I read a blog recently where certain elements of the blogger’s stories were listed with the question, Are you my reader? That got me to thinking about who reads romance.
According to Maya Rodale, “It is a truth universally acknowledged that romance readers are single women in possession of cats and in want of a man.”
I’m a long time romance reader and neither truth applies to me.
She adds, “Other “true” facts about the romance reader: They’re “nice people with bad taste in books”, uneducated, bored, stupid, “lack romance in their lives.” Or if we want to be really specific, they’re “middle aged women who are bored in their marriages and want to fantasize about hard, chiseled men.” Or maybe they’re “younger women who are using them as emotional porn.”
None of those characteristics apply to me either.
So who reads romance?
Romance Writers of America did a survey and created the graph below to identify romance novel readers. These demographics are a closer match to who I am as a romance reader.
If you’re a romance reader, do the stats fit you?
BTW, if you’re interested, you can read the rest of Ms. Rodale’s humorous post on romance reader myths and truths here.
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