories, but in the past you could contact Amazon to list in 7 more. Recently, Amazon has now disallowed books from ranking in more than three. Amazon states that customer activity will influence which three categories the book will rank in on your amazon page.

Using a keyword tool can help. I know many use Publisher Rocket but I also saw BkLINK recommended as well.

NOTE: I noticed recently that on my author page, some of my books wouldn’t appear at the top. I learned the books highlighted at the top of an author page are the most popular ones. It’s an attempt by Amazon to showcase your more popular reads.

K-lytics Offers Good News for Romance Authors

• Top subcategories: Contemporary, Suspense, Rom-com (mafia and billionaire are popular)
• Multi- and Interracial romance sales are growing
• Sales in shifters, Amish, and Christian romances have fallen
• Average prices are up from less than $2.50 in 2017 to over $5.00 today. – What I don’t know is how many of these books are in KU.

What does this mean for you? 

Writing to market is urged by many indie publishing “experts” but if you choose billionaires and to go against the authors who are already rockin’ in, you might have a harder time standing out.

In any business, your goal is to find the hot seller that doesn’t have as much competition. Some ideas to consider are:

• Medical romance
• Later-in-life romances
• Action & Adventure
• Demons (and maybe Angels)
• New Adult College (although Colleen Hoover and Elle Kennedy will give you a run for your money) – This is what the TikTok crowd loves.
• LBGTQ – If you’re looking for a traditional publisher, LBGTQ and diversity are high on the list of “wants” from agents and publishers.

Or just write what you want. There’s no guarantee that writing to market will mean the big bucks for you. And there’s no reason to think a book you write that isn’t current “hot” in the market won’t sell.

Also, something to note about K-Lytics is that it lists trends in Kindle sales only. This data could be different for print book sales or a combination of the two.

 Romance Publisher Imprints

Are you looking to traditionally publish? Here are few new options:

Harlequin’s HQN is now Canary Street Press with a goal to publish “inclusive stories that represent everyone’s happy ever after.” Here is the entire Harlequin Imprint list.

Entangled Publishing is launching Red Tower Books to focus on romantic fantasy and science fiction, with “a feminist and empowered emphasis…” Think Leigh Bardugo or Sarah J. Maas.

Storm Publishing is brand new, which is something to be cautious about. But, it was started by people who worked at Bookouture, a Hachette UK ebook imprint, so they likely know a little something about book publishing. Here is the submission page.

 Holiday Romance Writing Class (think Hallmark Movie)

Story Summit is offering a holiday romance writing course for novelists and scriptwriters. The cost is $129, and covers:

• How do you plot a classic holiday romance?
• What do holiday movie producers look for in a script?
• What kinds of tension are expected between characters?
• How can you introduce unique twists?
• How do you come up with a memorable meet-cute?
• and more…

Twitter

I can’t decide if Elon Musk is throwing spaghetti at the Twitter feed to see what sticks or has a reason for the madness. Personally, I’m not active on Twitter, but I know it’s a resource to stay up on publishing trends and connect with authors. Agents I know use Twitter to keep informed about publishers and editors.

Me? I doubt I’m going to change my non-existent Twitter habit. What are your thoughts on Twitter these days?