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- Sep 12, 2010
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I'm not an industry expert. My purely intuitive opinion is that if you ask someone, "What kind of book do you want to read today?" not many will say, "General Fiction".
They might not say "general fiction," but lots of people read these books. I suspect the majority of books my dad reads are classified as such, as are a good fraction of the books my fiance reads.
And there are a lot of people who look down on genre fiction, perhaps romance in particular. Slapping a "romance" label on a book is a sure way to make sure some people won't touch it with a ten-foot pole.
My personal point of view as a writer is that I prefer to write love stories with happy endings. But as a reader I don't mind a book with a sad ending, and I certainly never mind being in suspense about how it will turn out.
But a lot of romance readers do not share your view. They do not want to be in suspense; they want to be guaranteed of an HEA/HFN.
The requirements for romance might seem narrow. But even with these requirements, it is an enormous genre.