OF BOOKS AND READERS (Patricia Potter)

OF BOOKS AND READERS . . . AND PERCEPTIONS



Suzanne’s blog on romance novels several days ago came at a time I was preparing for today’s (Saturday) Book Club Day at our local library’s Main Branch.

The Memphis Library last year started a Book Club Day. Literary luminaries are invited as keynote and luncheon speakers. Other writers hold special interest sessions.

Approximately 250 representatives of book clubs throughout the greater Memphis area are invited. Then they take books, experiences, etc. back to their clubs. The audience is certainly varied. All colors and all ages. All eager readers.

As the Romance representative, I facilitated a conference call interview with Jayne Ann Krentz last year and will do the same today with Julie Garwood.

Since the room is small and seating limited, tickets to the session are selected by chance. Last year the number of participants were limited to thirty-five and the demand was far greater than that. Many were disappointed. Attendees clutched their tickets eagerly.

They are representative of the reading public. But what I found interesting last year was the clamor for tickets for the romance session. Of course, Jayne Ann Krentz was a great draw and for an hour she was a wonderful guest. I had brought a list of prepared questions in case the attendees were seized with shyness. Didn’t happen. Didn’t have to use one question. The enthusiasm and interest was bubbling.

The librarian later told me that the romance session received the best response in critique sheets. She also told me that I sold more books than any other attending author, including the literary luminaries. I would like to think it was because I was brilliant. In truth, I think it was because of a decided bent toward romance.

It reminded me of a literary conference to which I was invited years ago. It was held at a major university and I was obviously the token romance author. At a welcoming reception for authors, I was shunned. The moment I mentioned romance, heads turned to the person on the other side. If not for an old friend from the Atlanta Journal (cookbook author), I would have been completely ostracized. But to the organizers’ shock, my session was the most heavily attended.

The head of the program – a writing professor at the university – drew me aside to ask me how much I made on a book. It was the only time he spoke to me. I just winked at him and hoped he imagined a million dollars.

But the greatest satisfaction came when I sat on a panel with a group of literary agents, editors and writers. An innocent attendee asked the agents if they represented science fiction.

All of them said no, and one said arrogantly he did not represent popular fiction. He just represented books that “stayed on the shelf.”

I loved that. Absolutely loved it. As the microphone headed toward me, I commented that I was ever so happy to be in a genre where books flew off the shelf and didn’t stay there.

When I left, I thought about the organizers and panelists who were openly hostile to mass market fiction/ popular fiction/ genre fiction. Whichever words you wish to use, the terms all reflect the fact that they are the books most read by the public. I was amazed at difference between the organizers of the conference and the writers who attended. The latter actually wanted to write books people read. The former were horrified by the idea.

So in preparation for my session tomorrow, I trotted out industry statistics about romance. They are generally accepted by publishing sources as accurate. To me they are astounding, considering the stigma that still lingers. But here they are for ammunition: some 54.9 percent of all paperback sales are romance fiction. Nearly forty percent (39.3) of ALL fiction sold is romance.

Romance claims the largest share of the pie compared to other genres. Compared to the near forty percent of romance, thirty percent is mystery/thriller, 12.9 percent general fiction, 6.4 percent science fiction and ll.8 percent other fiction sales.

Suzanne’s post also came during a discussion on a link about a recent article stating that people are reading less. Much less. I think it said some twenty-five percent of our American population didn’t read even one book during a year.

So I would think the writing professors and “literary” folks would appreciate any genre that draws people to reading. Just as I say thanks be to JK Rowling and Harry Potter every night of my life.