In which Kristi and I infiltrate Publishers Weekly
"It's a love match between librarians and romance publishers. 'Romance novels do better here than any other genre,' says Anna Mickelsen of the Springfield City Library in Springfield, Mass. 'Romance makes up 35% of our more-than-5,000-item collection but accounts for over 43% of the circulation. On average, romance paperbacks circulate more than eight times, while items in other genres circulate fewer than six. The cost of romance novels is generally less than [the cost of novels from] many of the other genres, and with high circulations this results in a better return overall on the library's investment.'"
From: Checking Out Romance: Focus on Romance 2013
Smalltown cozy romances often portray quiet communities where a chaste kiss is looked on as something shocking, but readers in actual small towns are considerably more open-minded, picking up everything from Amish romance to kinky erotica. 'I haven't seen our copy of Fifty Shades of Grey on the shelf since it was purchased last year,' says Kristi Chadwick, library director for the Emily Williston Memorial Library in Easthampton, Mass., which has about 8,500 library cardholders. 'It is still out circulating.'"
From: Small Towns, Broad Tastes: Focus on Romance 2013
