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A romance novel is a novel from the genre currently known as romance. The genre has two strict criteria:
If a novel does not fulfil those conditions, fans of the genre are likely to claim that it belongs to a related genre, such as women's fiction or chick lit, or that it is just a mainstream fiction novel.
Some romance novel readers would claim that the genre has additional restrictions, from plot considerations such as the hero and heroine meeting early on in the story, to avoiding possible themes, such as neither hero nor heroine committing adultery in the course of their relationship developing. However, these are not hard-and-fast rules, and some writers deliberately write stories that may put off some readers in order to push the genre's boundaries.
Romance novels are divided into two sub-sets, category romances (also called series romances) and single title romances.
The term 'category romances' derives from the fact that the books are published in clearly delineated categories, with a certain number of books being published in each category every month. Their alternative name, series romances, comes from the sequential numbers that each book is given. (The category name and the series number is printed on the books' spines.) Category romances are short (usually no more than 200 pages), and have a low purchase price compared to other fiction books.
Each category has a distinct identity, which is based around the level of sexuality, the degree to which the story is realistic, and which sometimes includes the kinds of characters and settings. Publishers of category romances issue guidelines to authors for each category. The following are examples from pulp fiction-style stories that set out only to titillate readers and fulfill their fantasies. This perception is mainly due to the need for publishers to maintain category identity (which can, it is argued, lead to cliched stories), the large number of category romances published and the fast turn-over (sellers only stock the books released that month), which leads to the idea that low-quality writing is accepted in order to publish enough books every month. However, there is nothing intrinsically inferior about category romances.
'' explores the issues around the quality of category romances.
Most category romances are published by Harlequin (known as Mills and Boon in the United Kingdom); Zebra and Signet publish three or four category romances in the Regency subgenre every month.
Single title novels are books released on the strength of their title rather than the category's format and identity - in this sense, 'title' refers not only to the book's actual title, but also the author's reputation and the individual book's plot. They are longer than category romances, with novels averaging around 350 pages.
'Single title' is a misleading name, as authors frequently write sequences of interconnected books - a good example are Mary Balogh's books Slightly Married, Slightly Wicked, Slightly Scandalous, Slightly Tempted, and Slightly Dangerous, in which one of the protagonists is always one of the five Bedwyn siblings. Such sets of books often have similar titles, and it is not uncommon for them to be released over a shorter space of time: the five books of the Slightly sequence were released between April 2003 and June 2004; it is unusual for a single title author to release more than two books a year.
Such sequences are a double-edged sword. On one hand, they can satisfy an author's fans, who are clamouring for the next book and who often request sequels featuring a previous secondary character as the hero or heroine. On the other, the author is often said to suffer from 'sequelitis', and is accused of introducing secondary characters not for plot purposes, but only so that the sequel is set up; some see sequences of books as a cynical marketing ploy that exploits readers who feel they have to read and collect every book in a series, even if the quality of successive books declines.
It is not uncommon for authors of category romances to 'graduate' to writing single title romances; some single title authors - particularly those writing in the romantic suspense sub-genre - move on to being published as general fiction.
The following are the largest publishers of single title romance novels, in term of the number of titles published in 2002:
Harlequin also publishes some single title romances under its HQN imprint.
There are a number of sub-genres of romance novel:
Sub-genres of romance frequently draw on other genres - romantic suspense draws on mysteries, crime fiction and thrillers, and futuristics are romances in a science fiction mode.
Romantica (a blend of romance and erotica) is often labelled as a sub-genre. The term can be applied to any of the other romance sub-genres, but is usually used when sexual aspects of the story take precedence over the others.
See also List of romantic novelists
Romance novels are most popular in the United States and Canada, where it is the best-selling genre. In North America in 2002, sales of romance novels generated US$1.63 billion and comprised 34.6% of all popular fiction sold - by comparison, general fiction comprised 24.1% and mystery, detective and suspense fiction comprised 23.1%. Over 2000 romance novels were published, and there were 51.1 million romance novel readers.
Like many other fan groups, romance novel readers have developed terminology to allow them to talk about the specifics of romance novels quickly and easily. Some common terms include:
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