Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Rants of a romance writer


Happy Wednesday, everyone! I'm back from RT & all I have to show for it is some weird voice destroying plague!  Yes, I have plenty of gossip, news & other happy tidbits, but it's going to have to wait until I stop seeing pretty pink & purple spots dancing before my eyes.

So for now I'll post a little rant I wrote after watching people buy books in the airport bookstore. Oh how little we pay attention to those watching us :)

Someone please explain this situation to me. A person can easily and happily pay for a non-fiction book about true crime or some sex manual without a hint of a blush. But ask that same person to buy a romance novel and all bets are off. What is up with that? You're too shamed to purchase a book that guarantees you a happily ever after, but proud to by a serial killers autobiography? I'm not even talking about the old school books with the heaving bosoms and all that.  Covers today are more detailed and some are truly works of art so please tell me...where is the shame?

I write romance. I'm proud of my work. When someone asks me what I do for a living I tell them. I don't say I write women's fiction or mainstream fiction. I'm a romance writer..the end.

Here's a happy little fact for any who dump on my favorite genre. While most other categories' sales have fallen in the past two years romance sales have gone through the roof. Yep, we are kicking butts, taking names and all the while remembering we're ladies. Romance novels top over a billion dollars a year in sales and that ain't nothing to laugh at. So it seems we (the writers) must be doing something right in a time where even movie ticket sales are down.

Sorry didn't mean to jump on my Diet Coke box and get started again, but it just bothers me. Today I saw a woman slide a paranormal romance across to the sales clerk like she was buying snuff porn. People, wake up. Romance is a good thing. You're always left feeling happy and satisfied. Can you say the same thing for self-help books or real life murder novels?

Keep you fingers crossed that the plague either kills me or leaves me in one piece. I'll start writing down tidbits, rumors and all the wonderful gossip that floats around.

Kudos,
Allie

3 comments:

  1. While in the doctor's office waiting room yesterday, I saw a woman reading a Nora Robert's novel. I promptly showed her the JD Robb novel I was reading on my Nook leading to a nice conversation to which a couple of other women joined in. The problem with ereaders is you can't see what other people are reading and you lose that opportunity to start a chat with someone. On the other hand, that lack of knowledge about what one is reading may be a reason why "closet" romance readers are buying ereaders and ebooks, particularly romance, are have continuing rising sales.

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  2. Betty, been there & done that. I do love my iPad w all the ereaders, but I miss chatting up readers too. Weird how there's a trade off between the two.

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