When a handsome man meets a strong-minded woman in the passionate pages of a romance novel, sparks fly and cash registers ring . . . and ring … and ring.
The registers sound to the tune of $750 million a year. That`s the figure recently cited by Forbes magazine for sales in the booming industry of romance literature. Most of those dollars come from book sales, although it also includes related products such as romance magazines and cruises for romance book lovers, the article stated.
Not since Rhett wooed Scarlett has there been such a lust for romance books. And the trend has not missed Du Page County, which boasts its fair share of published authors as well as those who are laboring to craft their first manuscript.
The writers are tapping into a market that seems practically insatiable. Waldenbooks, the nation`s second largest bookstore chain, reports that romance sales were up 27 percent last year in their 1,110 stores. A 37 percent increase in sales is projected for this year.
Compare that to their aggregate books sales, which are expected to increase by a meager 4 percent.
Writers of romances ply their creative trade because they love the genre. Most authors say they are also avid readers. Many want to clear up the misconceptions they feel people may have about romance readers and the industry.
Contrary to popular thought, romance author Susan Elizabeth Phillips of Naperville calls the romance genre ”feminist fiction.”
”I like to write books that empower the woman,” said Phillips, whose novel ”Fancy Pants” earned a spot on the New York Times bestseller list a few years ago.
”We all get the silly newspaper stories about the throbbing thighs, but these books are not about sex,” she said.
”They are about women taking charge of their lives. (In romance) the woman gets to be the hero. It`s very complex fiction that male critics have dismissed,” Phillips said.
She adds that in the romance genre, ”the woman always wins the man and he always gets tamed in the end.”
Phillips was a speaker at a three-day national convention of the Romance Writers of America, which was held at a Chicago hotel this summer.
For aspiring romance novelists who live in Du Page, there are plenty of other opportunities to learn how to write a romance. And you don`t even have to travel as far as Chicago to do it.
A west suburban chapter of the Romance Writers of America was founded just last year. Known as the Windy City Romance Writers, the group welcomes both published and novice writers.
They meet once a month at the Lisle Public Library. Published authors are invited to speak every other month. The alternate meetings are devoted to critiquing members` works in progress.
”It`s not a cut-throat critiquing session,” said the group`s president, Gail Colombo of Naperville. ”But it`s still honest.”
Giving constructive criticism of one anothers` work is important because
”a lot of times what you think is crystal clear in your writing may not be crystal clear to others,” Colombo said.
The group also talks about how to market a manuscript and new trends in the marketplace.
”We talk about what`s hot, what`s not and what`s coming up,” said Colombo.
Myra McWethy of Aurora, a romance writer and voracious reader, teaches romance writing in a continuing education course at the College of Du Page, Glen Ellyn.
Students` laughter and boisterous chatter punctuate her lively lectures. It would lead you to believe that romance novels are just plain fun.
”What does sexy mean?” asks McWethy. ”If you`re writing a techno thriller, then the mostly male audience doesn`t want to know anything about sexy. They want to know if the bomb will be defused in time!”
The focus on people and their relationships is what Patricia McLaughlin likes about the genre. She`s a Lombard native who now lives in Virginia and juggles a career as a romance novelist with being a part-time copy editor for the Washington Post.
”I like books that focus on people, on characters. That is the essence of a romance book,” she said.
The author reduced her hours at the Post as she got more involved in her writing career.
”What happened was that I was spending so much time writing that I started calling my co-workers by my characters` names,” she said with a laugh.
There are plenty of fallacies about romances that these authors and readers dispute. One of those is that romance readers are in some way dissatisfied with their own lives or relationships.
”A big misconception is that women (romance readers) are looking for romance because they are unhappy with their own lives,” said Cathie Linz, a Westmont resident who has authored 12 romance novels.
Marilyn Redeker, a Woodridge resident who devours three romance novels a week, dismisses that theory out of hand.
”It`s not like I`m insecure or as if I`m looking for a fantasy lover,”
she said with a laugh. ”I read for relaxation.”
She compares her reading of romance fiction to a man who likes to read westerns.
”Just because a man reads Louis L`Amour doesn`t mean he wants to build a corral in his back yard,” she said.
Redeker is a sales manager for Sears Healthcare in Downers Grove. She works with the disabled who order health-care products from catalogs.
”When I come home from work I want to escape (the stress of work). I want to read something that will put me into another world,” Redeker said.
”I like the fact that there`s always a happy ending,” said writer Linda Wiatr of Carol Stream. ”You know in the end that there isn`t going to be someone dead in a ditch somewhere.”
Like other fiction readers, romance readers ”want a few hours of enjoyment,” said Linz.
The author has given a good deal of thought to why romance fiction is so appealing. Linz is the lead contributor in a collection of essays titled
”Dangerous Men and Adventurous Women: Romance Writers on the Appeal of the Romance.”
The book, published by the University of Pensylvania Press, is due out in November. A market research survey commissioned by one of the largest publishers of romance novels, Harlequin, has also led to some interesting findings, according to Linz.
She cited some of the results: ”Fifty percent of romance readers are employed, 45 percent have attended college, and 70 percent of readers are under the age of 49.”
Linz contended that these statistics dispute the conception that romance readers ”are out of touch with reality.”
Since simple enjoyment is the reason for reading such fare, Linz said she believes romance novels ”are popular for the same reason that music by Tchaikovsky is or that a painting by Monet is.”
It might be difficult to make the claim that much of romance fiction is on the same par as classical music and art, but writers insist that crafting a novel is not as easy as some people think.
”The romance field has a hard time gaining respect,” said Elysa Hendrick, a Carol Stream writer who is working on her first manuscript.
”People say, `Oh, it`s just a formula.` But they are not easy to write well.”
For writers, their own lives sometimes supply the grist for their creative works. Linz` latest book, ”Flirting with Trouble,” is set in the fictional town of Oak Heights, which is modeled on her hometown of Westmont.
”The heroine got her first ice cream cone at the Stop N Chat,” said Linz. Residents might recognize that there is a snack shop in Westmont that bears the same name.
”Everybody in town goes there,” said Linz, adding that she wanted the fictional snack shop to be the same type of friendly gathering place.
There are a lot of different types of romance novels, from romantic suspense to time travel and westerns. The dramatic backdrops for these novels are somewhat predictable, said one reader.
”You just wait,” said Redeker, whose avid reading qualifies her as an expert in the genre. ”In about nine months there`s going to be some books out with hurricanes in them.”
The reason? Hurricane Andrew, which swept through Florida and Louisiana in late August.
