Apr 26 2011
Letters of Opinion
Apr 20 2011
Of Rape and Rape Fantasies
Note: This reader emailed me yesterday and wanted to share this story with me. I didn’t think it belonged in the comments even though the topic of this piece is on point. I also thought we should post it today rather than allow another week to pass because of its relevance. Without further ado, from(…)
Apr 19 2011
The Vigilante Fantasy (or why sex is more wrong than violence)
Notice: the comments below discuss rape and rape fantasies. In Lisa Kleypas’ “Blue Eyed Devil”, Haven is brutalized by her husband. He rapes her, beats her, and throws her out of the home. When Haven confesses of her past to her new love, Hardy, he responds that he’d go after her ex and “when I(…)
Apr 12 2011
How to Do “Exotic” Right: Eileen Dreyer’s Never A Gentleman
People who know me know I’m hyper-sensitive to the portrayal of India and Indians in romance novels, especially British India in European historicals. Eileen Dreyer has a new trilogy, the second volume of which features an English heroine who accompanied her military officer father around the world, including campaigns in India in the early 1800s.(…)
Apr 5 2011
The Bittered Heroine
As I was reading the latest Susan Elizabeth Phillips book, Call Me Irresistible, I was struck hard by how many of SEP's heroines suffer seemingly endless humiliation and degradation over the course of our acquaintance with them. And because of this, they have been bittered to a certain degree. Rachel, in Dream A Little Dream,(…)
Mar 27 2011
What is the right price of a book, print or digital, part two
Last week I blogged about value as differentiated between price. Many other readers chimed in with their own value scale. What I read in the comments to last week’s post and that of Nadia Lee’s post is that a) readers will pay a lot for authors that they love and b) readers are reluctant to(…)
Mar 22 2011
Guest Opinion: The Ideal Reader: Is She Really Ideal? by Nadia Lee
(Note: I’m a writer, but for the purposes of this blog post, I’m wearing my “reader” hat.) Given the seeming hatred toward ebooks and library lending and so on and so forth, the profile of an ideal reader for the Big Six appears to be something like this: 1. Buys print (to prevent piracy) 2.(…)
Mar 15 2011
Author Camaraderie and Negative Reviews
I've been putting off writing this post for months! Everyone with an opinion has already weighed in, and we're all sick to death of the subject, but I said I would tackle it so here I am. A day late and a dollar short, as usual. The first thing I want to say is that(…)
Mar 8 2011
Publishing Romance: The More Things Change …
Did Kathleen Woodiwiss’ The Flame and The Flower really give birth to the romance genre? Until last week, I’d always assumed the answer was a resounding No. But there seem to be quite a few sources that think it did. Wikipedia asserts that the publication of TFATF marked “the birth of the modern romance novel.”(…)
Mar 5 2011
On Bloggers, Reviewers, and Readers. #Ivegotyourback
I’ve been reading some posts about this YAMafia theory running around the internet. Regular readers of Dear Author should be very familiar with this given the past history in romance. It’s almost a relief to see the “be nice” mantra being preached outside of romance. Huzzah, all fandoms are dysfunctional. Essentially the theory is that(…)
Mar 1 2011
When Does A Reader Know Too Much?
There are times when I wonder if being ignorant would have made my life easier. Over the past few months, the disappearance of my publishing world ignorance has made its way into my reading life. Specifically since I’ve begun turning to the internet for book-related advice and news. My internet de-virginizing has lead me to(…)
Feb 22 2011
Authors, Readers and Discoverability in the new age of publishing
We are now in a period of disintermediation which essentially means the number of entities in the supply chain between the content creator and the customer have been reduced. The reason for this is because the supply channel has become incredibly efficient and cost effective. If you can type up a book in Word, you(…)
Feb 15 2011
Guest Op: Enter the Extraordinary Heroine: Are We Ready For Her Yet?
Heather Massey is a blogger who travels the sea of stars searching for science fiction romance adventures aboard The Galaxy Express. Additionally, she pens a science fiction romance column for LoveLetter, Germany's premier romance magazine. **** The extraordinary heroine exists in all subgenres of romance, but in my opinion, we could use more of them.(…)
Feb 8 2011
A Sonnet (or two) to the Packers by Sarah Wendell, poetess, and some random thoughts about sports romances
Sarah Wendell of Smart Bitches, Trashy Books is from Pittsburgh. Apparently it’s the law that if you were born and raised in Pittsburgh, you must be a Steeler fan. I understand this. I was raised in Wisconsin. In Wisconsin, there are two laws. First, you must cheer for the Packers and second, you must always(…)
Feb 1 2011
What Does Bestseller Title Really Mean?
What exactly is a bestseller? I had a reader email me and ask why a certain author had “International Bestselling Author” on her website and what exactly that meant. There are authors who are now labeling their books “Number 1 Kindle Bestseller”. Publishers Weekly noted that Snooki’s A Shore Thing (which is categorized as a(…)
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