I too am a little surprised that there isn't a bigger market for Gay Romance. I've been reading Yaoi scanslations for many years and the readership and number of titles translated seems to be growing exponentially. You can now find Yaoi/Shounen Ai with the other manga in bookstores (which has ALSO become grown huge over a few years). Of course Yaoi ranges from basically hetero (one of the pair looks like a girl and just *happens* to have male genitalia) to more sensitive, realistic portrayals.
I do notice, however, that a lot of the Yaoi readers are my age, late teens/early twenties, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it. Or how, as my age group and those yaoi readers get older, the market will change.
As an aside - I agree with some others, I need my HEA for romance. The whole reason I started reading romance was after one too many fantasy novels killed off the character I most emphathized with and left me in tears for days. Never mind the agony of a couple taking 6 books to decide they won't work out (while killing ogres or something).
Yaoi...
Date: 2006-06-22 06:51 pm (UTC)I do notice, however, that a lot of the Yaoi readers are my age, late teens/early twenties, so I wonder if that has anything to do with it. Or how, as my age group and those yaoi readers get older, the market will change.
As an aside - I agree with some others, I need my HEA for romance. The whole reason I started reading romance was after one too many fantasy novels killed off the character I most emphathized with and left me in tears for days. Never mind the agony of a couple taking 6 books to decide they won't work out (while killing ogres or something).