In a comment she wrote on my recent review of Sarina Bowen’s Good As Gold, Caroline wrote:
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the ask@AAR: And the top selling books at AAR this year are….
I’m always interested to see what AAR readers buy through the links on our site and in our newsletter. After looking over the data from Amazon for our account, it’s clear this is the year of historical romance. Out of our top ten best sellers, eight are historical romances. (I’m including Sherry Thomas’ Murder on…
the ask@AAR: What are your favorite non-traditional historical romances?
In last week’s the ask@AAR, many of you longed for historicals featuring untraditional stories. So we want your recs. What historical romances with non-wealthy, non-aristocrat, non-white, non-heteronormative leads–or any other nontraditional aspects–do you love?
the ask@AAR: What percent of your romance reading is re-reading?
I’m always slightly irked at the number of books Goodreads says I’ve read each year. In 2024, the app says, I’ve read 52 books but that’s incorrect. I’m sure I’ve read at least twenty-five more books but they’re all re-reads which don’t count. I love re-reading beloved books. I find them comforting. In the past…
the ask@AAR: What can’t you forgive?
They were estranged, she briefly took another lover. They were young, in an argument, she hit him. She asked him who he was, for reasons he couldn’t say, he lied. Her best friend from forever was a guy, his jealousy burned out of control.
the ask@AAR: What was your favorite romance published in 2021?
We want to hear from you. We’ve shared our top picks for 2021–now it’s your turn. If you’re looking for inspiration, we have two sources for you. Using our new Power Search, we learned that, in 2021, we gave DIKs to 139 books published in 2021. We gave the most DIKS to contemporary romance (30), historical romance…
the ask@AAR: What’s your idea of a romantic meal?
Yesterday was my–gasp–32nd anniversary and to celebrate Dr. Feelgood and I ordered takeout pizza from a place that specializes in Roman inspired thin, crunchy crust pizza. I made us each a ginger martini, and we sat on our patio and talked about A Place to Call Home. It was lovely–any meal I don’t have to…

This comment resonated with me. In writing, like most everything else, there’s a place where the rapid pace of production begins to pull down products’ quality. There are categories like, perhaps, category romances where that may not be true. And I’m sure there are prolific authors whose output remains stellar. I just can’t think of any….
What’s your take? Do you feel like there are authors out there who write several really good books a year? Are many authors publishing more books in shorter time frames than they used to? Or am I utterly off base? Let me know!