Erotic trend sweeping posh suburbs
Stepping into bookshop Romancing the Novel in Sydney's affluent eastern suburbs, one might think they've walked directly into a fictional world.
It's only been nine months since the glass-panelled door swung open on the two-storey bookshop in Paddington, but romance novels have been flying off its painted pink shelves 'like hot-cakes'.
Despite a Mills & Boon book being purchased every four seconds across the world, and the 50 Shades trilogy selling over 150m copies, owner Scarlett Hopper recognised an untapped market that was begging for attention.
'I noticed a bit of a hole in the market (over) the last few years,' she told NewsWire.
'America was getting a lot of romance bookstores, but Australia didn't have as many.' Scarlett Hopper opened Romancing the Novel in Paddington last year. NewsWire / Jeremy Piper Credit: News Corp Australia Ms Hopper is a self-published novelist and loves discovering other indie authors. NewsWire / Jeremy Piper Credit: News Corp Australia
Ms Hopper, a self-published author, admitted that she 'eats, sleeps and dreams' of romance novels, but decided to take the plunge and open her own bookshop after growing impatient waiting for one to open nearby.
'I've just been waiting for Sydney to get (its own romance bookstore), and when it never came, I felt like this could be my moment,' she said.
'I just woke up one morning and I was like, 'I'm gonna do this'. And I did, and it's been amazing.'
Surrounded by cafes and restaurants in Sydney's swanky inner suburbs, Romancing the Novel doesn't appear like any run-of-the-mill bookshop.
With its soft pink walls, flowers adorning the bookshelves, literature references hanging in ornate frames and plush velvet chairs nestled into cosy corners, it's a place where readers can relax and escape the world for a few hours.
'It's like a warm hug, as dumb as that sounds,' Ms Hopper laughed. 'It's a safe space … it's very calm.'
The bookshop's welcoming and romantic aesthetic was hand-curated down to a tee, she said, and has ushered in a community of like-minded people who want to explore a world of romance from a mix of traditional and self-published indie authors.
'Indie authors are the backbone of romance novels,' she told NewsWire. 'And the beauty of the indie bookstores, especially the romance ones, is most of the time we're gonna have a huge focus on indie novels.' The bookshop opened in September and has been an 'amazing' experience for the Sydney-based owner. NewsWire / Jeremy Piper Credit: News Corp Australia
Skeptics warned Ms Hopper that bookshops were a 'dying breed', but she was determined to prove them wrong with her Paddington store, which opened its doors in September last year.
'I think now more than ever, we can see that is so not true,' she said.
Behemoth online retailers like Amazon quickly gobbled up many independent bookshops since launching in Australia, with the number of bookshops dropping from 2,879 in 2013 to 1,457 a decade later, but genre-specific shops like Romancing the Novel remain a staple for the community.
'People want to support small business,' she said. 'Also, with (retailers like) Amazon, there's not a lot of quality control. Whereas in a bookstore, people love to pick out specific books …
some readers have already read the book on their Kindle, and they want it for what they call a 'trophy' to have on their shelves.'
Some of the best-selling genres in the Paddington bookshop include small-town romance and dark romance, which 'has been having its moment'.That's not to say she hasn't been faced with challenges, with some passers-by making remarks and suggestions her shop 'would be closed in a few months … especially in such an expensive suburb like Paddington', but she predicts more romance-focused bookshops to open across the country. 'The joke's on them because romance is (one of) the top-selling genres of fiction … and I know the store speaks for itself.' The bookshop has become a safe space for people to read their favourite romance books. NewsWire / Jeremy Piper Credit: News Corp Australia
Although the love for romance books have been a favourite among majority female readers for centuries, with the first reference to the genre tracing back to Shakespeare's 1596 play A Midsummer Night's Dream, romance novels have experienced a renaissance thanks to apps like TikTok, which is slowly shedding the stigma that once cast a shadow over the genre.
'Back in the day these types of novels were the ones you read behind closed doors, but it's becoming common for women to be open about their tastes, perhaps even feeling confident reading this type of book on a bus,' clinical psychologist Maria Elena Lukeides told NewsWire.
'It feels like social media has given a voice to so many people and highlighted an intense interest this specific niche. Social media has also allowed people to feel as if they are a part of a borderless book club. Inclusive, non-judgemental and highly engaging.' Ms Hopper said fans are 'pretty proud' of the romantic genre. NewsWire / Jeremy Piper Credit: News Corp Australia
Several misconceptions fuel the flames of romance novel stigma, Dr Lukeides said, including accusations of the books being 'anti-feminist', 'unrealistic' and 'all about sex'.
'The reality is, many of them are quite PG or focus primarily on emotional intimacy and relationship development,' she told NewsWire.
'The idea that romance novels lead to unrealistic expectations is also sort of a myth because many people are able to distinguish fiction from real life.'
For Ms Hopper, the stigma stems from 'ignorance' and desire to 'discredit' a genre dominated by women.
'People love to yuck on other people's yum,' she said. 'I think we're kind of over trying to have to make excuses for it. 'We're pretty proud; we're going to stand on our two feet and scream it from the rooftops.'
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