Understanding women's fiction is important to successfully crafting a novel and submitting
the work to the right publisher. There are similarities between women's fiction and
romance, but also distinct differences. While many of the publishers may be
the same for both genres, editors are looking for the key elements that make for
compelling women's fiction.
My pursuit to uncover a clear definition of women's fiction and understand what
differentiates it from romance sent me to the depths of the publishing industry and back.
What is women's fiction? What is the appeal among today's readers?
How do publishing companies view the genre? I share with you my quest to
answer these questions.
The first stop on this grand adventure took me in search of hard, warm facts.
Nichole Robbins, fiction buyer at the Tattered Cover Bookstore states, "Most
bookstores don't differentiate women's fiction from mainstream/popular fiction.
Tattered Cover shelves women's fiction in the general fiction area."
This practice makes it difficult to analyze sales since Women's Fiction isn't sold
or shelved as its own category.
After examining industry statistics from the American Bookseller Association and Book
Industry Study Group, one can easily conclude that Women's Fiction comprises at least
forty percent of adult popular fiction sold in the United States and approximately sixty
percent of the adult popular fiction paperbacks. According to a Gallup Poll, we're
talking a $24 billion dollar industry. Women read more than men and women buy more
books than men. These conclusions support the theory that the concerns of women's
lives are very important in today's literature.
Scouring my own dusty archives of previous Romance Writers Reports and Romance Writers of
America industry statistics, it is clear the romance genre is a staple of women's fiction.
The romance market is serious business, producing serious revenues, by serious
women. Though at the core, women's fiction, like the women who read it, has evolved
to include subjects and themes that range far beyond romance.
Women's contemporary fiction is a growing market and includes many of the facets of other
genres. Harper Collins/Avon Senior Editor, Micki Nuding explains "Women's
Fiction can be commercial (and usually is) or literary; it can be here-and-now
contemporary or a multigenerational saga, like Rosamund Pilcher's books. The woman
is the star of the story and her changes and emotional development are the subject."
A number of published authors provided insight into this growing market. According
to Susan Elizabeth Phillips, "Women's Fiction is about women's empowerment."
Jane Heller defines women's fiction as novels written with any relationship
at the core of the plot.
Trying to wrap a definition around women's fiction is a little like trying to put a fence
around a band of wild mustangs. New York Times Bestselling Author, Nora Roberts says
it best. "Women's Fiction is a story that centers on a woman or on primarily
women's issues, not necessarily the romantic relationship based books I do, but the
woman's story."
Publisher guidelines that define the publishers' view the women's fiction market vary and
that variety is reflected in published books. Most women's fiction tends to be longer
books, about 100,000 words or more, but can be in the 50,000-word range.
Nicholas Sparks' The Notebook zoomed up the New York Times Bestseller list
with his 52,000-word love story about an elderly couple coping with Alzheimer's
disease.
Longer women's fiction uses the space to develop intricate and multi-charactered subplots
and deeper characterization. These books have more introspection and description and
aren't as tightly focused as shorter novels.
A man (or a hero) might be waiting for the heroine of these novels at the end of her
journey, but he does not usually get equal time or equal depth to his internal journey
during the course of a book. In "straight" romance fiction, the author
renders the hero in every detail-an expectation of readers. This is not necessarily
the case in women's fiction.
"Stories about sisters, and women's friendships" seem to be a current trend,
according to Micki Nuding.
Every major publisher and most of the new e-publishers have a list of women's
fiction titles in their list: Avon/Harper Collins, Bantam/Doubleday/Dell, Genesis Press -
Indigo, Hardshell Word Factory, Harlequin/Silhouette/Mira, Hyperion, Kensington/Zebra/
Pinnacle, Multnomah, New Concepts, Pocket, Penguin, Putnam/Berkley/Jove, Random
House/Ballantine, St. Martin's Press, Warner.
When asked about the wide appeal of Women's Fiction in the marketplace, Ms. Nuding
suggests, "The wider focus and the importance and variety and depth of the
relationship portrayed really resonates with women today. Though there's not always
the standard 'happy ending,' there's a life-affirming resolution even if the story's
somewhat tragic."
A book buyer at Colorado's Douglas County Public Library offers her opinion of why women's
fiction is such a big deal. "Women's fiction taps into the hopes, fears, dreams
and even secret fantasies of women today."
Literary Agent Linda Hyatt of the Hyatt Literary Agency explains, "Good women's
commercial fiction usually touches the reader in ways other fiction cannot.
Relationship stories, generational sagas, love stories and women's commercial
fiction must touch on subjects women can relate to in their real lives. Whether
there is a happily ever after ending, or a bittersweet one, whether the reader laughs or
cries, women love reading stories that touch their emotions-and tug at their hearts."
The novels of Women's fiction are authored by both men and women and are as varied as
Montana Sky (Nora Roberts), The Gazebo (Emily Grayson), The Christmas Box (Richard Paul
Evans), or Horse Whisper (Nicholas Evans ). If you're interested in writing women's
fiction, read, read, READ! If you aren't reading women's fiction, you probably
aren't going to write it. Taste the different flavors, analyze it, and let your
imagination and your heart be your guide. Don't be afraid of where the story will
take you. Go along on the adventure.
If your heart is pointing you to expand your horizons you may discover more freedom and
choices when writing for the Women's Fiction market. Try it! Hatch a daring or
even heartwarming plot and relentlessly follow the trail. You may find that you
possess a remarkable secret weapon for storytelling that may change the course of
publishing history.
Lisa Craig writes women's fiction with a nostalgic twist. She's a seasoned
writer of ten years and is looking for her first sale. She has four projects under
review at numerous publishing companies. She is a regular contributor to several
online writers' magazines and runs her own freelance Internet and web design consulting
business, specializing in author websites (http://www.lisacraig.com ). She
especially acknowledges and thanks all the industry professionals who provided information
for this article.
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