This will be quick, since I have somewhere to be. (No, I’m actually not indolent all the time, just most of the time.)
There’s been some serious debate in Romancelandia recently over the state of the historical romance. If you’re reading this you’re likely already familiar with it and I’m short on time, so I won’t put in the links. But many, many people smarter than I have been discussing it.
Today, AAR released their top 100 list of 2013. (Find it here.)
62% of the top 100 were historicals. That is amazing. If we assume there are five main categories (contemporary, historical, paranormal, inspirational, and young adult) then if everyone is getting equal real estate, historical romance should be at 20%.
(My categories are quick and dirty here and don’t exactly match the AAR ones, but this whole thing is quick and dirty.)
So historical romance is occupying three times as many spots on the list as one might expect. Which is huge.
Readers want historicals. They LOVE historicals. So no, historicals aren’t dead. They are in a low point just now, but any category that readers are so passionate about will never die. Historicals will be back and will be better than ever and this historical romance renaissance will be awesome for both readers and writers.
So I say: Bring on the rebirth.