For Julie, in her thirties, it's a ritual: every year, television channels and streaming platforms – Netflix in the lead – release Christmas TV films by the dozen, and she wouldn't miss this moment for anything in the world. A very codified style of stories, with an aesthetic mixing snow, big sweaters and celebration of family values during the holidays. “Every year, starting in November, we have online watch parties on Discord. We get together with several friends and watch these films, laughing and talking. » Louane, a 28-year-old librarian, has the same tradition. “It’s really super kitsch, but we play with the fact that the clichés are very anchored, we make bingo grids to tick off… And then, it’s a type of film that evokes vacations, family, rest , the end of the year… It's easy feelgood, but it's still feelgood. »
A feeling shared by the participants in a 2022 university study, who identified three major success factors for this type of production: a sincere love for winter and the holiday season, a timeless atmosphere far from the worries of everyday life , and the fact of having a light and stereotypical plot, with the guarantee of a happy ending comforting. In fact, the Christmas film is a booming industry, with studios and even specialized television channels. But, in recent years, this trend has also been seen in bookstores, with the appearance of entire shelves linked to Christmas Romance.
A new editorial niche within romance
Fiction having love at Christmas as its setting is of course nothing recent, since we find traces of it even in medieval literature and poetry. But, for Anna, a bookseller in Toulouse, the number of recent books featuring love stories taking place under the tree has exploded since 2022. “New Romance has been taking up more and more space for ten years. And it's true that with the explosion of publications, specialized publishers like Juno Publishing had to start segmenting the market. Because readers of New Romance, Bit Lit or Dark Romance are not looking for the same things. In this context, the appearance of entire collections dedicated to Christmas and other end-of-year celebrations is relatively new, we really saw the phenomenon accelerate after Covid. I don't know if it really attracts a new audience, but in any case, these are visually very marked collections, and more and more numerous. »
It's hard to miss them, in fact: pine green or Santa red covers, titles evoking snow, gifts or family reunions and illustrations dotted with snowflakes… It's hard to go wrong in the aisle! For Anne, a forty-year-old reader who is an occasional fan of the genre, it is not necessarily such new or singular literature as that. “These collections often bring together books by authors who publish more general romance, but who ride on the popularity of the imagery conveyed by Christmas films. And besides, I find the same thing there as for films: gentle, timeless, predictable stories. For example, I recently read Sweet Christmas Loveby Marie Rémond… And it’s crazy how it feels like a Hallmark movie, but in the form of a novel! »
@loanplrr UNY – dahlia blake, delinda dane, magali inguimbert, lylyblabla, morgane moncomble PARFAIT #booktok #leclubdeslecteurs ♬ Chill Vibes – Tollan Kim
One of the singularities of this publishing market, however, is its periodicity. Where more general books are sold a little throughout the year, those dedicated to Christmas flourish from October and have a shelf life in bookstores which does not exceed a few weeks. To the point that some publishers, such as Hugo Publishing, have made it an annual event, celebrated on their website and on the social networks of famous authors and booktubers. A rapid evolution, modeled on the pace of American publishing. Because, as the blogger À livre Ouvert noted, a few years ago, the phenomenon was very marginal in French bookstores.
The limits of market segmentation?
However, not all fans of romance literature are particularly attracted to these collections which flourish in bookstores. Some even lose interest in the genre altogether. This is the case for Hélène, a 36-year-old web project manager and co-host of the podcast Comics Outcastyet a big fan of Christmas films. “I've been watching a lot of Christmas films for about ten years, starting at the beginning of November. It's ideal with a blanket and a hot chocolate, you can put it in the background while doing something else… I'm not even asking them to be original, I'm often even disappointed when it deviates from the basic framework ! On the other hand, in the novel version, it doesn't work at all for me. I need to have the whole visual aspect, the snow on the screen, the poinsettias…”
For her, the appearance of these collections on the shelves of bookstores comes from a desire for over-segmentation on the part of publishers and mainly agglomerates novels which already existed previously under a simple label, that of “New Romance”.
A similar remark is made by Louane: “I have tried to read them several times, but there is something that tends too much towards imitating Christmas films, without the musical, sound and visual side. Maybe I should try romances that add a little new elements, with fantasy or different stories, because I know that some authors try to break the rules a little. » A difficult balance to find, as most testimonies from fans of the genre insist on the idea that it is rather a filmic and literary genre whose codes and stereotypes are the primary strength.
This does not prevent certain authors and certain publishing houses from trying to impose their difference in a style often seen as reluctant to think outside the box. The self-published novel La Magie de Yule by Charly Reinhardt, for example, transposes the codes of the genre into a magical world. While the small publishing house Les Reines de cœur opens Christmas romances to stories featuring LGBTQIA+ couples. Others also venture into more erotic atmospheres, going against the usually quite chaste side of Christmas romances.
A trend towards a certain form of diversification which does not surprise Marianne, a librarian who considers herself “jaded” by this type of romances highly demanded by its audience. “For the authors of these books, there is undoubtedly a frustrating side to having to conform to extremely precise specifications, where all the books end up looking a little similar. It's a bit like films: we see more and more of them trying to tell a little something else, with animation, a little horror, a little fantasy, more pure comedy… It's the same for books. Authors who are on their fourth Christmas book in three years must want to break away from the genre a little, even if it's not necessarily what the public expects. » It will therefore be necessary to closely monitor developments in this type of publication, which could still hold some surprises!
