From the introduction to section 1 of this volume:
In "Re-Reading Romance: Exploring Practitioner, Reader, and Industry Perceptions of the Genre," Jacqueline Burgess and Gaja Kolodziej explore readers' expectations of the popular romance genre, focusing on readers as consumers. Given the financial success and significance of the romance genre in the global book market, romance writing practitioners are cognizant of their readers' expectations. However, research about romance readers' perceptions and expectations of the genre, and thus how authentic readers feel new books and installments in series are, is till emerging. Starting with Radway's original and contentious study of romance fiction, this research compares the definitions of the romance fiction genre as put forward by scholars specializing in the romance genre and romance writing practitioners. Then, using the follow-up Romance Readers Survey (2021), the comparison is expanded to incorporate a third important stakeholder, the readers, to understand reader perceptions and expectations of what an authentic romance fiction novel is and compromises.[sic] Thus, this chapter explores scholar, practitioner, and reader understandings of the romance genre before focusing on readers to understand their perceptions of the romance genre and what they believe to be authentic. The findings reveal that readers' perceptions and expectations of the romance genre are consistent with those of the most recent romance genre scholars and romance writing practitioners. (11-12)
From the introduction to section 1 of this volume: