The two biggest sellers in popular fiction are crime and romance. Opinion seems to fluctuate over which is actually the biggest, but whichever it is, the answer for sales of both is - a lot. Yet despite these massive sales romance has always been a bit of a Cinderella. not given the acceptance and visibility of crime and too often treated as a guilty pleasure - or a guilty secret.
There is plenty of analysis in print as to why this is - most of it centered around the fact that the genre is predominantly (although not exclusively) written and read by women, but I am not going there in this post. It is a post about celebration, not analysis, because the tide seems to be turning. The Romantic Novelists' Association has championed the romance cause for its whole existence, most recently in its Respect Romantic Fiction campaign. And the world is listening.
All over the country and abroad fans of romance writing are flocking to mass author signings to indulge their love of their favourite genre, signings like the Welsh Indie Love event which will be happening in Swansea in October next year. Romance will be a category in the British Book Awards from 2026 - taking its place alongside crime, which has been celebrated with its own category since 2017.
And now, like crime, romance is at last getting its own bookshops! London, Scotland, and now Wales, with the opening of the lovely new Love Stories shop in the Castle Arcade in Cardiff. I made my first visit today - it is warm, welcoming, well stocked with all types of romance and when I was there it was buzzing with interested customers, many of whom seemed to be looking for Xmas presents. I found lots of books written by friends - sadly none of mine as they are digital and print on demand these days - but plenty to feed the romance habits of the city.
It is a fabulous new venture and I hope it will go from strength to strength in 2026.
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| The lovely new romance bookshop in Cardiff. |
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