As a bookseller, I get asked what’s selling, and rightly so. I’m on the front lines-I see what people are buying, and because I work in a small independent store that places a great deal of emphasis on customer interaction, I most often get to hear why.
At the moment, I see a very interesting phenomenon contributing to the increased sales of Paranormal Romances which feature Vampires. I call it ‘The Post Twilight Saga Syndrome.’ Describing it is quite simple. Customers who have finished Stephenie Meyer’s 4 book Twilight Saga are searching for books that fill the void the series has left inside them, and their usual diet of, in most cases, literary fiction, is NOT cutting it. It seems that by its very nature, the Twilight Saga succeeds in altering reader expectations, both about what they expect from the books they read, and about the Paranormal Romance subgenre entirely.
In most cases, this group of customers comes to the Twilight books, the story of a young girl who finds herself in love with a vampire, because they are popular. There are posters on buses, trailers attached to major movies, and commercials all over the television for the movie that will come out on November 21st. They read the books, get caught up in the story, fall in love with the characters and as a result, have managed to read a romance without even meaning to.
Consequently, this series is turning readers’ pre-conceived notions about the romance genre upside down. They have now only to be guided by a gentle hand and an outstretched arm towards authors that approach their writing the same way that Meyer did. Authors like Meljean Brook, Lynn Viehl, Sherrilyn Kenyon, L.A. Banks and Kresley Cole are all good places to start.
Of course, it only takes but one new author. The initial surprise at the recommendation is followed by even more amazement at how much they enjoy the new author. They wonder exactly how this fundamental shift in their reading habits occurred; how the books they considered trash weeks ago, are all of a sudden at the top of their reading list. In my view, it’s more of a subtle change that can be traced back to one thing: Twilight
Loading ...
katiebabs
on Nov 18th, 2008
@ 3:02 pm:
I must admit that I have Post Twilight Saga Syndrome.
Great post and great for the authors who have more readers because of Stephanie Meyer.
Anna Campbell
on Nov 18th, 2008
@ 3:12 pm:
Hi Stacey! Waving madly from Australia! What an interesting post. I LOVE it when people’s (often completely misguided) assumptions about romance are overturned. Hopefully Twilight’s success will lead to a whole raft of new readers for the genre. And maybe some of them will get REALLY brave and try a historical or some other strand in Romancelandia!
Anna
Kati
on Nov 18th, 2008
@ 3:55 pm:
Fascinating take, Stacey. I would have thought that because the books are YA, and paranormal romance is geared more for adults, that they’d be turning to YA paranormal, rather than more adult romance.
Do you think the Twilight phenomenon feeds at all off of the Harry Potter series? Sure, Potter books are geared more toward young readers and Twilight more at the teen set, but they both have cross over appeal.
Buffie
on Nov 18th, 2008
@ 3:59 pm:
I have to say that I must be living in the dark ages, because before this movie surfaced on my radar as few weeks ago I had no clue about the Twlight series, let alone Meyer. But I have enjoyed plenty of other authors and their vampire stories. Guess I need to check out Meyer one of these days.
Stacey — is it mostly women who come into the store looking for more books along the Twlight line?
Karin
on Nov 18th, 2008
@ 4:41 pm:
I like your take on things, Stacey. It does explain some things.
However, while I had heard of the Twilight series and Meyer before the craze about the movie, I’ve not read the books. A ton of the people I know online have read them and raved about them, but I wasn’t so sure I was interested, especially after all the craziness surrounding the Harry Potter books, which I got into just before the first movie released.
heidenkind
on Nov 18th, 2008
@ 4:46 pm:
Kati–I don’t think Twilight and the Harry Potter series are connected, other than the fact that HP is so popular it might have drawn more kids to reading (in general terms) than would have been interested in it otherwise. But they seem like totally different series to me.
I think the crossover might work both ways–for example, my mom is reading Twilight right now, and she usually 1. hates romances, and 2. hasn’t read a YA book since, I don’t know, the ’60s? But she loves UF books that have to do with vampires, so she thought she’d give Twilight a try. I of course love the book. She only just started it, so I’m excited to hear what she thinks about it after she finishes.
orannia
on Nov 18th, 2008
@ 5:03 pm:
Very interesting Stacey…
I’m obviously living in the dark ages with you Buffie, because I hadn’t heard about the movie or the books until last month (when the movie’s forthcoming release was discussed on various blogs). (Then again, I didn’t discover Harry Potter until the third book had been released – my boss at the time, who was in her 50s, suggested it to me.) So, I’ve decided to give the book a go – heidenkind suggested reading the book before seeing the movie. Unfortuantely it’s quite popular at my library…I’m about 600th in the queue
Good thing movie releases are delayed here!
Gannon
on Nov 18th, 2008
@ 5:04 pm:
Loved the blog, Stacey! I have not read the Twilight series, although book 1 is on my TBR stack. I think I’ll wait until after I’ve seen the movie; I hate to read a book immediately before I see the movie, because usually I’m much more critical.
My niece has been reading paranormal almost exclusively, with a little chick lit thrown in. She finally picked up a historical and is really liking it. I kept telling her to give them a try; there are so many wonderful authors out there waiting to be discovered.
stacey @ home
on Nov 18th, 2008
@ 7:50 pm:
Kati says: “I would have thought that because the books are YA, and paranormal romance is geared more for adults, that they’d be turning to YA paranormal, rather than more adult romance”
I think it all depends on two different factors. First, the audience. Because the initial impulse of the older, never-before-read-a-romance-suddenly-now-needs-something-to-read individual, is for adult fiction, adult romance is the natural step forward. I wouldn’t be averse to recommending a y.a. paranormal if I think they’ll appreciate it. Second, we’re also talking about voice. It’s a question of matching up post-meyer readers with authors who evoke that same tone in their writing. Again, I’m not averse to reccomending y.a. paranormals if I figure the reader would be receptive. Make sense ?:)
stacey @ home
on Nov 18th, 2008
@ 7:52 pm:
heidenkind says ‘I don’t think Twilight and the Harry Potter series are connected, other than the fact that HP is so popular it might have drawn more kids to reading (in general terms) than would have been interested in it otherwise. But they seem like totally different series to me. ‘
Exactly. The way I look at it, Harry Potter is to Fantasy as Twilight is to Paranormal Romance:)
Laura
on Nov 20th, 2008
@ 3:11 pm:
What about J.R. Ward? I think her Black Dagger Brotherhood series is the BEST! I am hooked. I was going to read Twilight, but have not been able to get past Ward.
stacey @ work
on Nov 20th, 2008
@ 3:47 pm:
Laura says ‘What about J.R. Ward? I think her Black Dagger Brotherhood series is the BEST! I am hooked. I was going to read Twilight, but have not been able to get past Ward.’
When you’re making the first recommendations in paranormal romance to those who are just coming off of the twilight high, one of the things I have to consider is writing style and tone. JR Ward is fabulous in her own right, but her writing style is too far away from Meyer’s to use as a transitional author. I’d definitely reccomend her first three books to those who are looking for a second set of authors, but not the first
stacey @ work
on Nov 20th, 2008
@ 4:09 pm:
Anna Campbell says ‘And maybe some of them will get REALLY brave and try a historical or some other strand in Romancelandia!’
*grins* Well up there amongst the first non-paranormal historicals I’d recommend to those coming off the twilight high would be yours. Again, these recommendations are all about tone and writing style. Broad writing ,dramatic style…it feels, at least for me, and Katiebabs up there *waving madly* would be able to jump in on this one, but I think that Edward reminds me very much of Kylemore….
Stacey
Stef
on Nov 21st, 2008
@ 12:47 am:
I must say that I, for one, am very thankful for ‘The Post Twilight Saga Syndrome.’ It has sent sales of my latest book through the roof. I wrote Ashes, mostly for the vampire lover that lurks deep inside of me, but apparently others are so vamp-smitten they can’t wait to sink their teeth into anything with a vampire, and for that, I’m thrilled! So if there are any other blood-drinker obsessed people out there, check out my website to read the first chapter of Ashes.
http://www.StefanieEllis.net