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Darian Woods, it's time for a pop quiz. I'm ready. OK, I'm going to read you a line from a book, and you tell me whether this comes from an economics text or a work of fiction. Good quiz.
Darian Woods，现在是突击测验时间。我准备好了。我要给你读一本书中的一行，你告诉我这是来自经济学教科书还是小说。很好的测验。
It is a truth universally acknowledged that a single man in possession of a good fortune must be in want of a wife. I'm going to embarrass myself, but...
凡是有钱的单身汉，总想娶位太太，这已经成了一条举世公认的真理。我要出丑了，但是……
That's the story about Darcy. Darcy. Is it... Yes. Yes, yes, yes. Is it "Wuthering Heights."?
这就是关于达西的故事。达西。是的，是的。是《呼啸山庄》吗？
Ooh. Almost. That is the opening line to "Pride And Prejudice" by Jane Austen. Yes. Of course. Of course.
差不多。这是简·奥斯汀《傲慢与偏见》的开场白。是的。当然。当然。
Mr. Fitzwilliam Darcy is one of the main characters. "Pride And Prejudice" is, to me, the gold standard for romance novels.
菲茨威廉·达西先生是主角之一。对我来说，《傲慢与偏见》是浪漫小说的黄金标准。
And journalism professor Christine Larson says Austen was into economics, just like us. Every one of her books is about economics in some way.
新闻学教授克里斯汀·拉森（Christine Larson）说，奥斯汀和我们一样热衷于经济学。她的每一本书都在某种程度上与经济学有关。
Christine has studied the publishing industry and, specifically, the romance genre. She says the stuff that Jane Austen was writing about over 200 years ago, it's still what concerns romance novelists today, both on the page and in their real lives.
克里斯汀研究过出版业，特别是浪漫小说。她说简·奥斯汀200多年前写的东西，仍然是当今浪漫小说家关注的焦点，无论是在纸上还是在现实生活中。
You got to think about social position and money and all of that. And that's what romance writers do with their careers.
你必须考虑社会地位、金钱等等。这就是浪漫小说作家的职业。
This is THE INDICATOR FROM PLANET MONEY. I'm Darian Woods. And I'm Wailin Wong.
这里是THE INDICATOR FROM PLANET MONEY。我是Darian Woods。我是Wailin Wong。
It is Love Week on THE INDICATOR, our week-long exploration of the economic side of love and relationships.
这是THE INDICATOR的爱情周，从经济角度探讨爱情和亲密关系。
Today on the show, we look at the booming genre of romance novels and how authors found commercial success using technology and the power of labor networks.
今天在节目中，我们将关注蓬勃发展的浪漫小说类型，以及作家如何利用技术和劳动力网络的力量获得商业成功。
If the last romance novel you looked at was a paperback at your local supermarket, with a woman and a shirtless man embracing on the cover, well, fetch your smelling salts 'cause things have really changed in the last couple of decades.
如果你最近在当地超市看过一本平装浪漫小说，封面上是一个女人和一个赤裸上身的男人拥抱在一起，就得注意了，因为在过去的几十年里，事情真的发生了变化。
Yeah, romance has gone mainstream. You'll find the books prominently displayed at Target and on the front tables at Barnes & Noble. Romance is one of the fastest-growing and best-selling categories within publishing.
浪漫已经成为主流。你会发现这些书在Target和Barnes & Noble的前台摆放得很显眼。浪漫是出版业中增长最快、最畅销的类别之一。
And this growth comes with a lot of variety. There are modern-day stories and historical stories. There's characters representing different facets of sexuality and gender, and settings from college campuses to fairy kingdoms to outer space.
这种增长伴随着很多变化。有现代故事和历史故事。有代表性和性别不同方面的人物，有从大学校园到童话王国再到外太空的背景。
The romance genre is this vast and varied genre of books that feature a central love story and an emotionally satisfying ending. So that's the traditional definition of romance.
浪漫类型是一种庞大而多样的书籍类型，以爱情故事和情感上令人满意的结局为特色。这就是浪漫的传统定义。
Christine Larson is a journalism professor at the University of Colorado Boulder.
克里斯汀·拉尔森是科罗拉多大学博尔德分校的新闻学教授。
I define romance a little bit differently because I'm interested in media economics. So I define romance as an almost entirely female-dominated industry of books mostly written about women by women and for women.
我对浪漫的定义略有不同，因为我对媒体经济学感兴趣。我将浪漫小说定义为一个几乎完全由女性主导的行业，其中大部分都是由女性撰写、为女性撰写的关于女性的书籍。
Christine is the author of the book "Love In The Time Of Self-Publishing: How Romance Writers Changed The Rules Of Writing And Success."
Christine是Love In The Time Of Self-Publishing: How Romance Writers Changed The Rules Of Writing And Success一书的作者。
Her research involves studying authors' incomes between 2009 and 2014. That window of time covers the early boom in e-books, which was fueled by Amazon's Kindle and Apple's iPad.
她的研究涉及研究2009年至2014年期间作者的收入。这段时间涵盖了电子书的早期繁荣，由亚马逊的Kindle和苹果的iPad推动。
Using data from author surveys, Christine found that during this period, romance writers saw their median income rise by 73%. Contrast that to a 42% drop in income for other authors.
通过作者调查数据，Christine发现，在此期间，浪漫小说作家的平均收入增长了73%。相比之下，其他作家的收入下降了42%。
Christine lays out two big factors for the success. Number one, an early adopter mindset and a willingness to experiment with digital technology.
Christine列出了成功的两个重要因素。第一，早期采用者的心态和愿意尝试数字技术。
Romance writers were actually the very first writers to start digitally self-publishing, even long before the Kindle came out. They were selling PDFs of books online in the '90s.
浪漫小说作家实际上是最早开始数字自助出版的作家，甚至在Kindle问世之前就已经开始。他们在90年代就在网上销售书籍的PDF。
When Amazon introduced self-publishing in 2007, Romance writers took to the platform right away. They were also really productive, often publishing multiple books a year.
2007年，当亚马逊推出自助出版服务时，言情小说作家立即开始使用这个平台。他们也非常高产，通常一年出版多本书。
And these authors didn't need the approval or marketing muscle of traditional publishers.
这些作家不需要传统出版商的批准或营销力量。
Many writers already had built relationships with readers online via early internet communities like Prodigy. Christine says they could mobilize their fandoms to buy books.
许多作家已经通过早期的互联网社区（如Prodigy）与在线读者建立了关系。克里斯汀说，他们可以动员粉丝购买书籍。
Romance readers historically buy more books than the average American. And these readers flocked to e-books.
言情小说读者的购书量历来超过普通美国人。这些读者蜂拥而至购买电子书。
I mean, one plus as a reader is that with an e-book, if you're maybe feeling a little sheepish about an explicit cover, I mean, no one knows what you're reading.
对于读者来说，电子书的一个好处是，如果你对纸质书露骨的封面感到有点不好意思，读电子书的话就没有人知道你在读什么。
And so, by 2011, 60% of romances sold were in digital form. And plus, the payment structure for e-books lets self-published authors keep more of their sales revenue.
到2011年，60%的言情小说都是以数字形式出售的。此外，电子书的支付结构让自助出版的作者可以保留更多的销售收入。
If I am a traditionally published author, let's say my book sold for $10, I would get about $1 in royalties.
如果我是一位传统出版的作家，假设我的书售价为10美元，我会得到大约1美元的版税。
But if I'm self-published, I sell the same book for $10. I get seven bucks. I get around 70%. So I can sell fewer books and make a lot more money.
但如果我是自费出版，我以10美元的价格出售同一本书。我得到7美元。我得到大约70%。我可以卖出更少的书，赚更多的钱。
So after e-books, the second big reason behind the commercial success of romance writers, Christine says, is that they formed something called open-elite networks.
克里斯汀说，在电子书之后，浪漫小说作家取得商业成功的第二大原因是他们形成了所谓的开放精英网络。
This is where more established or senior members of a group are willing to forge relationships with newcomers.
这是一个团体中更成熟或更资深的成员愿意与新人建立关系的地方。
Christine says open-elite networks are credited for the growth of the Silicon Valley biotech industry in the '80s.
克里斯汀说，开放的精英网络是80年代硅谷生物技术产业发展的重要原因。
In the romance industry, she's found a long history of authors helping each other get published and sharing information on how much they make.
在言情小说行业，她发现作家们长期以来都在帮助彼此出版作品，并分享他们收入的信息。
Priscilla Oliveras is an author who has published eight romance novels and four novellas. Her latest book, "Kiss Me, Catalina," is about two Mariachi musicians who fall in love on tour.
普里西拉·奥利维拉斯(Priscilla Oliveras)是一位作家，出版了八部言情小说和四部中篇小说。她的最新作品Kiss Me, Catalina讲述了两位墨西哥流浪乐队音乐家在巡演中坠入爱河的故事。
I write closed-door romance. So things can get hot and heavy, but then it fade to black. I figure we all know what's happening there, and I want to give my characters some privacy.
我写的是闭门言情小说。事情可能会变得热烈，但随后就会变得暗淡。我想我们都知道那里发生了什么，我想给我的角色一些隐私。
Give them the room. They're practicing their songs. Yeah, that's right. That's what they're doing.
给他们空间。他们在练习歌曲。是的，没错。这就是他们在做的事情。
And when it came to networking with other romance writers, though, Priscilla had more of an open-door approach.
然而，在与其他言情小说作家建立联系时，普里西拉采取了更开放的态度。
She's part of a group of Latino authors who get together periodically for writers' retreats, and they share details about their careers. Priscilla says she believes helping other authors improves conditions for everyone.
她是一群拉丁裔作家中的一员，他们定期聚在一起参加作家静修会，分享职业生涯的细节。普里西拉说她相信帮助其他作家可以改善每个人的状况。
If I'm offered this opportunity or this contract at these numbers, why would I not - you know, my friend who I know is working equally as hard as I am - right? - that - and so I think they are equally as deserving.
如果有人以这样的价格给我这个机会或合同，我为什么不呢？我的朋友和我一样努力工作，所以我认为他们同样值得。
So, for me, I think it's that idea of there is enough for all of us and even more. So who can we help?
对我来说，我认为我们所有人都有足够的资源，甚至更多。那么我们能帮助谁呢？
One of the newer authors in Priscilla's network is Natalie Cana. She discovered the romance genre in college when she picked up a novel from the bargain bin at her university bookstore.
普里西拉网络中较新的作家之一是Natalie Cana。她在大学时从大学书店的廉价货摊上捡到一本小说，发现了浪漫小说。
I instantly fell in love with romance, and I decided that was what I was going to write.
我立刻爱上了浪漫小说，我决定这就是我要写的。
Natalie said that the beginning of her career was lonely, but then she learned about a conference for romance writers. And from there, she started making connections.
Natalie说，她职业生涯一开始很孤独，但后来她了解到一个浪漫作家会议。从那以后，她开始建立联系。
You know, I would meet somebody, and somebody would be like, you have to meet Priscilla. You got to meet Mia (ph). You have to talk to Adriana (ph).
我会遇到一个人，有人会说，你必须见见普里西拉。你必须见见Mia。你必须和Adriana谈谈。
I really found having that network super helpful, especially having and building a network with other women of color, because we know that the system works differently for us than it works for other people.
我真的发现拥有这样的人脉非常有帮助，尤其是拥有并建立与其他有色人种女性之间的人脉，因为我们知道系统对我们和对其他人的作用不同。
Traditional publishing has long been criticized for excluding authors from marginalized backgrounds. In romance, only about 10% of books published in 2023 were by Black, Indigenous or authors of color, according to one industry report.
传统出版业长期以来一直因排除边缘背景的作家而受到批评。根据一份行业报告，在浪漫小说中，2023年出版的书籍中只有约10%是由黑人、土著或有色人种作家创作的。
For Natalie, the open-elite network has helped her break through. Early on in her career, she went to a luncheon, and she ended up sitting next to a romance writer she admired named Kristan Higgins.
对于Natalie来说，开放的精英网络帮助她取得了突破。在她职业生涯早期，她参加了一次午餐会，最后坐在了她崇拜的浪漫小说作家Kristan Higgins旁边。
It was, like, a very fan-girl moment. Kristan asked Natalie, what kind of things do you want to write about?
那就像是一个非常粉丝女孩的时刻。 Kristan问Natalie，你想写什么样的东西？
And at the time, I was worried about writing Latino characters 'cause I wasn't sure if they would sell. And Kristan Higgins said, always tell the story that you want to tell because it will reach who it needs to reach.
当时，我很担心写拉丁裔角色，因为我不确定它们是否会畅销。Kristan Higgins说，永远只讲你想讲的故事，因为故事会传达给需要传达的人。
Natalie eventually signed a contract to write three books about a Puerto Rican family in Chicago. Next week, the third novel in the series comes out.
Natalie最终签了一份合同，写三本关于芝加哥波多黎各家庭的书。下周，该系列的第三本小说将问世。
It's called "Sleeping With The Frenemy," and it's about a firefighter reuniting with an old flame. Pun intended, Darian. I get it. I get it.
这本书名为Sleeping With The Frenemy，讲述的是一名消防员与旧情人重逢的故事。Darian，这是个双关语。我懂了。我懂了。
And I'm starting to maybe catch the flame of romance novels after this episode.
这期过后，我可能开始对浪漫小说产生兴趣了。
