Romance in the New York Times

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:

 

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