Those of you who took part in the SF and Romance thread might be interested
in this clip from an article in the Salt Lake Tribune.
>There once was a stigma attached to romantic
>fiction. Intelligent women read serious literary fiction, people
>seemed to think; only undereducated women with short attention
>spans read romance novels. But a poll commissioned by the Romance
>Writers of America demonstrates that the appeal of romantic
>fiction is wide and its readership is varied.
>
>-- According to the just-conducted survey, 38 million women in
>the United States read romantic fiction; 3.5 million men read
>romantic fiction.
>
>-- One of three women has a read a romance novel in the past
>year; one in 30 men has read a romance in the past year.
>
>-- Nearly 55 percent of romance readers attended or graduated
>from college; 93 percent are high-school graduates.
>
>-- Nearly 60 percent of romance readers are married and 40
>percent have children in the home; 23 percent are single, 13
>percent are widowed and 7 percent are divorced. Only 15 percent
>of them live alone.
>
>-- Favorite authors readers cited: LaVyrle Spencer, Nora Roberts,
>Sandra Brown, Kathleen Woodiwiss, Johanna Lindsey, Janet Dailey,
>Jude Deveraux, Catherine Coulter and Julie Garwood.
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