Sarah Wendell, Romance Maven

❤ Sarah’s Novella ❤ Sarah’s Nonfiction ❤ Workshops ❤ About Sarah ❤ Contact Sarah ❤ Press Coverage ❤

Welcome the part of SB-TB.com where you can get to know Sarah Wendell, the Media Pundit of Man Titty — better known as Smart Bitch Sarah. Sarah is the co-founder of Smart Bitches (more about that here), and the author of novella Lighting the Flames and the book Everything I Know About Love, I Learned from Romance Novels.

Sarah is also the co-author of Beyond Heaving Bosoms: the Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels, published in April 2009 by Touchstone Fireside. Yes, Sarah really does seem to like Really Long Titles for things!

From discussions of the popularity and market reach of romance novels to written essays explaining the heuristic value of blog commenting communities, Sarah’s media exposure is varied and somewhat spicy. She’d love to speak with you about romance novels and the amazing smart women who read and write them. Why, you’re probably reading a romance right now, and you didn’t even know it.

Sarah’s television, print media, and radio appearances are here, as well as her press kit. If you’re interested in learning more about blogging, online brand promotion or digital publishing, Sarah can host a workshop for your writing group. To ask a question, or if you want to suggest a better caption for the sexxxy couples below, use the Contact page to email Sarah directly.

Biography

By day Sarah Wendell is mild mannered and heavily caffeinated.  By evening she dons her cranky costume, consumes yet more caffeine, and becomes Smart Bitch Sarah of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books. The site specializes in reviewing romance novels, examining the history and future of the genre, and bemoaning the enormous prevalence of bodacious pectorals adorning male cover models.

She writes!

Sarah is the author of the book,Everything I Know About Love, I Learned From Romance Novels, published in 2011 from Sourcebooks. Featuring wisdom from romance readers and bestselling authors, “Everything I Know About Love, I Learned From Romance Novels,” or “EIKAL,” for short, puts to rest the sad idea that romances create unrealistic expectations of love, relationships, and sex.

In April 2009, Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels was published by Touchstone Fireside, co-authored by Sarah and her partner in nefarious deeds, Candy Tan. The Bosoms, as the book is better known, has been used in syllabi at Princeton University, Yale University, and DePaul University in coursework examining the role of romances in popular fiction. Academic Bosoms!

She talks a lot!

In addition to writing, Sarah talks a lot. A goofy and irreverent speaker on diverse topics, Sarah travels quite a bit and always enjoys meeting and speaking with romance readers. Sarah was an honoured guest of the first annual GenreCon in Sydney Australia in 2012. She also gave the keynote addresses at PubCamp2011, hosted immediately prior to SXSW Interactive, and at the 2011 Book Blogger Convention, held prior to Book Expo America. Sarah has spoken at Romance Writers of America’s national conference, at the Romantic Times BookLovers’ Convention, and at several RWA chapter conferences and meetings. Sarah was also invited to speak as part of the closing plenary panel at the first academic conference devoted to the romance genre, Love as the Practice of Freedom, at Princeton University in April 2009. She was also on the main stage panel discussing digital publishing and the female romance reader at the Digital Book World 2011 Opening Ceremonies. Sarah has spoken at the Digital Book Conference of the International Digital Publishing Forum in May 2009 and at the O’Reilly Tools of Change in Publishing Conference in 2009 and 2010.

And about that Man Titty Media Pundit title…

Sarah has been interviewed for and quoted in People Magazine, The New Yorker,The New York Times, The New York Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer,Metro:New York, USA Today and Publishers Weekly. Her writing has appeared in Narrative Magazine, Tango Magazine, and in the SmartPop bookGrey’s Anatomy 101: Seattle Grace, Unauthorized.

Sarah has appeared on The Today Show, Good Morning America, the Canadian Broadcasting Company’s Steven and Chris Show, and on Too Many Books. She was also, at the age of 5, in the feature film The Fish That Saved Pittsburgh.

Sarah abhors writing about herself in the third person. Third person is not her friend. In fact, she finds third person the written equivalent of wet toast. She promises that her next bio will be written in CAPSLOCK with ample use of the passive voice. Like you do.

Workshops

Would you like me to come speak to your chapter? Your writing group? Your editor and art director about your cover art? I can’t promise any success with that last one, but I am an experienced workshop presenter. I come armed with entertainment and slides if need be, and I can speak on a variety of topics.

For workshops, I’m available for full and half-day presentations, and here are a sampling of potential speaking topics.

Digital Promotion for Authors

Do you have to digitally promote your book, and isn’t it expensive? Yes, you do, and no, it’s not. Digital promotion is essential in the current literary marketplace, and the manner in which you choose to promote yourself and your book can make a world of difference. In this workshop, which can be full or half-day depending on the group’s needs, I discuss the essentials of digital marketing, and the things you do not have to have, no matter what anyone tells you. In a full-day workshop, by the end of my presentation, authors will have a structure for a marketing plan in hand, ready to rock and digitally roll out.

Romance Reviews: How to Get Reviewed, and How to Put a Review in Your Rearview Mirror

Any press is good press, right? When someone slaps your book silly, it’s not always a good time. As someone who has both dished it out on several occasions and taken it when my own books came out in  2009 and 2011, let me tell you: reviews can be tricky, but they are absolutely essential. I will reveal the basics of how to approach different review websites that specialize in romance – and how to react to reviews you receive. I’ll discuss good reviews and how to truly savor them, and bad reviews and how to make lemonade out of them.

I’m also available to moderate panels and can customize workshops and presentations to suit your needs. Please email me for details and to inquire about speaking fees.

Sarah’s Fiction

Lighting the Flames: A Hanukkah Story

Genevieve and Jeremy have known each other since they were seven, and have been summertime best friends at Camp Meira, a Jewish overnight camp in the mountains. As campers, and then as staff, their friendship was a constant, something neither wanted to change, no matter how tempting those changes might be.

Then, last year, with little warning, Jeremy left camp early. After that summer, Gen left the country on a graduate fellowship.

Now, a little over a year since they were last at Meira, Gen and Jeremy are back together to help run a special Winter Camp during Hanukkah. Any water under the bridge is frozen this time of year, and with so much left unspoken and unexplained, this week may be their chance to rekindle their friendship, or turn it into something new.

Excerpt Order

Sarah’s Nonfiction

Everything I Know About Love, I Learned from Romance Novels

Take a dashing hero with a heart of gold and a mullet of awesome. Add a heroine with a bustle and the will to kick major butt. Then include enough contrivances to keep them fighting while getting them alone and possibly without key pieces of clothing, and what do you have? A romance novel. What else? Enough lessons about life, love, and everything in between to help you with your own happily-ever-after. Lessons like…

❤ Romance means believing you are worthy of a happy ending

❤ Learning to tell the prince from the frog

❤ Real-life romance is still alive and kicking

❤ No matter how bad it is, at least you haven’t been kidnapped by a Scottish duke (probably)

Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance

A guide to the most popular and maligned fiction genre, this hilariously sarcastic but always affectionate study of romance novels is perfect for hardcore fans and dabblers alike. Smart and irreverent, the women who founded the popular blog “Smart Bitches, Trashy Books” both mock and pay homage to this highly successful genre. Sure, the authors visit the wild love scenes where the hero/heroine Must Have Sex NOW, but they also speak with famous romance authors and explore how the billion-dollar genre has influenced gender and sexual roles in our society. From insider advice on writing romance novels to discovering your inner Viking warrior, Beyond Heaving Bosoms shows that while some romance novels can be silly, maybe even tawdry, they’re also intelligent, savvy, feminist, and fabulous — just like the Smart Bitches.