Aussie women like Jade and Kellie are living double lives for the most romantic reason

EXCLUSIVE -- Romance novels are more popular than ever, and Australian women are cashing in on the boom in more ways than one. But you wouldn't know it upon first meeting some of them.

That's because Aussies like Jade and Kellie are leading double lives.

By day they work 'normal' nine to five jobs; in their spare time they write and sell spicy romance novels.

The Australian Society of Authors' 2024 member survey revealed about a third of authors work part-time alongside another occupation.

Many romance authors use pseudonyms to keep their jobs separate and protect themselves from the stigma that still surrounds the genre.

Because despite romance's commercial and critical success, plenty of people still consider the genre frivolous, 'smutty', and of low intellectual and moral value.

So international bestselling romance author Jade May uses a pen name to keep her erotic stories separate from her marketing business.

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And Kellie, who just launched an online bookstore, asked not to have her surname or photo published lest someone link it to her job in the travel industry.

It begs the question; why risk backlash over books?

Because May and Kellie love them; and because Australians spent $50 million on them in 2024 alone, according to Nielsen BookScan data.

Romance is the most commercially successful fiction genre and has been growing at an average annual rate of 49 per cent for the last three years.

It's also the most popular genre for self-published/indie books, a growing industry where female writers tend to earn about 40 per cent more than their male counterparts.

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But May didn't start writing romance for the money.

The 40-year-old marketing professional from Sydney fell into it as a creative outlet and a way to explore relationships and sexuality during lockdown.

She landed a traditional publishing deal soon after, but it felt a bit too good to be true.

"I was very naïve and I didn't do a lot of research into the publishing industry, so I just accepted the contract," she told nine.com.au.

"To cut a long story short, it didn't go well."

May raised money to buy back the rights to her debut novel Tempted by Eden, then self-published it and two sequels, Seduced by Eden and Devoured by Eden.

Though she hasn't ruled out a return to traditional publishing, May said "there's a lot of money to be had in self-publishing".

Indie authors typically earn more on average than their traditionally published (trad-pub) counterparts, according to data from The Alliance of Independent Authors.

The annual global sales of indie books is estimated to be in the billions and more than half of Amazon's Kindle Top 400 'Most Sold' books of 2023 were self-published.

Amazon also claimed Kindle Direct Publishing (KDP) authors have earned more than $5 billion in royalties since Kindle Unlimited was launched in 2014.

"[Writing romance] didn't start off as a money maker, but it's turned into one," May said.

She's put every dollar earned back into promoting, printing and publishing more romance – because that's what Aussie readers want.

And she's done it all on top of running a business and raising a child.

"It's not for the faint-hearted, or if you're doing it for the money and just to make a little bit of extra cash on the side," May said.

"You have to have the passion, and you have to have the talent."

Kellie's also invested a hell of a lot in romance novels, though she's not an author.

The Sydney professional just launched an online bookstore, It's A Love Story Book Shop, and romance novels make up a huge percentage of her stock.

"I do have a lot of romance [novels] because I actually believe there's a lack of it in real life, with the current world that we're living in," she told Nine.com.au.

Kellie used about $15,000 of savings and credit cards to fund the launch and stock the store's virtual shelves with special edition novels that are hard to find in Australia.

She's also trying to rent a bricks and mortar location.

"I've given up on saving for a house," she joked.

The store has only been open for a month and Kellie is yet to turn a profit, but she said the response from Aussie readers has been amazing.

But she's been careful to keep the store separated from her day job and only a small group of her colleagues even know about it.

In the same vein, May writes under a pen name and never mentions her bestselling novels at her marketing business.

"This is something that I keep to myself, not out of shame or embarrassment- I'm very, very proud of what I do," she said.

"But there's always going to be that stigma and I feel like we have come a long way, but we still have a long way to go with that."

Despite the romance boom, many Australians still turn their nose up at the genre and those who engage with it – be they readers, writers, or sellers.

Romance has been branded as trashy, smutty, anti-intellectual, anti-feminist, and those labels are constantly conferred onto the women that enjoy it.

So Aussies like May and Kellie keep their contributions to the genre quiet.

Not because they're ashamed, but because they're waiting for everyone else to realise what they already know; that romance is a powerful, diverse genre worthy of respect.

That it's a genre that allows women to explore sexuality and relationships in a safe space.

And that it's not going anywhere.

Have you got a story? Contact reporter Maddison Leach at mleach@nine.com.au

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