Romance authors Rachael Johns and Penelope Janu discuss genre shift

Leading ladies don't need saving.

"She can be independent, love is not going to complete her. It's going to support her," romance author Rachael Johns said.

Romance author Penelope Janu agrees. She believes romance novels are also driving the narrative around consent, safe sex and respectful relationships.

"As we know unfortunately a lot of women, a lot of young girls perhaps ... don't have that [explicit consent] in their own relationship," Ms Janu said

"It's really important that at least even through fiction reading they can see this is how it looks and this can be sexy and this can be really attractive."

"People who read general fiction may read one book a month ... whereas romance readers are so veracious they might read five books a week," Mrs Johns said.

"[Romance fans] are very, very loyal to the genre and they read a lot, and that's why I guess it's one of the highest-selling genres in the world because of the volume that these readers read."

The visibility and popularity of the romance genre is largely influenced by 'BookTok', book review videos shared through the social media website TikTok, Mrs Johns said

"People would hide the fact that they read romance, they wouldn't say it loud and proud whereas the younger generation on TikTok has really changed that," she said.

"They're not shy to say. 'Hey, I like reading that romance. I like reading about sex.'."

In the UK, romance books that used the keywords TikTok or #BookTok in their marketing sold 2.2 million copies collectively in the first four months of 2022.

In other news:

For romance fans hoping to become writers, it's time to polish up your novels with an upcoming Romance Writers of Australia (RWA) conference to be held in Sydney in August.

It will be an opportunity to pitch to publishers and rub shoulders with those working in the industry.

The key to a good rural romance is a focus on quirky, supportive and interesting secondary characters, Mrs Johns said.

"It's about what's going on in the town just as much as the romance," Mrs Johns said.

Who knows where inspiration could strike.

For Mrs Johns it was the revival of a theatrical society in Kogonup, a small town in WA that inspired the plot for her first rural romance Jilted.

The mum-of-three teenage boys lived in regional Western Australia for 11 years. She hopes to return to the regions one day but for now calls Swan Valley home.

While Penelope Janu reads widely she keeps coming back to romance.

"I guess my go-to novels really since I was studying Jane Austen at school has always been something with an uplifting ending," she said.

She began writing romance novels in her 50s after working as a lawyer and academic. She encourages aspiring writers to put pen to paper.

"Have faith that [you] do have a voice that [you] have something to say if [you] want to tell a story. Go ahead and write it!"

The two authors will be attending the Romance Writers of Australia conference on August 11 at Sofitel Sydney Wentworth. The theme is 'all that glitters'.