Romance is front and center, or front page, bottom right corner, in the New York Times today, with a picture of me and my dogs.
Sarah Wendell, blogger and co-author of “Beyond Heaving Bosoms,” is passionate about romance novels.
Except for the covers, with their images of sinewy limbs, flowing, Fabio-esque locks or, as she put it, “the mullets and the man chests.”
“They are not always something that you are comfortable holding in your hand in public,” Ms. Wendell said.
So she began reading e-books, escaping the glances and the imagined snickers from strangers on the subway, and joining the many readers who have traded the racy covers of romance novels for the discretion of digital books.
If the e-reader is the digital equivalent of the brown-paper wrapper, the romance reader is a little like the Asian carp: insatiable and unstoppable. Together, it turns out, they are a perfect couple. Romance is now the fastest-growing segment of the e-reading market, ahead of general fiction, mystery and science fiction, according to data from Bowker, a research organization for the publishing industry.
Not only are my dogs pictured, as well as Christina Dodd’s three-armed book cover and some other of my oldest favoritest romances, but booksellers like AllRomance.com, and publishers are included as well. But the best part is that the article is anchored by readers- by me, and Jane from DearAuthor.
The reporter who wrote the article, Julie Bosman (congrats on your front page article Julie!), told me that so many of the Times editors are romance readers, and many of them read digitally. I don’t think this is surprising. With all the bad news and unfortunate stories that get published in a newspaper, happy endings must be a welcome and awesome reading choice. I am totally curious which books are among their favorites – but I’m also going to recommend a romance novel for Bosman to try, too. Yay for good press for Romance!
ETA: I have been asked for a Asian Carp Borg shirt. Ahoy, here it is:
Great story.
I originally found SBTB after reading about it in a print newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, which then lead to me reading romance ebooks – so maybe this will lead to more readers of romance books, and followers of SBTB.
I’m really tired and only now figured out why “thinghy” looked wrong: because it IS wrong.
head74: I have 74 different things to keep track of in my head, and it can only hold 47 at a time.
What eerks me the most about the people complaining about romance not being worth someone’s time to read or if they do, it makes them dimwitted.. (I finally had to stop reading the comments.. grrr) Is that no one ever complains about romance in movies. You can’t even see an action movie anymore without some nookie happening in it anymore, but heaven forbid if you want to READ about it. Even the most popular shows on prime time television have some form of romance in them, but nobody complains about that. Because romance is life. Nobody goes through life without some form of romance happening in it. But have it written by women and market it to women and that life becomes literary trash.
But on a high note.. Congrats on the article!
congrats on the article!!
I saw you and was SO excited! Congratulations!! Can I just say it again? SO EXCITING!
Spam Word: old97 (I love the Old 97’s—they’re a great band!)
Congrats! It’s so exciting to see the romance genre taken seriously.
Mazel Tov!
Congrats!! Nicely done, esp for the NYT.
All the time I worked at Border’s, I tried and tried to tell our idiot Store Manager that Romance was the top seller and to keep the shelves stocked, up to date and in order. But noooo, she was more concerned with history and art or some such crap.
So now I just buy them at home and put them on my ereader. I keep my TBR pile and it’s covers for “bathroom” reading.
And I never have to show my husband what I am reading. I can’t believe someone actually made that comment.
Good for Sarah!!!
At my advanced age, I just don’t care who sees what I am reading anymore. Nosy people can just mind their own business. 😉
I love my security code…freedom25. Yup! In this country I can read what I choose.
Way to go!
Congratulations! Great job! (Nice picture too!)
Good job, Sarah!
I’m surprised but not shocked (or should that be the other way around?) the editors at the Times were such big romance fans. You’d never know the genre existed by the coverage they give it. The Sunday book review has a crime section, and the occasional Science Fiction/Fantasy round up, but romance is invisible outside the best sellers lists.
For those looking for a fine Asian Carp Borg shirt, your apparel is ready:
Asian Carp Borg.You will be assimilated. by SBTBLLC
Make cheap custom t shirts at zazzle.com
Congrats! Read the article from a link Lori Foster posted on Facebook.
Woo hoo!
Great article. However, HLN covered the article this morning and said very little positive. The two women reporting on it talked about cheesy covers and blowing hair and how they and their friends read romance novels aloud to each other and giggle. I hate pop tarts with my coffee in the morning. I’ve been pissed off all day because I’m sure more people saw the giggling pop tarts than read the NYT article. *Sigh*
Sarah! You were on the *front page* of the NYT!!! Sqwee!
Love the shirt!
Love the T-shirt!
I just went over to the Times website to read more comment. It appears they’ve closed commenting…after #69. Do you supposed someone thought that through? LOL!
Bravo! The front cover and all! Well, I started reading romance novels about 2 years ago. At first I was in hide the cover mode. Now, I only hide it if it is “graphic”. You know what I mean. I love my ereader!
So excited to see Sarah- you look lovely!
My comment got listed as a Highlight (which makes me more happy than just about anything else this week except Allie Broch’s post on moving with her dogs.)
But I realized that I fell into a trap. I used my “respectable” reading as proof that I should be allowed to read romance. And that’s wrong. If you only read romance because it makes you happy, that should be respected. It’s your money and your time and I’m tired of women having to justify their fun. So, sorry I didn’t take advantage of that opportunity.
Saw the article online (noticing several books I’ve read in your pile, lol)! Congrats on holding the romance novel banner high.
And the T shirt made me smile.
I was telling my husband about the NYT article tonight at supper and he said he heard about it this morning on Wait. Wait. Don’t Tell Me on NPR. Apparently, one of the questions asked what the most popular genre was on e-readers and cited the article as their source. Unfortunately, it must have gone downhill from there, because my husband said that the only reason given was to avoid showing the romance covers and there was a lot of “humor” centering on chests, flowing hair, and Fabio.