# Is there a market for clean (or sweet) romance novels?



## kimberlyloth (May 15, 2014)

Currently I write YA romance, but I'm thinking of expanding into the adult market. I don't like reading or writing explicit sex scenes and so I was wondering if there was a market for clean romance novels that are not Christian based. I tried to search for it on Amazon but I couldn't even find a category. Any suggestions?


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## sstroble (Dec 16, 2013)

Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/cleanindiereads/

There are a lot of romance writers there who can help you.


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## CassieL (Aug 29, 2013)

Absolutely there is.  My second-best selling set of romance stories are completely clean and non-religious.  And many romance authors keep the sex scenes completely off the page.  Just be careful of your keywording so you don't get through into the inspirational category.  I think it's "clean" that gets you in there inadvertently.  (Very annoying.)


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## JCAlbert (Jun 29, 2015)

Romance is by far the most popular genre out there. I'm sure you'll find readers. However, I think most of them will be the same type that read Christian or inspirational romances. You're allowed your creative freedom as a writer but the reality is that sex comes hand in hand with romance. It just happens. It's natural. So perhaps you don't have to go all kinky, bdsm, ultra expletive on it but you could incorporate a scene that either leads to or implies sex. Good luck!


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## Usedtoposthere (Nov 19, 2013)

There are all different heat levels in romance, and all of them sell. However, in indie romance, sex sells more. The very successful cleaner/sweeter end seems to be more tradpubbed, from what I see. The bestselling indie authors are pretty steamy. 

Which doesn't mean you can't sell a good number of books at the sweet end. Just that it's tougher, I believe. 

(Despite the look of some of my books, I'm fairly steamy, though not erotic romance except for one book that edges close.)


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## kimberlyloth (May 15, 2014)

sstroble said:


> Go to https://www.facebook.com/groups/cleanindiereads/
> 
> There are a lot of romance writers there who can help you.


Thanks, I just sent a request.



Cassie Leigh said:


> Absolutely there is. My second-best selling set of romance stories are completely clean and non-religious. And many romance authors keep the sex scenes completely off the page. Just be careful of your keywording so you don't get through into the inspirational category. I think it's "clean" that gets you in there inadvertently. (Very annoying.)


Yeah, that's exactly what I don't want to have happen. I may PM you later asking about keywords.



JCAlbert said:


> Romance is by far the most popular genre out there. I'm sure you'll find readers. However, I think most of them will be the same type that read Christian or inspirational romances. You're allowed your creative freedom as a writer but the reality is that sex comes hand in hand with romance. It just happens. It's natural. So perhaps you don't have to go all kinky, bdsm, ultra expletive on it but you could incorporate a scene that either leads to or implies sex. Good luck!


I don't have a problem with sex, I just don't want it to be explicit. But it seems like EVERY romance novel I pick up is very explicit. I wish there was a way to search for steaminess level.


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## Rob40 (Apr 18, 2015)

This is interesting to read about. My great aunt had several books published in the 50's and 60's and 70's. YA to even christian romance. All very clean but daring in the story. (Oh my goodness she kissed someone while engaged to another man! Or how torrid!)

The interesting part here, is that in her later life, she published several storys in E-book formats wayyyy before the kindle existed. So, the early Sony readers and the like. We are in the process of finding out who still has contractual claims over publication rights. (several pub. houses were bought up and merged, etc.) Also, we would have to find some of the files as well that the pub houses likely still  have. And there is a possibility of re-issuing these stories if this area of clean romance is applicable. If anything, for the experience of my sisters MBA.

Very interesting subject.


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## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

A lot of people assume do that sweet or clean romances are  Christian romances.  I'm sure there are readers out there for the market, but writers may need to keep repeating the distinction over and over (and over).....


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## Kristen Painter (Apr 21, 2010)

Selling clean reads isn't tough for me. It's what I write and I'm doing very well. I have a lot of readers who comment about how nice it is to have romances that aren't graphic. There is definitely a market for it. I don't do any specific promo for the books as being clean, it's just what they are. By clean, I mean off screen sex, mild violence and mild cursing.


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## countwordsmith (Aug 13, 2015)

Kristen Painter said:


> Selling clean reads isn't tough for me. It's what I write and I'm doing very well. I have a lot of readers who comment about how nice it is to have romances that aren't graphic. There is definitely a market for it. I don't do any specific promo for the books as being clean, it's just what they are. By clean, I mean off screen sex, mild violence and mild cursing.


So great to hear. I like your approach. I think it was a Patricia Briggs series I was reading that was pretty much romance, but was more strong UF. I was surprised that it had fade to black sex. While another author can't think of her name that wrote the same type of UF romance was definitely on screen sex without the harsh words used. Your covers for Nocturne Falls (awesome covers btw) don't convey erotic romance, so it works wonderfully I think to give readers a hint that they might not get blazing sex scenes.

What I wonder is about successful contemporary sweet romances with this same approach, not marketing as sweet or clean, just are.


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## Jenna_Elle (Mar 15, 2015)

Kristen Painter said:


> Selling clean reads isn't tough for me. It's what I write and I'm doing very well. I have a lot of readers who comment about how nice it is to have romances that aren't graphic. There is definitely a market for it. I don't do any specific promo for the books as being clean, it's just what they are. By clean, I mean off screen sex, mild violence and mild cursing.


It's like a cozy romance instead of a cozy mystery


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## Jena H (Oct 2, 2011)

Kristen Painter said:


> Selling clean reads isn't tough for me. It's what I write and I'm doing very well. I have a lot of readers who comment about how nice it is to have romances that aren't graphic. There is definitely a market for it. I don't do any specific promo for the books as being clean, it's just what they are. By clean, I mean off screen sex, mild violence and mild cursing.


I think a lot of people define "clean, sweet" romance as one that has NO sex, on- or off-screen. Especially if the characters aren't married.


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## JKata (Dec 9, 2014)

There's a market for it in non-inspirational Regency romance. Because of the time period, a lot of readers prefer or, at least, don't mind romance without steam. That said, I think even in this genre, steamy sells better, but you can still have decent sales writing sweet Regencies.


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## Justawriter (Jul 24, 2012)

Kristen Painter said:


> Selling clean reads isn't tough for me. It's what I write and I'm doing very well. I have a lot of readers who comment about how nice it is to have romances that aren't graphic. There is definitely a market for it. I don't do any specific promo for the books as being clean, it's just what they are. By clean, I mean off screen sex, mild violence and mild cursing.


Same here. I have several series that could be called sweet and they do just fine!


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## Atunah (Nov 20, 2008)

When this comes up I always like to post the link of a very large group on goodreads. They invite writers also.

They are specifically for "clean" but not christian and inspirational. There is very much a audience for that.

https://www.goodreads.com/group/show/10067-clean-romances

Those that prefer the sweet reads tend not to read up in the steam levels, while others like me read from top all the way down. For me its more important that it fits the story, than how much or little steam is in a romance. But, I tend not to search out the sweet, it either is or isn't. Most of what I read though has some sort of open bed room door.

But as seen with this large goodreads group, romance readers are very very varied in their likes. Its such a huge genre there is space for everything.


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## Kristen Painter (Apr 21, 2010)

countwordsmith said:


> So great to hear. I like your approach. I think it was a Patricia Briggs series I was reading that was pretty much romance, but was more strong UF. I was surprised that it had fade to black sex. While another author can't think of her name that wrote the same type of UF romance was definitely on screen sex without the harsh words used. Your covers for Nocturne Falls (awesome covers btw) don't convey erotic romance, so it works wonderfully I think to give readers a hint that they might not get blazing sex scenes.
> 
> What I wonder is about successful contemporary sweet romances with this same approach, not marketing as sweet or clean, just are.


None of my traditionally pubbed UF has on screen sex either, which might be why Patricia Briggs blurbed it. As for the Nocturne Falls covers (thanks for the compliment) I specifically went with those cartoon style covers so readers would be less expectant of something super steamy.


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## kimberlyloth (May 15, 2014)

This is so nice to hear. Thanks guys!!!  I think I'll take Kristin's approach and let them just be.


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## Jessica R (Nov 11, 2012)

Look at Victorine Lieske. 
Mine aren't exactly in the romance category, more cozy mystery, but they have romance on the side (clean), and they do alright.
I think there should be a category for it!


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## countwordsmith (Aug 13, 2015)

Jessica R said:


> Look at Victorine Lieske.
> Mine aren't exactly in the romance category, more cozy mystery, but they have romance on the side (clean), and they do alright.
> I think there should be a category for it!


Thanks for mentioning her. I see that she does say at the end of the blurbs that it is a sweet romance and that there are no sex scenes. By her ranking and ratings, looks like she's doing well.


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## KelliWolfe (Oct 14, 2014)

What gets me is that when I go to the store using my Kindle Fire, as opposed to Amazon.com, and pull up the full list of categories under romance there _is_ a category called "Clean & Wholesome" that has 104 titles in it.

And you *can* get to it from Amazon.com. But it's listed as a Books category there, not under Kindle Store > Kindle eBooks.

Victorine also runs a blog called Clean Romance Books, but I don't know how active it is right now.


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## KelliWolfe (Oct 14, 2014)

AnnChristy said:


> I'm also trying to figure out that distinction...sweet/clean is not the same as steamless (what do you call low steam romances?)


Steam clean?


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## JRTomlin (Jan 18, 2011)

kimberlyloth said:


> I don't have a problem with sex, I just don't want it to be explicit. But it seems like EVERY romance novel I pick up is very explicit. I wish there was a way to search for steaminess level.


First, as a reader (I don't write romance at all) I can tell you that I buy clean romances. I find most sex scenes poorly written and frankly boring. Unless it actually has something happen that has to do with the plot or characterization (which it RARELY does), I don't want to read about it. I doubt the two of us are the only ones who have similar feelings. I am fine with sex but it's best behind closed doors. 

Second, let me suggest you check out thefussylibrarian.com if you haven't, which is one of the few mailing lists that lets you choose heat level.


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## Daniel Zellar (Aug 24, 2015)

Have you looked up Nick Sparks' books and checked out what categories and other authors and titles appear in his "customers also viewed" sections? 

His books are very clean. He also says they're "love stories" and not "romance novels," but it sounds like you're considering the same genre no matter what it's called. If so, there's definitely a HUGE market for it.


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## Kristen Painter (Apr 21, 2010)

They're not romances because romances promise the reader an HEA (Happily Ever After) and it's my understanding that one of the main characters in his books end up dead at the end. Not an HEA.


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## JKata (Dec 9, 2014)

Not all Nicholas Sparks books are clean. The Notebook has a sex scene in it. Not super explicit but it's still there. And as Kristen said, they're not classified as romance.


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## Chicki (Jul 1, 2010)

Did you also post this question on the Indie Romance thread?


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## kimberlyloth (May 15, 2014)

Chicki said:


> Did you also post this question on the Indie Romance thread?


Not sure what that is.


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## Chicki (Jul 1, 2010)

There is a thread here strictly for indie romance - http://www.kboards.com/index.php?topic=20835.msg3094436#msg3094436


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## 69959 (May 14, 2013)

There's definitely a market for it. My romance series is sweet/clean and I get a lot of reviews that say how nice and/or refreshing it is to read romance without the sex.


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## lilywhite (Sep 25, 2010)

Kristen Painter said:


> Selling clean reads isn't tough for me. It's what I write and I'm doing very well. I have a lot of readers who comment about how nice it is to have romances that aren't graphic. There is definitely a market for it. I don't do any specific promo for the books as being clean, it's just what they are. By clean, I mean off screen sex, mild violence and mild cursing.


Ah, this explains why we keep showing up in each other's Also-Boughts. I've got the same deal going on - fun and sassy chick-lit style, but with paranormal and no onscreen sex. I'm absolutely boggled by the number of emails I get from people who are so happy to have demons in their fiction at a heat level lower than SCORCHING.

Not that there's anything wrong with scorching, and I'm working on something New Adult that I think might really have legs, but I love my sweet little demon romances. <3


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## lilywhite (Sep 25, 2010)

lilywhite said:


> I love my sweet little demon romances. <3


(But they always look so out of place on the HNR or BS lists, next to all the glistening shifter-chests. LOL)


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## Kristen Painter (Apr 21, 2010)

lilywhite said:


> Ah, this explains why we keep showing up in each other's Also-Boughts. I've got the same deal going on - fun and sassy chick-lit style, but with paranormal and no onscreen sex.


Mine are paranormal too.


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