Could a Gothics micro-market exist today?

[Cherchezlafemme]

I don't believe the readership changed all that much. Yes the "bodice-ripper" dominated the market during the 1970s and 1980s, but many gothic romance authors were still going strong and a number of new authors entered the genre (with many careers lasting into the 90s), and Harlequin category romances of the 1970s and 1980s featured virginal heroines paired with brooding alpha men too! Also, by the end of gothic romance's strong run, many authors began to include paranormal elements to the traditional format--and look, now you can't go anywhere without running into vampires, witches, ghosts, or werewolves. I will also add that today's romantic suspense genre shows its roots in the contemporary-set gothic romances of authors like Phyllis A. Whitney and Elsie Lee, and another genre that owes a debt to gothic romance is the cozy mystery genre--so the gothic romance genre still exists, it's just packaged differently.

I agree with your stance that breaking too many tropes and/or elements which make a gothic romance "gothic" pushes the book out of the genre, and that quality matters most. However, there is something to be said for why many readers--even those who cut their teeth on gothics as children or teenagers--wrongly consider the genre a product of pre-feminist movement America, and why gothic romance tropes are merely considered flat-out cliches. But I will say that in my WIP, I'm working from the inside out...playing with the conventions yet at the same time, trying to see where I should stop before I step over the ledge of "cliche." It's fun and challenging, and I hope it turns out great.