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How did love stories about vampires, cowboys, and wealthy dukes become the highest-grossing fiction genre in the world? Zachary Crockett gets swept away.

• SOURCES:
  • Delaney Diamond, romance novelist.
  • Danielle Flores, high school math teacher and avid romance novel reader.
  • Brenda Hiatt, romance novelist.
  • Diane Moggy, vice president of editorial at Harlequin.

• RESOURCES:
  • "Even as Overall Book Sales Are Declining, Romance Novels Are on the Rise," by Elena Burnett, Sarah Handel, and Juana Summers (All Things Considered, 2023).
  • "Key Takeaways from the Authors Guild’s 2023 Author Income Survey," press release by the Authors Guild (2023).
  • "How Amazon Turned Everyone Into a Romance Writer (and Created an Antitrust Headache)," by Ann Kjellberg (Observer, 2022).
  • "Vivian Stephens Helped Turn Romance Writing Into a Billion-Dollar Industry. Then She Got Pushed Out," by Mimi Swartz (Texas Monthly, 2020).
  • "A Brief History of the Romance Novel," by Amanda Pagan (New York Public Library Blog, 2019).
  • "How Harlequin Became the Most Famous Name in Romance," by Kelly Faircloth (Jezebel, 2015).
  • "Fifty Shades of Amish: A Strange Genre of the Romance Novel," by Leah McGrath Goodman (Newsweek, 2015).