No, you're quite probably in the right spot. We've been discussing this very issue in the Mod Room since you posted, and are deciding how to categorize the genre. Technically, women's fiction winds up on the mainstream fiction shelves, so you could either post the question here or in Mainstream/Contemporary. But you'll probably find more ANSWERS to your questions here, so let's run with it!
Is there any interest in a love story that is written for both sexes? Everything in the Romance genre seems so categorized and stuffed into a box.
Actually, I don't think it's true that romance is stuffed into a box. Possibly in category lines, but not single title. There's plenty of room for unique stories. But, they do have to conform to those two little requirements--that ROMANCE be the primary focus of the novel, and that there be an HEA. But yes, there is plenty of room for a love story. Nicholas Sparks' books are doing quite well, but there's no way to know who is buying the book. Possibly both men and women are reading it, but I don't know that, and there isn't a list or graph out there that can tell us.
I think of books like The Bridges of Madison County and Love Story, and believe they had to appeal to both men and women to sell so many copies.
You might be wrong but, again, there is no way to tell. A lot, and I do mean a LOT of women buy books. A few studies (I'll look around again to see if I can find a link) have shown that women outbuy men in bookstores by about 3:1.
Are they simply flukes?...or is there a market?
I guess the real questions is...does it
matter? If the book sells a million copies, or ten million, does the sex of the buyer matter? Does Clive Cussler care whether women like his Dirk Pitt series (which I do?) Does Stephen King market to one or the other sex? Not intentionally. They write great books that it's POSSIBLE both women and men will buy. But ultimately, there's no way to tell.
What about love stories that are written about older people? Does the mattress have to be bouncing in every chapter to keep a reader's interest?...or more importantly, a publisher's interest?
Not at all! Not even all romances are heavily sexed. There are plenty of "sweet" romances. Love stories are the same. But the question becomes whether you're going to appeal to the MAJORITY of the market. What have you compared on the shelf currently? Have you picked up any love stories that are being published right now? Have you checked to see where they're shelved in the stores and then compared the titles against the best sellers lists? Educating yourself in your chosen genre is one of the best ways to get started writing.
Plus, it doesn't even MATTER if there's a market right now. There probably wasn't a built in market for such sleeper hits as The Christmas Box or Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. I mean, who ever heard of a first novel of 100 pages, and the other of over 1,000 pages!
And yet, they are best sellers. But
who is buying them?
Beats me!
