Why Are Romance Authors Better at Marketing & Promotion? [Smart Set]

Welcome to The Smart Set, a weekly series where I discuss some of the most interesting questions being raised by astute minds in writing, publishing, and media.

“To seek: to embrace the questions, be wary of answers.”

—Terry Tempest Williams

Today’s edition is abbreviated since I’m at PubSmart in Charleston, SC.

Female Authors Dominating Smashwords Bestseller Lists by Mark Coker

The founder and CEO of Smashwords, Mark Coker, recently realized that his author bestseller list is dominated by women. In fact, for the last four months, the list of Top 25 Smashwords-distributed ebooks were by 100% women.

Factors at work:

Romance is the No. 1 bestseller genre at Smashwords.
Romance is written primarily by women (or by men with female pen names).

Also, and Coker mentions this, romance authors kick ass at marketing and promotion—and have always been better at it than authors in other genres.

On other bestseller lists, particularly traditional publishing bestseller lists, you won’t find such a high percentage of women. It tends to be 50-50 or 60-40 in favor of men.

Questions raised:

Assuming the Smashwords stats are meaningful, are women writers better at self-publishing than men—perhaps better at the marketing and promotion required?
Why are romance authors so much better at marketing and promotion, and can other authors be more like them? Or is it too genre-specific to be widely applicable? I recently spoke on a panel at the Virginia Festival of the Book—focused on romance writers and readers—and this was the theme. Why should romance authors be more progressive and successful in using new tools and digital media to reach readers and sell books? I’m not sure if we came up with a definitive answer.

What questions do you have? Share in the comments.

The post Why Are Romance Authors Better at Marketing & Promotion? [Smart Set] appeared first on Jane Friedman and was written by Jane Friedman.