The 29th annual Romance Writers of America conference, held in Washington, D.C., from July 15 to 18, drew nearly 2,000 registrants, more than the 1,800 anticipated by organizers, and especially striking considering the challenging economic times. But then, as many attendees noted, romance is outselling other genre fiction and is one of the few categories in the book market enjoying sales growth.
Some 74.8 million people read at least one romance novel in 2008 and romance boasts a core group of 29 million regular readers, a recent survey conducted by RWA found. Other good news: the number of readers for the category continues to increase.
There have been some sales shifts in romance categories. The strongest categories are paranormal romances, whose leading authors regularly land on bestseller charts; historicals, which include regencies, Scottish Highland and medieval sagas; and teen romances. (Harlequin, the leading publisher in the romance field, is launching Harlequin Teen next month; these romances will all have supernatural and paranormal elements.) While still popular, contemporaries, especially romantic suspense and anything by Debbie Macomber, are losing a little ground in comparison.
At the conference, published and aspiring romance writers were busy networking with other authors, agents and publishers and attended scores of workshops and panels (at least 75 were scheduled over three days). Topics ranged from a two-parter on the effects of the Google Book Settlement on authors led by Authors Guild general counsel Jan Constantine to a session on how debut historical romance authors can get six-figure deals, led by two agents and their authors who had done just that.
About 500 authors were at the Wednesday night mass book signing, the only RWA event to which the public is invited and whose proceeds go to ProLiteracy Worldwide and local literacy charities. Fans began to line up several hours before the event so that when the doors of the Marriott Grand Ballroom opened at 5:30 p.m., the room quickly filled. Regional RWA chapters also prepared raffle prizes. Altogether the two-hour event raised more than $60,000 for literacy.
Another major event was the Saturday evening Golden Heart and RITA Awards Ceremony. Golden Heart honors the best in a series of 10 categories for unpublished manuscripts and is judged by RWA published authors. The loudest applause was for Jeannie Lin's Butterfly Swords in the Historical Romance category, which won both a Golden Heart and a Harlequin contract during RWA.
The RITAs are likened to the Edgars, Emmys, Oscars and Grammys. There were 90 finalists in 12 categories. About a third of the finalists had been published by various Harlequin imprints. The winners were:
- Contemporary Series Romance: A Mother's Wish by Karen Templeton (Silhouette Special Edition)
- Contemporary Series Romance, Suspense/Adventure: Danger Signals by Kathleen Creighton (Silhouette Romantic Suspense)
- Young Adult Romance: Hell Week by Rosemary Clement-Moore (Delacorte)
- Historical Romance: The Edge of Impropriety by Pam Rosenthal (Signet Eclipse)
- Regency Historical Romance: My Lord and Spymaster by Joanna Bourne (Berkley Sensation)
- Inspirational Romance: Finding Stefanie by Susan May Warren (Tyndale House)
- Romance Novella: The Fall of Rogue Gerard by Stephanie Laurens in It Happened One Night (Avon)
- Paranormal Romance: Seducing Mr. Darcy by Gwyn Cready (Pocket)
- Novel with Strong Romantic Elements: Tribute by Nora Roberts (Putnam)
- Romantic Suspense: Take No Prisoners by Cindy Gerard (Pocket)
- Best First Book: Oh. My. Gods. by Tera Lynn Childs (Dutton)
- Contemporary Single Title Romance: Not Another Bad Date by Rachel Gibson (Avon)