Posted March 27, 2011 to Digital, Media Appearances
I was quoted in an article on the Today Show website at MSNBC that focused on the updated romance novel cover designs – which are getting better every year. Romance Novel Covers Get Butt-Kicking Babes featured me, as well as Harlequin books, Carina Press, Pam Regis (the Original Scholar of Romance), and a few other fine folks explaining how romance covers feature strong women – which coincidentally are often found inside the books as well:
“The era of Fabio is long, long, past,” said Sarah Wendell, a romance novel fan who runs the extensive blog Smart Bitches Trashy Books….
“It’s more of the guy next door look, rather than the Fabio beefcake look,” said Green.
Many publishers feature a headless man or couple, showcasing just their lusty bodies. “Readers don’t want to be told what the hero or heroine looks like,” said Wendell. “They want to control that with their imaginations.”
It’s true- the covers have moved away from beefcake to images of women of unquestionable strength. Next up: I hope we can move away from the clinch cover featuring hair styling via absolutely bizarre wind patterns.
Posted February 17, 2011 to Digital, Media Appearances
Sometimes, you think of something slightly amusing, and with the combined power of funny people, librarians, and Twitter, awesomeness happens.
As Media Bistro’s GalleyCat wrote up today, I started a Twitter hashtag of #jerseylibrarians based on my knowledge that when potential library-budget-cutting amendments are proposed and then withdrawn, it’s likely because librarians, particularly JERSEY librarians, are fearsome.
And would make a MUCH better reality show than any of the other Jersey-based entertainment currently on television. Which is your favorite? I think my favorite of the #jerseylibrarians tweets are this one from @eanicol: “Starring Bookie and The Circulation? #Sorry #couldnthelpmyself” and this one from Julia Spencer-Fleming: “The Friends of the Library promise their undying friendship if you would do them a small favor.”
Posted December 09, 2010 to Digital, Media Appearances, Print
Not only am I in The New York Times, but so are my dogs , looking in the window, trying to figure out how to eat the photographer’s bag.
I’m so happy with this article, not just because I’m in it, but because romance is on the front page in a positive article with a collection of quotes and comments from booksellers, publishers, and, anchored on either end of the article, romance readers.
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.
Hooray for romance!
