The book-buying and reading market in South Africa has experienced significant change since 2016 when compared to the recent 2023 National Reading Survey and book industry trends. Yet the reader envisioned for romantic fiction in South Africa has not. The South African book market, especially in the romance genre, continues to prioritise the English reader of imported fiction. Historic marginalization of readers influences the decisions made by publishers, who appear reluctant to promote South African titles in the genre. Local and self-published romantic fiction, on the other hand, serves a market outside traditional publishing operational structures. First-hand reports from self-published and previously marginalized authors bear testimony to their experience of gatekeeping and market access. These reports are read alongside an analysis of production trends and bestselling titles in the romance genre. As a result, this paper examines the role of content, ownership and author diversification in the local book industry’s response to changing romance reader needs.
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As a result of the analysis in this paper, we propose a more appropriate definition of romance genre fiction for the South African reader. Romance, as used here, encompasses fiction in which an intimate relationship is central to the narrative and in which the emotional lives and social realities of black women are authentically represented, irrespective of whether the ending conforms to the genre’s optimistic expectations. This definition draws on Moudileno’s framing of popular romance as a ‘site of contemporary expressions’ and on the self-publishing market’s demonstrated success in producing titles that readers recognise and consume as romantic fiction, regardless of orthodox genre classification (124). It is precisely this gap between the industry’s definition and the reading public’s practice which publishers need to recognize and take into account.
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In self-published romance, male acts of violence are often met with unconditional love from their female counterparts. Arguably, this more closely represents the social conditions and lived reality of South African readers. This ‘dark romance’ trend is witnessed in a substantial number of local genre offerings in English and is present in almost all the self-published titles that are present in this market.
Mhlambi shows that black, self-published romance authors create representative narratives to give their readers the mental strength to deal with their realities when it comes to romance, patriarchy and violence, which are all too present in the social context of their readers. While 75% of participating authors agreed to creating escape for readers to some extent, one participant explained her approach differently: ‘I am not sure I give them an escape per se. … I mostly force them to reflect and learn, as much as they are entertained.’
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