A good time to think about writing a romance novel

Everyone's worried about keeping their jobs -- or finding a new one.
If Motoko Rich of the Times is right, perhaps we should get into the romance-writing game.
Rich reports that the recession appears to be fueling the demand for pot-boilers:

Harlequin Enterprises, the queen of the romance world, reported that fourth-quarter earnings were up 32 percent over the same period a year earlier, and Donna Hayes, Harlequin’s chief executive, said that sales in the first quarter of this year remained very strong. While sales of adult fiction overall were basically flat last year, according to Nielsen Bookscan, which tracks about 70 percent of retail sales, the romance category was up 7 percent after holding fairly steady for the previous four years.
At Barnes & Noble, the country’s largest book chain, where its chief financial officer, Joe Lombardi, recently warned that overall 2009 sales were likely to fall between 4 percent and 6 percent, sales of romance novels are up. And in the first three months of this year Nielsen Bookscan tracked a 2.4 percent rise in romance sales compared with a slight decline in sales of general adult fiction for the same period.

Why the upsurge? Apparently, it's escapism, a port in the economic maelstrom, safe haven from falling employment figures and 401(k)s.
Might be time to get pro-active. Sharpen up a pencil or two and start ripping those bodices.

Posted by Paul Makishima, Globe staff

Photo by Damon Winter/The New York Times