THE HOURGLASS AND MANGA.

Occasionally, at Romancing the Blog, I've talked about the changing demographics of the romance market and where the romance genre might be headed in the future.

Recently, I read an intriguing article on how the population of the U.S. is going to look in the coming years. The article describes an hourglass formation: top heavy with Baby Boomers, bottom heavy with the Millennium Generation, and with Generation Xers squeezed in between.

What all that means is that both Baby Boomers and the Millennium Generation are going to become increasingly important to anyone with a product to sell, and that includes publishers and authors.

Already, we know that Baby Boomers, who have traditionally formed the core of mass-market paperback buyers, have turned more and more to hardback and trade-paperback formats instead, which have larger type that is easier for aging eyes to read. But as Baby-Boomer readers make the transition from mass-market paperbacks, they are not being replaced by their younger counterparts from Generation X and the Millennium Generation. So both publishers and authors need to find new avenues to reach younger readers.

Not long ago, I received my copy of Harlequin's Worldbeat newsletter in the mail, interested to see that Harlequin is branching out into the manga market.

Harlequin and Dark Horse Comics---the world's leading publisher of licensed comics material---have teamed up to publish Harlequin books in manga format in the United States, Canada, U.K. and Australia. Mangas (literally meaning "cartoons" or "comics" are stylized graphic novels that originated in Japan and are read right to left. Dark Horse is publishing manga adaptations of six top-selling Harlequin titles under the Harlequin Ginger Blossom banner.

The article goes on to say that the Harlequin Ginger Blossom banner is composed of two lines, one (Harlequin Pink) for younger readers and one (Harlequin Violet) for "more sophisticated readers," and will be published "approximately every three months."

In addition, according to the April 2006 issue of RWA's Romance Writers Report, Dorchester Publishing is "currently seeking manuscripts for a new line of romances, due to be published in 2007."

To be packaged with modern anime or manga-style covers, these romances will be targeted toward a younger, hipper audience than old-style traditionals. While the content can be of any subgenre of alternative romance (paranormal, futuristic, fantasy or other), the books will feature a young woman (18-25) stolen from her normal life into an alternate universe---a universe that challenges all she thought she knew.

It will be interesting to see how these various forays into the manga world perform for the romance genre.