H is for Hot Right Now in Romance | Romance Writing from A to Z

Want to know what’s the latest in romance books and publishing trends in 2017? Look no further. I’ve scoured the internet, asked my fellow Romance Writers of Australia, checked publishers websites and looked at big data from Amazon. Here’s what I’ve found.

This report from data guy is his latest on the romance genre and was shown at the USA RWA conference in October 2016. It’s not right now, but it’s as close as you can get. In a nutshell, it says these top 10 sub genres earn the most money:

1. Contemporary
2. Romantic Comedy
3. New Adult & College
4. Mystery & Suspense
5. Paranormal
6. Historical Romance
7. Military
8. Sports
9. Fantasy
10. Young Adult

But I’m interested in what tropes, too. A quick scan of what’s popular on Amazon and what Publishers are putting calls out for makes me think these trends in themes:

• Liane Moriarty style secrets but with romance thrown in. Considering her TV show has just hit the screens, that’s not a surprise.
• Sexy Romantic Comedies seem to be ranking well. And we all know what makes a romantic comedy – deception. There’s always some sort of lie being skirted around in this genre.
• Fairytale retellings are still going strong
• Carina Press has recently put calls out for Paranormal Romance, Contemporary Cowboy and Contemporary Royal Romance

This video just released by k-lytics has shown some of the highest selling romances plot categories next to erotica categories.  Some of the most popular tropes to write about are

• wealthy
• the secret baby
• weddings
• beaches
• second chances
• royalty and aristocrats
• spies (p.s. read my Robin Lockslay book if you love that)
• gambling (lol. Also in my Robin book)

 Watch the full k-lytics video here:

Why do you care? Because writing to market will sell you more books. Does this make you a sell out? Only if you write stories that you don’t love. Find a trope or topic that suits you, maybe blend and merge a couple to create something fresh.

What do you think? Do you have any tips for hot selling romance? Comment below.

View all articles in the A to Z of Romance series.