Amazon.com has recently released a list of the top twenty bestselling books published in 2016, based on both print and Kindle sales. Here it is:

1. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Parts 1 & 2, Special Rehearsal Edition Scriptby J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany
2. When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi
3. The Whistlerby John Grisham
4. The Last Mile (Amos Decker series)by David Baldacci
5. Killing the Rising Sun: How America Vanquished World War II Japanby Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard
6. Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisisby J.D. Vance
7. Truly Madly Guiltyby Liane Moriarty
8. Night School: A Jack Reacher Novelby Lee Child
9. The Black Widow: Book 16 of Gabriel Allon Seriesby Daniel Silva
10. Diary of a Wimpy Kid # 11: Double Down by Jeff Kinney
11. 15th Affair (Women’s Murder Club)by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro
12. Before the Fallby Noah Hawley
13. Fool Me Onceby Harlan Coben
14. Crisis of Character: A White House Secret Service Officer Discloses His Firsthand Experience with Hillary, Bill, and How They Operateby Gary J. Byrne
15. The Wrong Side of Goodbye: A Harry Bosch Novel by Michael Connelly
16. The Magnolia Storyby Chip Gaines and Joanna Gaines
17. The Nestby Cynthia D’Aprix Sweeney
18. One with You: Book 5 of A Crossfire Seriesby Sylvia Day
19. The Obsessionby Nora Roberts
20. Everything We Keepby Kerry Lonsdale

I was not surprised to see books relating to society and politics featuring on the list, given the circumstances of the year, but I was surprised by the prevalence of dark, suspenseful thrillers and the marked absence of my favourite genre: romance.

Of these twenty bestselling titles, only three contain romance: Everything We Keep, The Obsession and One with You. Two are not exclusively romance novels; Nora Roberts’ and Kerry Londsale’s books straddle the women’s fiction and suspense genres. Sylvia Day’s novel is a romance, and it is interesting that her brand of seduction mingled with poignancy has made her the only romance writer to make this chart.

Overall, statistics indicate that romance is best-selling genre in fiction (source: the BBC). So if Amazon’s 2016 bestselling books list encompassed all books purchased this year (but not necessarily published this year) then we could expect to see more romance books in the list. But of the books published in 2016, clearly the romance genre was eclipsed by thrillers.

I wonder why this is the case. Are we in dark times, and seeking answers in dark books? Is it easier to read a ‘quick-grab’ thriller than a romance novel? Have romance readers read more thrillers than romances this year? Is romance somewhat out of vogue?

According to the Romance Writers of America, the subgenres of the romance genre break down as follows in terms of share of sales:

Print: romantic suspense (53%); contemporary romance (41%); historical romance (34%); erotic romance (33%); New Adult (26%); paranormal romance (19%); Young Adult romance (18%); and Christian romance (17%).

E-book: romantic suspense (48%); contemporary romance (44%); erotic romance (42%); historical romance (33%); paranormal romance (30%); New Adult (26%); Young Adult romance (18%); and Christian romance (14%).

It’s interesting that in both print and ebook formats romantic suspense dominates. Romantic suspense is effectively a blend of the thriller genre that’s dominating the charts and traditional romance. Clearly, readers enjoy excitement, twists and turns and a certain degree of darkness in their fiction.

What does all this mean for a writer like myself, who writes beautiful, evocative, epic romance ‘like Hollywood used to make’? Will my next book be a romantic suspense novel instead? Absolutely not, is the answer! Because, as I shall discuss in a post later this week, a writer must write entirely for him- or herself, not to chase a trend or please a market; you have to write the book that demands to be written, the book that touches your heart and soul. Only then can you genuinely connect with readers.