Rock Stars
- At January 22, 2024
- By Roxanne Snopek
- In For Writers
- 0
Rock Stars
I’ve been publishing novels in the women’s fiction (which sometimes includes romance) genre since 2012. And that makes me a rock star. That’s right, romance authors are rock stars. Don’t believe me? Read on, gentle reader! (Thanks to author and friend Jeannie Moon at Five Harbors Literary for the awesome graphic!)
From MACLEANS, April 26, 2015, by Emma Teitel:
When American filmmaker Laurie Kahn set out to make Love Between the Covers, a documentary about the women who read and write romance novels, she was struck by how often she heard the same story. It wasn’t a tale of beefy bodice rippers or love at first sight; it was a story about snobs.
“I can’t tell you how many people I interviewed,” says Kahn, “who told me that people will walk up to them on a beach and say, ‘Why do you read that trash?’”
One Man’s Trash
Apparently, where lovers of romance novels go, contempt follows. Sometimes it’s subtle contempt—a raised eyebrow from a colleague, or a snarky comment from a friend (usually the kind of person who claims to read Harper’s on a beach vacation). Other times it’s more overt, even potentially damaging.
When Mary Bly (pen name Eloisa James), an academic and New York Times bestselling author, began writing romance, she was advised to keep her fiction writing secret or risk not making tenure at the university where she worked.
Sexism in Publishing
For some reason, argues Kahn, perhaps because its subjects are female, romance novels are perceived as fundamentally silly, when other popular “genre fiction”—namely, fiction by and for men—is not.
“Nobody,” she says, would walk up to “a man reading Stephen King, or a mystery or sci-fi novel” and scoff. And she’s right: Stephen King is a prodigious talent… right up there with romance novelist Nora Roberts. Yet Roberts has been the butt of jokes—a universal default example of “bad writing,”—while male contemporaries with far less talent get a free pass.
Consider the Source
Perhaps, as the graphic says, it’s a woman thing. If the majority of these books are written by women and read by women, and the majority of people knocking these books haven’t read them… maybe it’s not about the books.
Maybe trashing romance novels is more about trashing women.
Read the full article at: Why romance novelists are the rock stars of the literary world.
Hallmark Book Club Pick!
A Dog Called Valentine a Hallmark Book Club Featured Title!
A Hallmark Book Club Featured Title
Larissa Wohl, host of numerous Hallmark Channel Specials and resident “Pet Rescue Expert,” also runs the Hallmark Book Club. This month, she’s chosen my book!
Larissa has been hosting the club for more than a year, and always picks stories focused on the human-animal bond.
Past Hallmark Book Club titles include:
Who Rescued Who by Victoria Schade
The Wonder of Lost Causes: A Novel by Nick Trout,
Atticus: A Woman’s Journey with the World’s Worst Behaved Dog by Sawyer Bennett
Join me and Larissa at the February meeting!
On Thursday, February 24/2022 at 5 pm PT I’ll be chatting with Larissa about A Dog Called Valentine via Zoom. Will you join us? I’d LOVE to see some familiar faces there.
If you’d like to pop in (you don’t need to join the club) email Larissa at [email protected] for the Zoom link and she’ll save you a spot. You can also email me at [email protected] and I’ll get you set up.
I can’t wait to see you! It’s going to be such fun!
Love Note from the Lake: May ’21
Our first time kayaking this season! It was chilly to start, but ended up being a perfect morning. See how placid the water is?
To our surprise, we weren’t even sore afterward. We’ll definitely be doing this more often!
Wild Sky Romance Box Set: Now available
Includes all four e-books in the Wild Sky Romance series:
Volume 1: Montana Dawn
Volume 2: Wild Sky Redemption
Volume 3: Wild Sky Treasure
Volume 4: Wild Sky Healing
Wild Sky Redemption: Just released in paperback from Amazon!
“…epic and endearing… pick up this one. You won’t regret it.” – Cary Morton, Amazon
“…a heart-wrenching but amazing feel-good read that’s hard to put down.” -The Romance Reviews
“Ranches + Romance = Montanan Approved! Loved it!” -RhiReading
Montana Dawn: Also available in paperback from Amazon!
“… a fresh voice that will appeal to fans of Mallery, Higgins and Gibson…” -BW, NetGalley
“Ms. Snopek’s style is wonderful and so easy to read…” -HarlequinJunkie
“…. thoroughly enjoyable… strong, warm characters who come to life on the page.”
-NYT & USA TODAY Bestselling Author RaeAnne Thayne
Today’s Love Note:
My Love Note for today goes out to Shari Drehs Bartholomew who I can only call a SUPER-READER. She’s one of my earliest fans, and while she has a long career as a Registered Nurse, her real passion is reading.
Shari knows as much or more about this genre as anyone and she’s earned that knowledge by not just how much she reads, but by how she connects with authors. Shari participates in on-line author events, she’s a thoughtful and consistent reviewer, and here’s the kicker: she spends her vacation time traveling to various author and reader events, collecting autographed copies, and even giving gifts to her favourite authors.
I was lucky enough to meet Shari in person at the 2018 Romance Writers of America conference in Denver, Colorado, where she surprised me with coasters laminated with two of my book covers! (I put these in a Safe Place for the move… and haven’t unearthed them yet, or I’d show you, <headdesk>)
And it wasn’t just me; she made gifts like this for all her favourite authors, carrying them around with her until she had a chance to present them personally.
Thank you, Shari, for being a sister book-lover. I’m so glad I got to share a hug with you in person and can’t wait to see you again!
The Covers Shari Chose:
These two books fit into my Montana Home series, as well as the Love at the Chocolate Shop series. You can see why she chose them, right? I think they’re the prettiest covers of all my books.
That’s it for me, my friend. Until the next Love Note from the Lake… stay well and happy reading!
-Roxanne