Thank you to everyone who filled out our survey.
Sixty readers responded. That number represents a small portion of AAR’s audience, but the feedback was thoughtful, detailed, and deeply engaged. Some, I will, say, seemed a skosh mean spirited which is disheartening. But almost all reflected real investment in the site, in the genre, and in how we talk about both.
What will it mean for AAR? Well….
Many of you said you miss the Previews. Those monthly roundups gave shape to the publishing calendar and offered a sense of shared anticipation. We miss them too. They took time—more than we currently have—but the desire for that kind of engagement came through clearly. It’s tough. I can’t stress enough that we are volunteers. Every scrap of content you see her, someone, for free, made it. Several years ago, Amazon took away the ability to download linked book covers and so now, every book cover has to be downloaded, then the link has to be added, then the linked cover has to be added into a blog, etc…. Frankly, we just don’t have the time. We understand you’d like this but, right now, our resources are too limited.
Several readers said they would like to see more commentary. You asked for columns, opinion pieces, essays that move beyond individual reviews and toward a broader conversation about the genre. That feedback is deeply appreciated. The challenge is time and staffing. Most of the people who write for AAR do so between other responsibilities. Still, your comments serve as a reminder that voice and analysis are part of what have always made this site worth reading. And I am working on pulling up old content that relevant so that we can talk about even more stuff!
You also said you would like to see more variety in what we review. Historical romance and romantic suspense came up most often. Some readers said they felt contemporary romance was overrepresented, and that many of the books we covered leaned heavily on trauma, therapy, and emotional processing. Many feel as if we review too many queer romances. Others felt the opposite. I have to say, I do not have an easy fix for this. We do not assign books to reviewers. They choose what they want to read. It’s my belief that if I started assigning books, we’d get fewer reviews and fewer DIKs. People love what they love. The result is a picture of what our team has picked up, not a curated cross-section of the market. If you want to shift that picture, one option is to join us. We welcome new reviewers.
Several readers raised concerns about tone and accuracy. Some reviews felt overly sharp. Others seemed too gentle. A few contained errors. We take that seriously. Our goal is to publish reviews that are clean, informed, and grounded in the text. If you notice something that falls short of that, let us know.
Several of you complained about the ads. I hear you AND ads are necessary for us to stay on line. We make very little money from Amazon and the donations the site receives, while lovely, aren’t enough at this point for us to rely only on them. Until I figure out a way to connect our numbers–daily in the thousands–with our revenue–daily in the tens–the ads are a godsend for us.
We also heard what you value.
You said AAR helps you find authors you would not otherwise have discovered. You said the reviews help you avoid books that are unlikely to work for you. You said the site treats the genre with seriousness and care.
You like that our reviewers write with voice and authority. You like that we cover older titles. You like that we are not driven by hype. You trust us to tell the truth as we see it.
AAR continues to be run by people who read. We are not an engine for promotion. We are not trying to go viral. We are not afraid to say that something does not work. That may not suit everyone.
We cannot promise more than we can deliver. The site runs on limited time and limited hands. But we are here. We are listening. And we are grateful. And I will keep trying to both make AAR better and pursue ways to keep us online.
Thank you for all your insights.
I wanted to say a few things about queer romances and their readers. First, it’s a very, very dedicated group of readers. Nora Phoenix did a poll, (therefore not necessarily scientific) that showed that 24% readers of queer romance read 5 to 6 books a week, and another 17% read 7 and over. THIS is the reason queer romance is gaining so much traction and “over-representation.” We might be small in number, but we tend to read large quantities of books. In the past 5 years I’ve read an average of 205 books a year, over 4 books a week, and I’d guess over 90% of those are queer romances. These dedicated readers support several all queer book review sites.
If few queer romances are being bought by AAR readers, and survey’s show it’s a small percentage of your readership, then I think it’s AAR’s focus and readership that is outside the growing trend rather than queer romances being a small and unprofitable genere of romance. That’s NOT meant to be a poke ar AAR or it’s long time regular readers (of which I’m one). It’s probably more a byproduct of its longevity and its dedicated readers, Plus, perhaps there are fewer new readers.
Interesting article about 2 years odl.
https://qburgh.com/the-rise-lgbtq-romance-literature/
“From May 2022 to May 2023, sales of LGBTQ+ romance grew by 40%, with the next biggest jump in this period occurring for general adult fiction, which grew just 17%.
The data from 2023 extends a boom that began in 2016: In the five years from May 2016 to May 2021, sales of LGBTQ+ romance grew by a jaw-dropping 740%.”
^^ This!
It’s interesting because queer romance is not widely purchased at AAR even though we have a cadre of devoted readers. So it’s hard to have a sense of how many readers are reading our reviews of queer romance.
I found queer romance only through this site (Caz’s reviews). Before that I did not even know that this genre existed. Even then, it took me a while to pick up a queer novel. Over the last three years LGBTQ novels have become my favorite genre. I totally rely on this site to steer me to the good ones. I also do buy LGBTQ novels but you will not see them reflected here because of the way Amazon works in India.
That’s so nice to know – thank you, and I’m glad I’ve steered you towards some good books!
A LOT of m/m authors – even the bigger names – put their books in KU, either permanently or for a few months at a time, so there’s no way of knowing how many readers are picking books up because of a review they’ve read here. (Unless, like Indira, they tell us!
Exactly.
Most of your readership isn’t commenting on reviews or blogs, not just LGBTQ romance readers. And many, like myself, pick up books on KU and/or read mostly through audiobooks. (There are some absolutely kick-ass narrators narrating MM romances.) But I do that whether the book is queer romance or straight mystery or whatever. I love audiobooks! Whenever possible I buy direct from authors, and a growing number of LGBTQ romance authors are setting up store fronts.
I’m actually not surprised the number of people buying queer romances off this site is low, for all the reasons I said above. Whenever possible I buy direct from authors, and so do a lot of LGBTQ romance fans. A growing number of LGBTQ romance authors are setting up store fronts and not only selling ebooks, but audio and special edition print books. It’s kind of amazing the number of limited edition, special cover art paperbacks these authors sell.
Lastly, it feel to me like LGBTQ authors have had to develop close ties to their readers, and it shows on the FB pages and in their newsletters. When you’re writing for such a niche, especially in the early days, you needed to have really devoted fans. Now-a-days there are a lot of dedicated cons and book fairs for LGBTQ authors, and even a Disney cruise each year with authors and narrators. Most LGBTQ readers subscribe to many newletters and social media pages (I’m not much for newsletters, but I’m on at least 10 or more newsletters and follow many authors on social media). Authors do a lot of promos, and there is usually at least on multi-author promo (often 15 to 20 books) going on at any one time that are hyped in the newsletters. The books can be free to low cost. It’s a great way to try new-to-you authors.
TL:DR I feel like AAR stats are of limited value and only reflect AAR readers who comment and buy from the links. They aren’t giving an accurate view of what’s actually happening in the LGBTQ+ romance genre as a whole, which is the most vibrant reader group I’ve ever been a part of in my many decades of reading.
It’s lovely they have your support.
I don’t follow any author on social media or subscribe to their newsletters. My only source for romance novels is this website. I do read NYT’s romance book recommendations by Olivia Waite but I don’t buy what she recommends. But I do buy many books reviewed here (not all, of course) but my purchases are unlikely to improve your bottomline because your links do not work well in India. So, I try to support this website in other ways. Below is a partial list of the books I bought after they were either reviewed or mentioned (in the comments or the blog):
1. Erin Dunn, He’s to Die For
2.Rosie Danan, The Intimacy Experiment
3. Jenna Levine, My Roommate is a Vampire
4. M. Chandler, Shadow of the Templar
5. K.J.Charles: About six of her books
6. Alexis Hall: Several
7. Anne Stuart, Reckless, Ruthless
8. Stella Riley, 4. books
9. Farah Heron, Chai Factor
10. Avery Cockburn, Cicadas
11. Gregory Ashe: Mystery Magnet
12. Briar Prescott, Until You
13. Allie Therin, Once a Rogue
14. Sally Malcolm, King,s Man; Rebel
15. Julie Long, How to Tame a Wild Rogue.
For me, getting newsletters and following some authors on social media is the only way to find out about new books I might want to review. As I said in another post recently, back in the day, we received information about upcoming releases from publishers, so the people who used to compile our “Coming Soon” features were able to include probably 90% of new releases in those posts. Now, with so much being self-published, it’s much harder to do that – and if it wasn’t for those newsletters etc. I wouldn’t be able to find the books I want to review! I’m really glad to see so many of those on your list (not all m/m – Stella Riley is someone I’ve shouted about over the years).
The list above is only partial—I have not included several m/f historical romances I used to buy when I first started coming here. My upper limit for romance book pricing is $6. Above that, I will try the library and if it is not available at the library, then I don’t read it at all. I also have other reading interests, literary, crime and non-fiction. Hence, I have to plan carefully how I spend my book budget.
I am not sure what exactly the visitors to this site are supposed to do to make this site (financially?) viable.
I’m a fan of what are (IMO) well-written romances. I don’t really care about the subgenre – I think I read pretty widely across romance subgenres. I care far more about the quality of the writing than any given trope or setting or whatever, and I depend on AAR reviewers to find that quality. I began looking for LGBT romances in 2010 or 11 as I made my way through Suzanne Brockmann’s Troubleshooter series. She was the first “mainstream” romance writer to include a gay character in and amongst all of her MCs and at that time, Amazon and GoodReads were about the only place that seemed to have LGBT reviews. I found authors like Josh Lanyon, Kaje Harper and Tere Michaels there, but a lot of “highly rated” or well-reviewed crap too. So I was really pleased when AAR began reviewing LGBT titles in earnest.
As far as purchasing LGBT titles, and AAR getting credit for that, I own about 400 LGBT romances out of 1000 Kindle formatted ebooks, spread over about 15 years? LGBT books are a really large % of my Kindle collection because many of these books were not/still are not available in print. Ebook has been the only way to read them, although that is changing a bit.
I’ve made a point of buying all my Kindle books via the AAR link since that became a thing here at AAR. And if I read a book from the library or KU and really enjoy it, I’ll buy a copy to support both the author and AAR. But I refuse to pay more than about $6 for an ebook. Fortunately, most LGBT authors’ prices are in that range – because they are still self-published. Authors like Alexis Hall and KJ Charles – which have been picked up by larger publishers – I now buy in print from bookshop.org when they are released and I wait for a sale to get an ebook copy – which means AAR is NOT getting credit for those initial purchases. I feel bad about that but I refuse to buy anything from Amazon but Kindle books. Even my audiobooks are purchased via libro.fm. Hence my direct support of AAR via monthly donation.
I buy from libro, too, when I can, but they only carry audiobooks you can get through a retailer (larger publishers), and so many LGBTQ authors aren’t included. I’ve bough audiobooks from KJ Charles and Alexis Hall from them, and a couple more. I do use Chirpbooks.com, although they don’t carry all the authors I read, either. But they have great sales, so sometime I take a chance on a new author there especially if I know the narrator(s). I can also get 3 audiobooks a month from Hoopla through my library. Sometimes I can find a book on Libby/Overdrive, but mostly books from larger publishers. I buy from the author when possible and listen on Bookfunnel usually, or sometimes Spotify (although I think most of those have been review copies).
I read hundreds of books a year (at least one a day) and so I mainly use the steals and deals to keep it affordable. I used to use the review power search heavily but I basically ticked off all the A+, A, A- books in the genres I prefer, so I haven’t used it in a while. Which maybe speaks to the. need for newer/fresh reviews of HRs. That said, I am not a huge fan of newer HRs so from my perspective maybe reviewing new books wouldn’t be as useful as getting reviews of older books that were not reviewed when first published/popular.
EDIT: Sorry this posted in the wrong thread!
We could always ask for more volunteers in a couple of these points, but I know how hard that can be.
I will say on point of sharp or soft reviews – I think that simply reflects the personalities of the writers who write the reviews.
A couple of thoughts.
First, AAR is a quality site. It is (almost) the only site I visit for book recommendations and for keeping up with what is happening in the romance world. A few times a year, I check out what is happening at other romance book sites but AAR really is my go to source of information. I donate regularly. I visit often and I try to comment when I have something useful to add to the conversation. When I get around to reading something that has been reviewed, I try to add my impression of the book to existing reviews to keep the conversation going, so to speak.
Second, I thought of the following after the questionnaire was complete. One of the features I really wish AAR had is some way to proactively raise a topic, ask a question or mention a book that hasn’t already been reviewed. It doesn’t happen often, but occasionally I’ll have something I’d like to mention here at AAR. (The Agora – which could/should be the place for this kind of conversation – doesn’t seem to work for most users of the site. People don’t seem to be able to consistently log in.) Would a blog post (once or twice a month?) that just asks “what are you reading and/or noticing or wanting more info about” work? A blog post like that would seem to be an “inexpensive” way to generate some content on the site.
Finally, FWIW, I have volunteered to help with a few projects at AAR but with the exception of submitting a couple of book reviews, those offers have not been pursued. I’ve always been kindly thanked for my offers but the projects or my help have not been pursued. I understand the site is big and complicated, and not for the faint of heart. I wasn’t volunteering with the expectation or desire to be given access to the back end of the site. But current AAR staff – it seems that is more than just Dabney but ??? – might want to think about ways of breaking down some of the tasks related to the overall workload. I think people will step up if given the chance to help.
That’s a nice idea to have a place where people can post about a book they are reading or want to read. And on that thought, has anyone read the latest Alice Coldbreath, A Most Forgettable Girl? Wondering it it’s any good.
Dabney used to post a “what are you reading” blog fairly regularly, but I don’t think she’s done one in a while. I’m sure she’ll think about doing it again when she sees these comments!
The problem is, I suppose, finding the discussions later on when they’re in blog posts like this one rather than on the Agora, where you can start a topic about a particular book.
Look for it next week!
A new Alice Coldbreath? I glommed her books earlier this year, read and really liked or loved every one of them. I did not realize there was a new one. So no, haven’t read it yet, but did just buy and will read soonest. Thanks for the heads up.
Side note: Highly recommend Coldbreath to fans of Garwood or Krentz. Not quite as much humor, but honorable protagonists who work together for their HEAs. Love.
I’d love to see an updated Top 100 Romances!
It’s in the works. Hopefully this year!