Every year, I look at our sales at Amazon. As has been the case for the past four years, our sales continue to drop along with our affiliate dollars. (So thank you to all who support us through donations!)
In 2023, AAR readers bought a total of 15,641 books through our links at Amazon. (We cannot track Kindle Unlimited so those numbers are not included.) We sold 202 audiobooks, 949 physical books, and 14,490 ebooks for a total of 68,576.00 in book sales. We earned 2769.00 in affiliate income on these purchases. If you include audiobooks, the average price point of a book was 8.77. Without audiobooks, the average price of a bought book was 4.32.
Unlike previous years, there were no books that vastly outsold the others. As usual, our readers preferred historical romance. The top ten best selling books were:
How to Tame a Wild Rogue by Julie Anne Long (66 copies)
Forever Your Rogue by Erin Langston (62 copies)
Fortune Favors the Viscount by Caroline Linden (49 copies)
Lord Perfect by Loretta Chase (45 copies)
Remember Me by Mary Balogh (40 copies)
The Worst Woman in London by Julia Bennet (39 copies)
The Gentleman Thief by Deborah Simmons (39 copies)
Heartbreaker by Sarah MacLean (35 copies)
Knockout by Sarah MacLean (32 copies)
One Duke Down by Anna Bennett (32 copies)
Does this list surprise you? What books did you buy this past year?
AAR’s content is top quality, the drop in sales occurs to me that it may be due to three factors that I have observed lately.
1) The new wattpad-style romantic reading apps, now not only are self-published books competing for attention vs. traditional ones, but all these new wattpad-style episodic applications are starting to publish romance. Among people of my generation (26 years old) it is very popular…or younger like teenagers.
2)The specialization of the genre is increasing, those who want to read only Amish romance have their blog and their space, those who only want to read extraterrestrial romance also, fairy romance, cowboy romance, etc. AAR touches on many different genres of romance and many people are joining sites that only talk about one specific genre.
3) The growing popularity of genres that are not touched on much in AAR, several genres that a few years ago had little visibility are attracting many young fans, reverse harem, dark romance (with psychopath or even sociopath heroes) something beyond the traditional “mafia romance”, horror romance, monster romance, dark romantasy, closed door romantasy (both VERY specific in what they offer). And how can we forget the Korean or Japanese romance novels, many with comic adaptations.
Thank you. I am so proud of the work AAR does. The volunteers who have nurtured this site over the decades are amazing.
Your insights are on the money. I absolutely think these are all reasons–I’d add BookTok which rules for the non-Boomer generations. It’s tough to compete for attention in today’s world. Google is also making it much harder for consumers to search for information–we don’t pay for promotion there and that’s hurt us. Lastly, Amazon is ruinous for the price and quality of books. KU in particular offers so many “free” options that it’s easy to see why, even if readers see a reviewed book that sounds good to them, they’re unlikely to buy it–there are millions of books they can read instead that don’t cost more than the monthly fee.
I understand the way the site works in that the reviewers review books that reflect their interests. However, that might not correspond with the interests of those who buy books through the site. Personally, I have no interest in LGBTQ romances that make up a large share of current reviews. I read predominantly straight historical romance, so that’s what I’m most likely to buy. There is nothing wrong with this possible mismatch, but it might be a factor in the drop in sales.
I don’t see why it would factor into a drop in sales because not only do the Queer romances make up a relatively small portion of reviews (not a “large share”), people who enjoy the book still buy them. And I wouldn’t be surprised if a portion of the historical romance titles bought were LGBTQ titles such as books by K.J. Chalres and Cat Sebastian.
By far the majority of books reviewed here (87.8% of the last 24 reviewed) are either m/f or have no romance (thrillers and Women’s fic). If the “new reviews” search is correct, of last 24 books reviewed here, only 3 have been LGBTQ romances which comes out to 12.5%. Of the rest (excluding LGBTQ titles) 5 of 24 reviewed have been Young Adult (21%), 5 were tagged Historical Fiction (21%), 6 are contemporary romances (25%), and at least three aren’t romances (12.5%). I know AAR reviews popular queer romance authors, and I’m very glad of it because it is one of my main sources of new book ideas. It’s also been great that many of the reviewers here who’ve posted their Best of 2023 lists have sited LGBTQ romances on their lists, which tells me even if queer romance readers are in the minority, there is a good bit of crossover among romance readers.
In 2023, out of the 347 books we reviewed, 67 featured queer protagonists.
So about 19%, a little more than the data from the most recent reviews, which means 81% aren’t, so still a relatively small percentage overall. I’m just saying I don’t think it impacts sales through the website. I don’t often buy books through the site, but I try to start my Amazon shopping through here when I can. If AAR didn’t review the latest queer romances I’d have no real reason to visit the site, so I wouldn’t be donating monthly or using the link to go to Amazon. I’m just saying singling out queer reviews as a reason for a drop revenue is misguided.
Agreed.
I do think that it hurts us that we don’t review more historical, queer or not. But that’s tough to fix. Our reviewers pick what calls to them and many feel that the modern sheen that glosses most HR today just isn’t working for them.
That’s the thing. It’s not that we aren’t reviewing good HR, it’s that it’s not out there for us to review. And there’s also the issue of actually getting hold of it. I’m aware of a couple of newer self-publishing authors of HR whose books are well-received by readers who aren’t fans of that “modern gloss” – but we never get them because they’re self-published and we can’t get review copies easily, so there’s a supply issue.
Well, as you know, I disagree.
In 2023, we reviewed 65 historical romances. Of those, 25 were DIKs and and another 24 were B grades.
I don’t believe we are finding only the good ones to review. I think currently most of our reviewers are picking up contemporary romances or non-het romances.
Historical romance is held to a higher standard as well. No one really downgrades a contemp with a lawyer as a lead if the legal world is iffy. But in HR, AAR has always had reviewers that ask that history is accurately–and we’ve had six million arguments about what that means–represented. We also live in an era where glorifying the past is often seen as tone deaf. Additionally, I for one, and I am sure I am not the only AAR staffer who feels this way, still remember being pilloried for having a Top 100 list that focused on traditional historical romance.
In my perfect world, I would find more reviewers willing to try historical romance. I feel quite sure that, given that over 50% of the ones we reviewed in 2023 got good grades, there are others out there that are worth our consideration.
That said, reviewing more HR would not improve our finances unless readers bought those books. Purchases in ALL genres have fallen over the past few years–KU and the wonderful access libraries offer now for ebooks has severely dented our bottom line. It is true that our readers buy more HR than any other genre but they mostly buy the books on sale. And, remember, for every 2.99 book our readers buy through our links, we get 12 cents. It’s a difficult conundrum to solve.
I do think that some authors are shying away from writing anything vaguely controversial, and this disproportionately affects HR for the reasons you’ve given.
Us too.
It’s hard to underestimate how bruising the attacks on AAR–by, in general, non AAR readers–were after our last Top 100 poll. Many reviewers quit–they weren’t reviewing to be told they were racist, sexist losers–and others simply stopped reviewing books under siege.
Yes, I remember how awful it got – some reviewers felt very intimidated by it all – blamed for what were essentially reader choices – and either stopped reviewing altogether or started picking ‘safer’ books.
Yes. And the good news was we did indeed work harder to be more diverse in our coverage. The bad news is we lost traditional readers who also felt attacked.
I think the numbers show we’ve been very successful in that committment. But with the resources we have available to us, we can’t please all of the people all of the time.
No. But it is irksome to suffer for pleasing critics who do nothing to support the site.
Yikes, that sounds awful! You mentioned the Top 100 list and I saw that Parade Magazine just posted a list of their top 125 best romance books of all time. They include many books that were made into movies and I was surprised to see books that don’t have HEAs. They said “if it makes you swoon, it’s a romance”. I definitely want an HEA in my romances.
Purists would NOT call those a romance.
The Fault in our Stars is a TRAGEDY not a romance. Wuthering Heights, ditto. Me Before You–nope. Along with being a terrifying stalker tale, Endless Love is a bummer of a tale. Love Story–another tragedy. The Age of Innocence, really? And the idea of Hemingway as a romance author is beyond silly. All the Light We Cannot See? Anna Karenina?
That list is batshit.
It is a weird list – maybe more related to pop culture than romance. They probably did it because Valentine’s Day is coming up.
They trot out the same old chestnuts every year; there are loads of articles that trash romances and say how dumb readers are for wanting there to be an HEA…
It’s got really old by now.
I’m only a reader but just feel the need to chime in that I appreciate this site’s commitment to reviewing queer romance, and if anything, I just long for more f/f titles (I’ve been told by a writer friend that publishing them is thankless, though, which makes me sad).
I’m seeing lots more f/f being published in 2024. (I see the advanced copies.) So, hopefully, your wish will be granted!
Interestingly, the majority of queer romances on offer at NetGalley are f/f. As I’ve said elsewhere, the vast majority of m/m is self-published and those authors don’t use NG to obtain reviews, relying instead on their own publicity machine or external publicists. I think maybe there are more small indie publishers of f/f?
I would be interested to know who your favorite historical romance authors are?
The historical romance authors I follow right now are Julie Anne Long, Eloisa James, Loretta Chase, Mary Balogh, Caroline Linden, Madeline Hunter, Amanda Quick, Courtney Milan, Sarah MacLean, Martha Waters and Suzanne Enoch. Elizabeth Everett has gotten good reviews here and I’ve been thinking of trying her new book coming out, The Love Remedy. Are there other historical romance authors that anyone has read recent books from that they enjoyed?
I look forward to work from Loretta Chase, KJ Charles, AJ Demas, Jo Goodman, Aster Glenn Gray, Laura Lee Guhrke, Sheri Humphries, Madeline Hunter, Julie Ann Long, Sally Malcolm, Courtney Milan, and Cat Sebastian. I’ll still pick up Mary Balogh as well. There are backlist writers that I didn’t read in their day – like Stella Riley – who I enjoy as well. But I think you were asking about people who are writing currently.
I’d agree with most of those, although I’ve fallen out of love with Courtney Milan, and I haven’t read many of JAL’s books. (Stella Riley is currently writing, btw). I’d add Meredith Duran – who seems, sadly, to have stopped writing – and Sherry Thomas, pre Lady Sherlock. Elizabeth Kingston has written some excellent medievals and regencies. Sally Malcolm’s King’s Man is one of the best HRs I’ve ever read. In answer to Kayne’s question re. Elizabeth Everett – I read the first of her current series and wasn’t impressed, so wouldn’t recommend.
You are correct that Ms. Riley is still writing! How did I not realize that?? Yay!
She’s written a spin-off triology about the Brandon Bros who were mentioned in the last Rockliffe book, and a newer onThe Shadow Earl. I enjoyed them and gave them B grades. I think I’ve given everything else she’s written an A.
Thank you Caz for the recommendations. I will add them to my list. Meredith Duran and Sherry Thomas wrote some of my favorite historical romances.
Thank you! I’m adding these to my list of authors to watch. A few more I missed that have books out this year are Elizabeth Rolls, Mimi Matthews, Julia London, Eva Shepherd, Sabrina Jeffries, Virginia Heath, Alexandra Vasti and Christine Merril. It looks like the last few Jo Goodman books have been reprints.
I used AAR’s Power Search and found Lucy Morris, Mary Jo Putney, Kate Bateman, Lauri Robinson, Sara Bennett, Rebecca Anderson, Felicia Grossman, Erin Langston, Amalie Howard and Julia Bennet.
Reader Dennis probably has probably nailed it from my point of view. I used to love mostly historical romances but barely read it any more because there are few reviews of really good ones. And AAR is probably the best romance review site but reviews of historical have declined to a trickle (from my point of view anyway compared to the past) but still grateful for all the reviews it has done. I also have no interest in LGBTQ romances but there seems to be a lot of interest in reviewers as there seems to be always one during the weeks I checked the site. But then I also have no interest in paranormal and fantasies and mafia romances but there are people who love them and these also have many reviews. It is probably right that the market is so segmented that it becomes difficult to cater to all. And AAR has developed an expertise in these other genres from its talented and hard-working reviewers so it shouldn’t drop them. But I feel for the decline of the historical. If the top-selling book list in AAR indicates that a significant size of its visitors may be historical book readers, then maybe more reviews can maximize that interest. If you go in a dress shop and like simple feminine clothes and get more athletic leisure or a bodacious variety, you may find something to buy but you could have bought more if there were more of your type of clothes.
Having said that it is also very possible that there are fewer good historicals out here, hence the lack of reviews. There have been some truly awful historicals with preposterous heroines of the unlikely variety. Thus I have been reading more contemporaries and historical fiction, but I have not been reading on the scale I used to. And if you ask me the last five (new) great historicals I have read in the past six months, I have nothing. I have just been re-reading the old ones. So one good thing about this post is I discovered at least three new ones all in one list. (I have missed their reviews perhaps because I have not visited as much.) But the list is great. Thank you.
Having said that it is also very possible that there are fewer good historicals out here, hence the lack of reviews
That, IMO, is exactly the problem. I used to read and review HR almost exclusively, but the decline in quality led me to look elsewhere. There is good (m/f) HR out there, but as you’ve indicated yourself, those books are now the exception rather than the rule.
Like you, I mainly read m/f HR and am not really interested in reading lbgtq+ stories or contemporary romance (whatever floats your boat, you float yours and I’ll float mine). There are still a lot of HR authors that I’m just now discovering, like Louise Allen. When I find new to me authors, I start glomming their backlist. Some of Ms. Allen’s earlier books were clunky, but she got better with time. I also see a lot of HR authors have transitioned to writing other types of romance, usually incorporating either a mystery element or fantasy element. Mystery I’ll read, fantasy not so much. Authors are also leaving the publishing industry altogether, for whatever reason. Its been a few years since I’ve seen anything published by Meredith Duran. Publishers have also dropped publishing some of the HR lines (God, I miss those Signet Regencies). I’m also longing to see some good HR written about different time periods or different locations. Most HR seems to be Georgian/Regency with the odd English Civil War story thrown in for good measure or the American West or Gilded Age New York. It would be nice to read some Medievals set in France, Italy, or some in Ancient Rome or Greece, or US stories not set during our Civil War. There do seem to be more stories set in Asia and also stories written by and about people of color, which is a good thing. In general, I think part of the problem is the publishing industry has gotten stuck in a vicious marketing loop where they find something that sells and then clone it. TV has become the same way (how many Law & Order, CSI, NCIS, Grey’s Anatomy clones do we need?). So in some ways, HR has become more diverse and in other ways less so.
I guess there are a lot of reasons for the state of HR these days. But the fact that AAR’s Top Ten Best Sellers were HR says that readers want more HR. I have read 6 of the books listed, and believe I bought them using AAR’s links (I don’t keep track of how they end up in my Kindle app). The other 4 books, either I missed the review or it didn’t seem like something I would like, but I should problably give them another look. The lack of good HR and HR reviews hasn’t hit me as hard as some people. Fortunately, I have a large TBR pile so I still have a lot of new to me HR books to read. I’m also reading more history (nonfiction) these days, as well as exploring whatever else looks interesting. Just my two cents.
I’ve reviewed – and still do, when I can get the books – a lot of HR from Harlequin Historical authors like Louise Allen, Sarah Mallory, Marguerite Kaye and others who write engaging stories with solid historical backgrounds. Those authors, and others in the Mills & Boon/Harlequin stable have been writing some of the best HR in recent years, head and shoulders above most of the HR coming from other big, trad publishers, whose output is basically books with 21st century characters in period dress.
I do think that AAR’s reviewers are continuing to review a decent amount of historical romance, but as the more established writers disappear from the scene for whatever reason, the authors replacing them are either writing wall-to-wall wallpaper historicals OR are self-publishing, and those books can be difficult for us to obtain.
Your point about books going the same way as TV and films is a very valid one – everyone is playing it safe and nobody – not in trad, publishing anyway – is prepared to take any risks.
The music industry is struggling with that too. So many new artists are Beyonce/Taylor Swift/whoever wannabes. The music industry is playing it safe by sticking with what sells and not promoting new or different sounds. The end result is a lot of bland music where nothing stands out. There are plenty of good artists out there, they are just getting harder to find. I think that is also true with HR, plenty of good authors but harder to find and so harder to find a review. I appreciate the honest reviews I read on AAR and you guys certainly have educated me about the difficulties involved in getting these reviews out there.
And it’s nothing new. I worked in the music biz in the 90s and it was getting harder and harder to find originality in the big record companies. There were lots of indies back then, though, some of them doing really well, but it seems a lot of them have been swallowed up by the majors or just disappeared.
Seri and Dennis both make good points and I tend to be in the group that craves decent, well-written, non-LGBQT+ HR. It’s almost impossible to find these days. Carla Kelly seems to be dropping back but at least Mary Balogh is still producing. The inane and silly TV version of the Bridgerton books showed what much of HR is morphing into; so very awful. I find my romance reading is really declining and I’ve started reading thrillers and detective fiction in the past year or two on a regular basis. Right now I am reading Lee Child’s Reacher stories after watching the TV versions. I’ve had a lot of personal difficulties during the past year so I’ve read less non-fiction as my concentration has been poor and have wanted some comforting HR. Other than HR re-reads, most of it coming out is so banal, badly written, modern stories in costume, or just over-priced, that I have just about given up. I recently re-read His Convenient Marchioness by Elizabeth Rolls and was once again charmed; if only we had more like that one! Instead I am going in a completely new direction with the thrillers and detective novels (Robert Galbraith and the Lincoln Lawyer books – wonderful!!). I keep checking reviews here, hoping, hoping but very little in the HR department seems worth wasting my money on.
My genre romance reading started with traditional Regencies by Heyer and others, and that sub-genre isn’t even around anymore from any publishing house. Reading several recent Best of 2023 posts has reminded me of another issue not yet mentioned in this thread: price-fixing. I buy so many ebooks that I simply refuse to buy any ebooks for $10 or more. Any ebook priced above my cutoff by a price-fixing publisher goes on a price watch list. Several books in the Best of 2023 posts were already in my price watch list (which has almost 300 entries, many of which are years old).
If every book we sold cost 10, I’d be a happy happy woman!
One of the reasons I don’t review historical romance here is because I don’t feel qualified to do so – I have no idea whether something is accurate to the time period or not. I really enjoy reading historical romance though and I don’t care alot about the details that others might pick at. (and I don’t want to spend my own time researching about whether an author has gotten it right or not).
But if that doesn’t matter to you, then it shouldn’t matter in your review. This is kind of my point. Many of us enjoy historical romance just because it’s fun not because it is or isn’t historically accurate or does or doesn’t teach us something. And I think that’s just fine.
“… there are loads of articles that trash romances…”
I have been rereading a bunch of Elizabeth Lowell romantic suspense, and at the end of one of the books (maybe the second Rarities Unlimited title?), her essay on why she writes popular fiction was included. At one time, the essay may have been online, but it is not at her online site:
https://www.elizabethlowell.com/
I am assuming she is retired. She has certainly stopped writing as Elizabeth Lowell, since the site has not been updated since around 2016.
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In regard to historical romance, there are a couple of issues, and one is that historicals led a lot of the twentieth century market for historicals. Many of those readers are aging. Many of the writers from the 1970s to the 1990s are getting older, slowing down, retiring, or dying. I mourn not just the writers, but the unwritten books I was hoping to read and the characters I wanted just one more glimpse of (well, several glimpses or extended epilogues or whatever) that I am not getting.
Writing historical fiction is demanding. A writer has to have enough background to plot a plausible story.