SurLaLune Fairy Tales Blog: Fairy Tales, Romance and EBooks

Friday, December 10, 2010

Fairy Tales, Romance and EBooks

Since the New York Times had a great article about ebook reading and category romance yesterday--Lusty Tales and Hot Sales: Romance E-Books Thrive by Julie Bosman--I was inspired to once again look up recent fairy tale connected category romance novels. There is a list on SurLaLune, but I haven't updated it in a year or more. It's too time consuming.

And I have to admit my admiration for the romance publishers who have embraced the ebook format. They are also reasonable about their marketing and pricing and it shows in their sales growth. For example, I never really see category romance ebooks priced higher than the paperback editions. When I see ebooks priced higher than paperbacks I am irked to the point that I am not interested in the book anymore, I admit. I know the author isn't seeing more money from that pricing and that the publisher is trying to fight the inevitable by trying to force paperback sales over ebooks.

I'm way oversimplifying, but there are several reasons the genre is thriving and I see their wise exploitation of ebook readers (any readers, not just my beloved Kindle) as good business. The less respected genres--romance and fantasy--are doing much better in the ebook field because their publishers are using the new format wisely. Have I mentioned how much I adored buying the hardcover of Lois McMaster Bujold's Cryoburn (The Vorkosigan Saga) and receiving a CD-ROM with the entire Miles Vorkosigan library on it? I had already bought most of them for my Kindle but I was thrilled for the readers who would have them all generously provided. I don't expect that kind of generosity, but I wish some publishers were embracing ebooks better. And, in the end, I love building my library without having to find shelf space which I simply have run out of and find a burden. My library and used book store usage is way down, too. I buy the book instead because I can be reading it in minutes. I am spoiled rotten in my reading.

And I'm waiting for the slew of articles in a few years about the plight of used bookstores thanks to ebooks. I'm not happy about that, but isn't it better for publishers to sell an ebook than have a used book circulate several times? I'm all for making money for your work, really I am. I wish I made more than 50 cents an hour myself. (Yes, that's what I've figured my hourly work wage is for my SurLaLune work. So thank you for using the affiliate links. Every bit counts. Really. Thanks again.)

But back to fairy tales and romance...

I limited my search to the past two years--2009 and 2010 publication dates--and came up with this preliminary list which is not comprehensive by any means. It is comprised only of books using Cinderella in the title, not ones that play with the theme a little more subtly. Then there is Beauty and the Beast titles which are harder to identify so I didn't even make the attempt in my limited time. But look at this list! It's long....