I’ve tracked down the deal on the Bowker number. Bowker tracks bookstore sales _only_. Sales from supermarkets, Wal-Marts, newstands, drugstores, aren’t included.

That makes total sense. Romance sells very very well in those uncounted venues which would boost their overall numbers.

And it also makes Bowker the correct set of numbers to talk about the Mormon mystery genre as nearly all Mormon market book sales are made in the bookstore — DB.

– Lee Allred

cience fiction in its classic genre sense seems to be rapidly dying…a subject too long to go into here.

Funny you should say that. A lady on Dear Author today commented on that.

Still surprised about Science Fiction/Fantasy edging past mystery. That’s good news for me, potentially. I rahter suspect thought that it’s fantasy that’s growing; science fiction in its classic genre sense seems to be rapidly dying…a subject too long to go into here.

– Lee

On the other hand, $725 million difference between romance and mystery’s a wee bit of a gap. I doubt it’s exaggerated too much, if at all.

Oh. I forgot to list the Susan Evans McCloud nvoel titles. A bit hazy after ten years, but I think they were THE LAST SUSPECT, WHO GOES THERE?, and MYSTERY BY THE SEA, not neccessarily in order.

– Lee Allred

Yes, especially if the “LDS” version means the mystery has to be low on suspense, low on danger, (basically low on tension and therefore, low on plot.)

I think that LDS publishers have a hard task, trying to please everyone and minimize complaints. Everyone has their own version of what is “unrighteous” in fiction. By elimiating everything that could be construed by an LDS audience as unrighteous or “not Mormon enough” we end up bereft of really exciting or well-written books. It’s sad, and I think its a reflection of a larger problem within Mormon culture.

That having been said: There are some excellent, gripping LDS books out there. There are even some that verge on literary fiction. One of my favorites: The Kaliedescope Season, by Sharon Downing Jarvis.

The following numbers are from 2007, granted, but I very much doubt that the stats have reversed themselves so drastically from 2007 to 2008.

Romance Sales
(source: Business of Consumer Book Publishing 2008)

* Romance fiction generated $1.375 billion in sales in 2007.

* Approximately 8,090 romance titles were released in 2007.

Market Share of Romance Fiction
(source: Business of Consumer Book Publishing 2008)

* Romance fiction is the biggest fiction category in 2007.

Romance Market Share Compared to Other Genres
(source: Simba Information estimates)

* Romance fiction: $1.375 billion in estimated revenue for 2007

Religion/inspirational: $819 million

Science fiction/fantasy: $700 million

Mystery: $650 million

Classic literary fiction: $466 million

Of those who read books in 2007, one in five read romance novels.
(AP-Ipsos Poll)

I agree with Jonathan that the national market takes care of this well enough. My mother only reads mysteries and I doubt she’d think to look to Deseret for her titles.

2) In the mid/late 1990s Bookcraft published a mystery series* by Susan Evans McCloud (of LIKEN TO US FAME for all you old Seminary students :) ).

They were very nicely done, but apparently didn’t do well. I’m not sure precisely why, but there were a few strikes against the books.

a) They read like national market mystery books (quality and substance). They had all the expected conventinos of a national market mystery genre book. There were very few if any LDS elements in the story. If I recall the main character, a young woman, was a Mormon, but that fact was never really played up in the rest of the books. Other than having Bookcraft on the spine, they could have been national market books. Perhaps they weren’t Mormon enough.

b) Somewhat cross-genre. There was a romance subplot invovling the recurring characters and the book set on the Cornish coast had gothic/ghost story elements. Maybe a bit too much romance for the straight mystery readers and too much mystery for the romance readers.

c) Odd time period/locale. The book was set in Britian just after the Great War. A possbile plus for national market, but possibly a minus for the Mormon market.

It is possible that the limited success of this series may have poisoned the well for future Mormon market mysteries. “We tried mysteries with one of our top authors and it didn’t work.” Possibly.

I’m going to think on this a bit more. Mysteries should be going gangbusters in the Mormon market.

– Lee Allred

Together, they would be 43% of the national fiction market.