Fact Sheet & Advertising Information

April 28, 2008:

AAR has just discontinued its advertising program. We continue to honor existing advertising commitments through the end of the year, but are no longer accepting new clients.

Our mission statement | How AAR's database was built

AAR at a Glance | About AAR | Clients & Content | Options | Pricing & Payment

AAR at a Glance:

AAR is in the midst of celebrating it's tenth year online. Read what best-selling authors and readers said about us in 2008.

All About Romance was the romance destination of choice for more than 3.7 million unique visitors in 2007 (roughly a 25% increase over the number of unique visitors in 2006), who viewed more than 17 million pages throughout the year (an increase of nearly 30% over last year). If you google "romance novels", our home page is the first listing you'll see. No other romance website can match our traffic – or our growth. (Click here for a graph of our growth since 2000).

Our readers are of all ages and demographics, but they all share one thing in common: Every visitor to AAR is looking for great romance books to buy. In fact, in our 2005 reader survey, we discovered that more than half of our readers spent at least $250 buying romances, with nearly a quarter of them spending $500 or more.

At surprisingly affordable rates, ads at AAR will receive:

• 50,000 impressions per month on review pages
• 35,000 impressions per month on non-review pages.

About AAR:

AAR is the website recognized in the mainstream media as the authority on romance. We’ve been graded A- by Entertainment Weekly and been highlighted in feature articles in Salon.com and on CBC radio, along with numerous books, academic works, and, of course – Wikipedia!

AAR is highly interactive with seven forums open 24/7, generating discussions that reverberate across the Web and across the media.

With 7,000 pages of unique content, no other site can come even close to matching our variety, depth, and sensibility.

Clients & Content:

From publishers like Harlequin/Silhouette and Bethany House to authors at all levels of publishing – including e-publishing -- to sellers of romantic goods and services and multi-author blogs, there is something for everyone at AAR.

We are proud to maintain total separation between editorial and advertising content at AAR, offering advertisers an editorial legitimacy other sites can't claim. And, since book-specific ads are prohibited on AAR’s review pages (excluding the reviews forum) unless the proceeds are being donated to charity, advertising at AAR offers a tremendous opportunity for publishers to advertise entire imprints or lines on 6,000+ review pages, resulting in an extremely high number of ad impressions - approximately 50,000 per month - during a campaign.

Advertising Options:

We offer three types of advertising at AAR:

1. AAR Banner Ads: Two different sizes required for placement on either review (unrestricted) or non-review (restricted) pages. Click here for our banner ad specs.

2. Banner Ad /Romantic Teasers Combination: In addition to your two banner ads, we offer for no additional charge a full-page ad in our Romantic Teasers section prominently featured on our home page. Our analysis indicates that clients who choose this option experience a doubling of click-thrus for their ads. If you choose this option, your banner ads link to your full-page ad (think of it as your home away from home). Content on your full-page ad can be updated gratis throughout your campaign. Click here for our full-page ad template.

3. Advertising at AAR After Hours, AAR's "off-topic" blog: This affordable option offers book-sized ads that appear "above the fold" in a very prominent location, and because this blog is "off-topic", our pricing is too. With the audience for the blog growing daily, this option offers you a unique – and especially affordable – way to reach AAR readers.

Though we are not professional designers, we offer full design services. For a portfolio of banner ads created by AAR, click here. To see some of our full-page ads, click here, here, here, or here. If you're interested in some flash for your full-page ad (we charge extra for it) check out this page, this one, or this one.

Pricing & Payment:

Due to our unprecedented growth in traffic in 2006, we have adjusted our advertising rates, though they remain 50% lower than other general web sites with similar traffic levels.

It’s important to note that the monthly rate at our biggest romance website competitor - the web site for a well-know print publication - is more than twice the rate of advertising at AAR for a full year (applying their rates to our level of traffic).

The tables below provide pricing and payment information for ad campaigns and design services if requested.

We provide for two unique sets of ad rotations and two separate pricing schemes. Because ads for specific books and/or authors are prohibited from appearing on review pages (excluding the reviews forum), and because such prohibitions do not apply to other ads (for publishers, or other providers of goods and/or services), the ads are separated. As a result, the ads in the restricted rotation receive fewer views in a month's time than the non-restricted ads. The current number of ad impressions for restricted ads is 35,000 per month whereas non-restricted ads are viewed 50,000 times per month at this time. To charge equitably, we offer two separate pricing schemes.

If you also need design assistance, add your campaign fee with the design fee from the table below (for one or both "banner" ads and/or a "full-page" ad (with or without flash) for your total...don't worry, examples are provided.

As for advertising on AAR After Hours, it is without restriction...and even more heavily discounted, so it is limited. Our flat fee per campaign is $50 for two months on a first-come, first-serve basis. If you would like us to design your ad for the blog, the design fee is $25.

If you are interested in advertising at AAR or AAR After Hours, please submit the following form (after which you will be redirected to a thank you page...make sure your email address is correct and complete, however, or you will be redirected to an error page):