Saving Marriages…One Romance eBook at a Time
Last summer I heard an amusing story at a work related conference and as the tale was being told a whole room of librarians nodded knowingly. As the story goes, a library customer went to their local library branch and emphatically declared "Your OverDrive collection saved my marriage!". Apparen'tly, the customer in question, had a one-romance-book-a-day buying habit that was causing some marital strife. Luckily for her, she soon discovered that her library was purchasing heaps of romance eBooks for their OverDrive collection. She could still read a book a day without breaking the bank and without cluttering up her house.
Another marriage saved, courtesy of the library!
Those of you who have been using our OverDrive collection for a while have certainly noticed that TPL purchases a lot of romance titles. If you are not a fan of this genre, our purchasing patterns might seem excessive. If you are a fan, you probably wish that we would purchase many more titles than we already do. Rest assured that we are listening and that we strive to meet all of your reading needs. (Check out this earlier blog post to find out how you can make a purchase suggestion yourself.)
The romance eBook publishing industry is huge and so is its readership. Did you know that romance readers were very early adopters of eReading and that they helped drive the eBook publishing industry from the beginning? This genre remains an integral part of the eBook publishing & library ecosystems. As a matter of fact, romance titles made up 26% of all TPL OverDrive downloading activity in 2015.
If you want to learn more about this aspect of the publishing industry check out Love Between the Covers. This entertaining documentary can be streamed or downloaded from our Hoopla collection:
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Description from Hoopla: A funny and inspiring look into the billion-dollar romance fiction industry and its powerhouse of female writers and readers, a sisterhood that's pioneering the digital revolution while finding fortune, fulfillment, and a global community. |
The audience for this genre is fairly diverse as Maya Rodale recently pointed out in a Huffington Post blog. Her piece, "Who Is the Romance Novel Reader?" , dispels many myths about the "stereotypical" romance reader. Hold your heads up high romance lovers!
If you are looking for some sassy romance related reviews/recommendations head over to the Smart Bitches,Trashy Books website (the reviews can get snarky but are always fun). Many of the books discussed can be found in our OverDrive collection:
A Room With a View by E.M. Forster eBook Audiobook
Everything I Left Unsaid by M. O'Keefe eBook Audiobook
Facing Fire by Helenkay Dimon eBook
Care to share you favourite romance authors or titles with other other readers? Let us know in the comments.
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