Thursday, January 12, 2006

What's happened to Romance?

There's a great post on Romancing the Blog today about the crazy multiplication of romance lines. Brenda Coulter is right in her article - subgenres are getting out of control. I know that when I go to look over newly published books in different lines, I get excited when I see a new line - "Yay!" I'll think. "I love books about women CEO's" or whatever the new criteria are. But after I've read a book or three in these lines, I rarely pick them up again. They become formulaic, too predictable to really enjoy. I have a friend who will still read these - but she doesn't usually buy them. She'll pick them up off of my shelf when she comes in town for a visit and read three in an hour. Why? Because she knows the plot; she's just looking for a good line or two, hoping to find something outside of the norm. All of this results in the fact that there are more books in more lines being produced than ever - but I'm not interested in reading most of them....because I feel like I already have. Three or four times. And whatever happened to good medieval romances anyway? Julie Garwood, come back.

2 comments:

K.A.S. said...

I'm all for diversity, but I don't think every niche market needs it's own line. One of the comforting things about an imprint is you can develop a trust in the editor's tastes and the quality of the books they put into print. I'd much rather find an editor who does one diverse line, where I can trust that I'm going to get a great book, and ALSO know that it's going to be a little different every month.

I agree with you that to many of these "lines" of books are just cookie cutter. I just want a great book.

wthenrest said...

I totally agree. I think you can still have interesting ideas,plots, even twists on plots.The story may not be new, but everyone has their OWN story why don't these books? Things don't have to be ABC.