Thanks to brilliant reader Michelle, I am now dumbfounded and curious about the marketing decisions of major romance brands.
Harlequin will be offering NASCAR themed and branded romances:
NASCAR® claims 75 million fans and says 30 million of them are women.
“NASCAR® has one of the largest and most loyal bases of female fans of any sport in the United States and we are delighted to publish novels that will appeal specifically to them,” Harlequin CEO Donna Hayes said.
Now, NASCAR® in and of itself is fascinating. Born in the deep South (Darlington, SC, for example, hosted the first “superspeedway” before Daytona built their speedway, though the racing itself started in North Carolina way back in the 40’s) it is a mix of down-home activities like watching car racing and tailgating, only with seriously brilliant participants. The men and women of the pit crews? Multiple engineering degrees. You gotta have some seriously mathematical smarts to be a NASCAR® crew member – and yet many of them are life-long racing fans from small rural areas who had big brains and a desire to get advanced engineering and science degrees. So the potential for some fascinating heroes is definitely there, along with the opportunity for writers to create protagonists that break some of the rural Southern stereotypes.
But as for the Harlequin connection, are female NASCAR® fans really an untapped demographic of romance readers? Is this a savvy move on their part or is it destined to be a big boo-boo in the history of romance? And, most importantly, is there going to be a RITA category for Best NASCAR® romance?
Amy’s story has me intrigued also. Thinking of an entire pit crew of lean, buff men. They’re used to working as a well-oiled team, no? Mmm. Well. Oiled. Team.
Thinking of an entire pit crew of lean, buff men. They’re used to working as a well-oiled team, no? Mmm. Well. Oiled. Team.
Am I the only one thinking “Woo! Hot gay porn premise!” here?
Anyone?
Anyone?
Bueller?
Brings new meaning to the term “horny grease monkey,” that’s for sure.
>“Woo! Hot gay porn premise!â€
<
Thanks for ruining my fantasy, Candy. DAMN IT.
Stop touching each other! YOu’re supposed to be teaming up on ME!
Thanks for ruining my fantasy, Candy.
Nah, those boys are good at multi-tasking. I’m sure a couple of them could be spared to check your oil levels, too.
And y’all: there’s NASCAR slashfic. The things the Internet teaches me. I don’t know why I’m surprised any more, because hell, if the Monkees get slashed, why not NASCAR?
“They’re (Roxanne St. Claire, Pamela Britton, Rae Monet) the ones who wrote the 2006 books for Harlequin/Nascar, actually. I think there are two single titles by PB, and then an anthology by all three.”
Are you sure about that? Rae Monet’s NASCAR book is an ebook and Roxanne’s working on some romantic suspense books. Not to mention their NASCAR books are all from different pubs.
I’m just picturing the heroine yanking the hero’s mullet as she slides her tongue between the gaps in his teeth…
Although poor orthodontia might lend itself to improved oral sex.
Ok, as I mentioned, I’m not a fan, but as a resident of the ‘birthplace of nascar’ I feel compelled to post some more. I pulled this from http://business.billelliott.com/sponsorship/whynascar.htm – apparently a website of a driver looking for sponsors.
The Most Coveted Demographic in the Land—NASCAR fans comprise one of the most coveted demographics in the land. The average NASCAR fan is well educated, has an income of $45,000 and has an average age of 36. Furthermore:
* 41% of NASCAR fans have attended college
* 62% of fans are male, 38% are female
* 68% of fans are married
* 38% of fans have children
* NASCAR fans are 5% more likely than the general American population to travel, make investments, drink wine and use cell phones
Are you sure about that?
Umm…no.
Okay, I just hunted and found the thing I’d read and I must be having a major brain cramp this morning, or I was suffering from a caffeine deficit.
The anthology’s going to have Kimberly Raye, Debra Webb, and Roxanne St. Claire, preceded by the two Pamela Britton single titles. I’m not sure what the hell made me think that, other than usually associating Rae Monet with Nascar (and wolves). Big mea culpas.
Everybody feel free to point and laugh at Shannon today. She’s got her “Dumbass” t-shirt on.
Shannon, don’t be so hard on yourself. I get the “Dumbass” t shirt. I mean, I totally forgot how to spell my own name.
Thanks for the demographics breakdown, Raina_Dayz. I wonder how they compare to baseball, basketball and football statistics, all sports which don’t have the redneck stigma attached to them?
Also, one thing occured to me:
* 41% of NASCAR fans have attended college
Yes, but how many of them COMPLETED it?
* 41% of NASCAR fans have attended college
Yes, but how many of them COMPLETED it?
You’d really be surprised. Whereas Nascar was once filled with bootleggers and rednecks with souped up cars, many of today’s drivers have engineering degrees…wait, that’s drivers, not the fans….
I completed college!
Having heard some of the fans talking about the sport, it’s like when golf fans learn about wind and weather systems intricately. Seriously. Big. Words. Since the pit crews often have PhDs and MAs in engineering, physics, and other sciences, the fans get a heck of an education about the finer points of giving a car the edge it needs.
I don’t doubt that a good portion of NASCAR fans have college degrees—I was just pointing out the tricky-dicky language in the demographics breakdown. It’s wonderfully non-specific, since “attended college” would include two exes and a few friends of mine, all of whom attended college for a couple of years before dropping out, vs. more specific language like “completed college” (which would include Associate’s degrees earned at community colleges) or “have earned at least a Bachelor’s degree from accredited colleges” (which is even more specific, and would rule out places like Bob Jones U.).
Good point. I have graduate level education credits with an uncompleted degree. So did I “attend graduate school?”
Kinda! And kinda not! Heh.
I do really want to buy myself a Doctorate of Immortality degree online, though.
I don’t know if this answers your question specically, and I’m much too lazy to go hunting up any more websites with the info, but according to the same one I quoted before –
A Brand Loyal Fan Base—NASCAR is the number one sport in terms of consumer product brand loyalty. An astounding 72% of NASCAR fans buy sponsor products, dwarfing the average 34% of all other sports.
Mm I ‘attended college’ – I always feel like they add that checkbox just to make me feel better for not being able to check ‘completed’.
Seriously, as I get older, I’m not sure how well “having a college degree” correlates to “being well-educated,” especially after working at my company, where there are a decent proportion of people who have college degrees but think Thai food comes from Taiwan.
Having a college degree doesn’t prove you know diddly. I think it proves that you can learn something, perhaps, but at this point, in the US, a BA is more of a social requirement than anything meaningful, and college itself serves as a halfway house to adulthood.
EvilAuntiPeril, wherever your story was supposed to go, its awesome. Genius, even.
The only thing I ask of a person with college degree is that they can string together a sentence without using “like” a half-dozen times. Okay, maybe one other thing. Having a conversation, stay on topic the entire time. Think linearly. Please. God.
The first I can manage with reasonable facility.
But the second….
*runs away and hides*
Having a conversation, stay on topic the entire time. Think linearly. Please. God.
Borrrrring!
I’m no NASCAR fan, but I can see the appeal for this type of book. To me, it isn’t much different than having a line of books about the military. It is a fast-paced lifestyle, high-risk, and there is money all over the place.
There could be lots of different storylines: female driver trying to prove her mettle in a male-dominated sport, engineer behind the scenes, love of his/her life in horrific race accident, etc.
Wow I would have learned to have a linear conversation if I’d stayed in college? Maybe I’ll go back.
And now, the muchly-anticipated excerpt from His Enormous Horsepower!
“Ooh, you sweet thang, right there! Yes, sugar, that’s the spot… the very spot! I’ll get your nut off, don’t you worry, baby. Now push, harder, yes, oh that’s IT, harder, harder, one more time, YES!”
Joleenabelle shuddered with relief when the final lug-nut finally turned. A few more turns and the stubborn nut fell free, allowing her to remove the flat tire. Bubba groaned appreciatively. “That was incredible, babe,” he murmured. “You’re the first woman who’s gotten my nuts off so well.”
She smiled at him, exposing her remaining three teeth. The gold-cap on her front tooth sparkled in the sunlight as it swayed gently from its remaining root. “You could say I’ve got a lot of experience,” she teased, batting her lashes coquettishly. (At least, she hoped it was coquettishly. She wasn’t entirely sure what that meant. It just had so many letters!)
Bubba grinned, exposing his own brilliant yellow teeth. “Baby, after seeing you rotate my tires like that, I can’t wait to see what you can do with my enormous horsepower. Wanna play with my gearshift?”
It was an offer Joleenabelle couldn’t refuse…
I guess I should qualify my conversations requirements. Linear in that things make sense from sentence to sentence. The amount of thought required for this varies with audience. What I had in my mind with that comment was these conversations I have with my landlady pretty often (as in, every damn time I talk to her) where we are discussing this one thing, and she will bring in things that couldn’t, if you had any reasonable amount of intelligence, connect in any way with being a reason for whatever something we are talking about.
Latest example of WTF with her: talking knowledgably about how any decent foodtsuffs must be had off of the black market in Russia—which hasn’t been true in oh, about twenty years. And some of the things she says about computers and how viruses get into them is just astonishing.
Don’t know if that helps with making my previous comment any more comprehensible. Oh, well.
(and yes, I know that’s heinously stereotypical, but dammit, I grew up in a singlewide with green carpet, currently live in a doublewide, I have more pets than people in my family, and while I can’t belch the alphabet, I can burp pretty damn loud when I want to. I feel qualified to stereotype white trash all I want!)
OMG Amy E, that was freaking hilarious. Thanks!
NASCAR…I don’t think so. Those looking for hot cars & hot guys should try Tara Janzen.
Do you suppose it has anything to do with Janet Evanovich’s “Metro Girl” with its NASCAR hero?
You know, it’s the kind of thing I could see working once—just like, given the proper storyline, I could totally see a romance with a balding math professor hero. It’s the thought of a SERIES of ‘em that gets me.
Who wants to bet that at least one of the first releases is the plot where the innocent heroine doesn’t recognize the uber-famous NASCAR hero, which is So Refreshing to him and that’s why he falls for her?
What are the folks at Harlequin smoking lately?
This is a joke, right?
I’m so dumbfounded I almost can’t type.
I’ve been to one Nascar race. One, and will never do it again. Maybe the guys in the pits are interesting, but those in attendance? OY!!!!!!!!
And my husband and I attended the event with my boss and his enthusiastic wife. She adores Nascar. It’s all she ever talks about.
I kid you not in saying IIIIII knew more about racing than she did! To be a Nascar fan is just a status thing in our neck of the woods. Which I can tell you is the BOONIES!!!!!!
I’m going to go run off and try to ignore I ever read this new developement.