Can You Become A Successful Male Romance Author?

One of the things I write besides the articles in this website are fiction novel ebooks which I publish worldwide in many online ebook retailers using Draft2Digital. I have written novels in a few genres but have largely stayed away from the Romance genre.

And the reasons are obvious. There is a long standing perception that only women are supposed to be writing romance. This is the main reason why I initially refused to try writing romance.

And the facts don’t lie. If you read the names of the authors of almost all romance novels, you would probably come to the conclusion that only women write romance. For example, the UK association of romance writers have less than one percent male members.

Of course, there are male romance authors who uses women pen names because they are very aware that there is a likelihood that their novel won’t be bought by women because many women readers of romance seemed to be very uncomfortable of male romance authors.

Although hidden and largely unknown, there really exists a number of men who write romance novels of all kinds. You might think that the erotic romance novel you are reading was written by a woman, but pen names can be very deceiving.

A woman or probably even a man can ask a male romance author: “Why do you still persist in writing romance novels when there is a clear bias among romance readers that only women can create romance novels?”

There could be many reasons why a man would choose to write romance novels. It could be as simple as the financial rewards that an author can probably get when they write romance novels, or it could just be a matter of preference.

There’s no denying it. For a long time now, romance novels have been the most profitable genre in novels. The market for romance novels is worth billions. Meanwhile, in second place is suspense and thriller novels with just half the market value.

This billion dollar numbers have persuaded many people to write romance novels. This includes men who may or may not like writing romance novels. They are just primarily acting as businesspeople who saw a very profitable product.

In fact, when I was making my online research of successful male authors who write romance, the number one reason why these men wrote romance is because of the money and nothing else.

You would read stories of how male authors first tried writing on more traditionally male associated story genres like science fiction and fantasy, but later on switched to writing romance because it was more profitable.

But this is old news already. One of the best advise successful authors give to unsuccessful authors is to try which story genre would work for them. One of the best examples would be RL Stein who loved and tried writing funny stories with moderate success.

He tried writing teen and children horror stories and we know the rest of the story. He became one of the best known teen and children horror authors. He forever would be remembered for his Goosebumps children horror series.

I tried writing fantasy, horror and drama novels before I tried writing romance. And why did I start writing romance? Is it because of the probable financial rewards I would get for writing in such a popular and profitable story genre?

No, this was not the reason. The very difficult uphill battle that male authors of romance novels face was enough to make me stay away from it. However, as I write in other genres, I began to notice that I was adding in romance elements to my novels.

Even my one and only horror novel has a strong element of romance between the male and female protagonist. And my horror story deals with very evil otherworldly creatures and gruesome deaths for the victims in the story.

I soon realized that I enjoyed writing romantic relationships in many sorts of situations in my novels. I also realized that romantic relationships in stories are one of the most important and interesting part of stories.

Another thing which pushed me to write romance is because I enjoy romantic comedy or Rom Com movies. I found that I was integrating elements of rom com in my novels. This has significantly increased my writing output because I was being entertained by my writings as well.

Before we proceed with the rest of this article, perhaps it is important to know a few facts about romance readers. Maybe by now you are already interested in writing romance novels even though you’re a man.

The bulk of romance readers are women. They make up approximately 84% of the total. It follows that only 19% are men. The romance book genre is worth over a billion dollars a year. By targeting women, you potentially gain a slice of this US $840 million dollar piece of the pie.

Romance fiction buyers span all age ranges, but the largest segment is between 30 and 54 years old which is roughly 41% of the market. Contrary to what romance movies show, older woman are more romantic.

Of the women who read romance novels, a majority of them are white. This may be a bitter pill to swallow if you’re trying to have a global reach. You need to forget about your biases and write romance stories that target this group of readers.

Romance stories maybe formulaic with the main couple experiencing obstacles before they truly become romantically attached to one another. Another standing rule of romance stories is the happy ending.

Historical:

As the name suggests, these are romance stories which happened in the past with preferably a strong hint of historical accuracy. As I have discussed before in this website, history related products are popular and these novels prove it.

Contemporary:

This is the largest subgenre of the romance genre. And there may be a reason for this. Because there are many people reading these kinds of stories. Maybe romance readers want to put themselves in more realistic situations.

Erotic:

Say what you can with romance readers, but the fact is that they want spice in their romance stories. As a male author, you may struggle writing the words to the erotic content of your romance story.

But this is just one skill you need to learn. Romance readers have voted, there are some of them who enjoy erotic content in their romance stories. A workaround to this if you’re a male author is to concentrate on the other subgenres instead.

Paranormal:

I must admit that I smiled when I read some of these kinds of romance subgenre, but I understand. Women who read these also enjoy fantasy and want a strong element of romance in them.

Regency:

These romance stories are set during the time periods of 1795 and 1837, which is otherwise known as the Regency era of England. As such, a good knowledge of this time period is essential if you intend to write in this subgenre.

Suspense:

Perhaps this is the most welcoming subgenre of romance for male romance authors. This is because it combines romance with the more traditionally male dominated suspense and/or thriller stories.

If you want an example, you don’t need to look far. Author Janet Evanovich have become a multimillionaire just writing these sort of books. As of 2021, her net worth is approximately $120 million.

Not bad for a woman who used to write straight romance stories before she turned to writing suspense romance. Her books are so successful that her female protagonists have even been turned to movie characters.

Are you familiar with Stephanie Plum? The bumbling female bounty hunter who has been played by actress Katherine Heigl? If you are a male author who’s interested in breaking into the romance genre, you might want to read a couple of her novels.

She might be writing suspense, but the violence is not graphic. Rather, her suspense stories concentrate more on the romance relationship between the male and female protagonists. The everyday life of people are prominently written in her novels as well.

To me, the suspense and/or thriller part of the stories only play second fiddle to the main theme of the book which is romance and relationships. And her writing formula might just be what you need as a male author to break into the romance genre.

Perhaps it might be good to mention that someday, if you become a successful male author who writes using a female pen name, you might have to “come out” eventually. According to male authors who have outed themselves, at some point in time, your readers would ultimately want to know the real you.

That is why they advise that the sooner you come out and tell your readers that you are really a male author, the lesser is the likelihood that they would feel betrayed by you for using a female pen name.

His name is worth mentioning if we talk about male authors that write romance. Perhaps he is best known for his novel “The Fault In Our Stars” which has become a top grossing movie.

The interesting thing about John Green and his novel is that he never used a female pen name although it was clear that he was writing a love story. Even the cover of his novel did not suggest that the novel was a love/romance story.

He is proof that you don’t have to use a pen name to write romance stories even though you are a male author. It is your story and the way you write it that your readers really care about. John Green is a bonafide celebrity with many young female fans.

Another interesting thing about him is that he first became famous as a YouTuber. People really had a good idea of who the author John Green is. He is a male author who writes romance stories.

A good YouTube video I highly recommend that you watch is the interview of Rich Amooi. He’s a male author who successfully supports his family by writing romance novels. And the good thing about him is that he never hides the fact that he’s a male author.

The video is almost an hour long but is chock full of information for any man who wants to become a successful romance author. Here is the link to the video:

Laughter and Love: Writing Romantic Comedies with Rich Amooi (The Self Publishing Show, episode 247)

As what the authors mentioned in this article have proven, it is very possible to become a successful romance author even though you are a man and not a woman. They further showed that you don’t have to use a female pen name to succeed.

The romance genre is the most profitable story genre and is worth trying. Even if you are only interested in the financial rewards of romance story writing, it is best if you are genuinely interested in writing them because you are likely to produce your best work.

Writing Romance Novels