Women’s fiction is that genre we just don’t typically talk about and I’m not sure why. There’s this sense that it’s all literary, but that’s not the case. Women’s fiction is simply fiction about women for women.
And the market is huge, averaging around $4-6.5 million a month. But for the sake of today, I’m going to focus on one genre that has a vacuum.
Fantasy Women’s Fiction $500K
You look at that number and you’re bound to think that there isn’t a lot going on here. The entire genre is only bringing in $500K.
This is true, yes. However, for the past six months, this genre has been bringing in almost $2million on its own. The authors who have dominated this genre are making anywhere from $2.5K – $10K per book per month.
The reason this genre is so low right now is that there haven’t been any new releases in a while. As of today, most of the books on this list are SFR, so the algorithm is crossing them over to fill the list.
Why aren’t there more PWF releases right now? The readers are there. They’re excited about these books. So, why aren’t authors running to fill this? Because the right person hasn’t come by swinging the trend train flag? Or because the Fab 13 have some hold on this market? I’m sure if you were to ask them, they’d invite everyone in with a smile and a glass of lemonade. They paved the path. I say we take it!
There isn’t one trend in this genre that will gain the readers’ ravenous attention. The main characters could be in their 40’s, 50’s, 60’s, 20’s – it doesn’t matter. There could be shifters. There could be witches. There could… anything. These readers want variety. They want consistency.
And they want their souls filled with good fuel.
I am planning a few series to fill this vacuum this year.
Tropes For This Genre
- Romance that focuses on the building of emotional connection, trust and personal growth rather than sex.
- Strong character growth
- Characters who make mistakes, but choose to grow in spite of them
- Strong women who are allow to show weakness and still be strong
- Women supporting women
- Funny familiars who might be a lizard or a weird mouse
- Women who don’t need a partner (yes, partner, not necessarily a man) to complete them and make them stronger
POV/Tense
- 1st or 3rd
- Past
- Conversational narrative
Price
- $2.99 – $5.99
- There are a few at $0.99, but that doesn’t seem to make these sell any better. Those are typically the wide authors, though.
- This is a KDP genre, but I would wager that this will grow into a viable wide genre as well.
- The sweet spot for pricing seems to be $3.99.
Conclusion
I’ll keep watching the trends in fantasy and will let you know each month how they shift.
Next week: Sci-Fi
