"Add a little bit of...spice": Shame in Readership and the Rise of Romance in the Digital Age

The romance genre is one of the most established genres in history, with its roots reaching back the very beginnings of literature. However, over the decades, societal views regarding sexuality, sex and gender has led to a stigma that surrounds the genre, leading it to be perceived as ‘lesser than’. Upon the invention of the eReader, romance books began to flourish through digital publishing spaces; the discretion provided by an eReader meant that readers could enjoy romance novels without feeling the shame and embarrassment that came with consuming novels such as Fifty Shades of Grey in a public setting. Recently, romance novels have had a surge in popularity, with backlist titles, buoyed by virality on TikTok, surging up the bestseller lists. This had meant that publishers have had to adapt their approach to the genre in order to capitalise on the sales stemming from these titles. This study was undertaken to investigate the established relationship between the romance genre and shame, and how this extended to both the digital and traditional publishing industry. Approval was gained from Oxford Brookes University Ethics Committee to conduct a voluntary anonymous questionnaire, which asked participants about their own thoughts and feelings about the genre. This study found that often participants seemed aware, whether consciously or not, that consuming romance in public violated a societal norm. There are clear links between the sense of shame surrounding the genre and gender; the genre is typically considered to be written by women for women, and books such as those in the fantasy and crime genres often feature equally explicit scenes, yet are not met with the same sense of judgement from society. This sense of shame voiced by participants was often linked to the physical design of the romance novel, with stereotypical ideas of how romance covers have traditionally been designed lingering in the public consciousness. Publishers, eager to capitalise on the increase in popularity of the genre, have noticed this, and this has led to an industry-wide rebranding of the genre, with brighter, pastel colours and most chaste designs taking the place of the darker, more explicitly romantic covers that had previously been established. In doing so, publishers have desexualised the genre, and begun the process of removing it from the stigmas that have previously surrounded it. This has allowed them to capitalise a genre that has flourished in the digital publishing space, providing book deals for self published titles that previously might have remained as self published. As the genre continues to dominate bestseller lists, we have seen more publishers acquire and commission romance titles; should this positive trend continue, combined with the apparent success of the rebranding of the genre, we may start to see these previous senses of shame and stigma breakdown, so that the genre can be enjoyed and consumed in public spaces free of judgement