tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post1347848484900386450..comments2024-03-28T02:00:11.260-05:00Comments on A Newbie's Guide to Publishing: Erotic RomanceJA Konrathhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comBlogger199125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-88491577802100287782015-04-20T10:58:42.791-05:002015-04-20T10:58:42.791-05:00Well I can't say about America - but in the UK...Well I can't say about America - but in the UK we have had a mainstream erotic romance publisher since 1993. Black Lace books (Originally owned by Virgin - so at one time the biggest publisher of sexy books in the Uk was Virgin - still makes me smile!).<br /><br />So this book could have been published in the UK 20 years ago.Nicolahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02876042692065639892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-41553072500772630022014-12-22T01:29:55.606-06:002014-12-22T01:29:55.606-06:00"But it sure is ironic that the romance commu..."But it sure is ironic that the romance community, which is so concerned about female authors being erased and where I have published 27 books (and Joe only one), is also acting as if I don't exist.<br /><br />*crickets chirping*"<br /><br />Mr. Konrath & Ms. Peterson, I'm just guessing, but from what I've observed it seems most people aren't acting like you (Ms. Peterson) doesn't exist, they are just trying to leave you out of the ruckus. <br /><br />People don't have a problem with the book you both wrote, the premise of the book or anything like that, they just have a problem with this one statement which appeared on Mr. Konrath's blog:<br /><br />"It's a feminist, empowering, 21st century love story that couldn't have been written ten years ago because the genre, opportunity, and mindset didn't exist."<br /><br />Since this statement appears on Mr. Konrath's blog, it is assumed it is his statement, so they are disagreeing with him on it. I just assume people think Ms. Peterson did not make this statement, so they see no need to argue with her about it.<br /><br />Ms. Peterson I have been reading romances since I was 8 years old, and have enjoyed many of yours. I read everything from Intrigue, Temptation, to Blaze, to the most explicit hardcore books you can imagine, and I'd have to say most people would be amazed at what racy romance books were found in grocery stores in the late 90's. Erotica has been mainstream for a lot longer than the masses (once a year/decade readers) have known it was there, which is why everybody who has been reading erotica for decades had such a problem with that one sentence on this blog.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-13246312405503495352014-12-21T16:59:36.569-06:002014-12-21T16:59:36.569-06:00To Ann: You might feel as though people are treati...To Ann: You might feel as though people are treating you as if you don’t exist but I personally don’t see that here. It’s just that your co-writer is much more vocal and saying more controversial stuff garnering more attention. I saw that both Victoria Dahl and Karen Stivali responded to your comments here. I think Victoria said it best when she commented: <i>“But you weren't the one to say that, Ann, and I seriously doubt you would have. Because that's the issue here. Not that you and Joe wrote and erotic romance and that you want people to read it. The issue is the words HE used. The words he won't admit are incorrect.”</i><br /><br />It’s not that you’re not being acknowledged as a writer, it’s just that your co-writer is screaming louder than you are. And the words he's using aren't very liked. <br /><br />Good luck to your book. I won’t be reading it, it’s just not my cup of tea since I prefer my heroes to stay with only the heroine after they get together otherwise I don’t consider it a romance. But I do wish you well. <br /><br />PS: Any book that compares itself to Fifty Shades is an immediate don’t buy from me. I didn’t consider it to be a good romance since I don’t consider abusive relationships with a stalker, crazy boyfriend to be a romance. And I won’t go into all the bad writing it had. I also don’t consider it to be BDSM since it basically acted like it was an affliction that needed to be treated and cured. Therefore any book that compares itself to something that was badly written is not to my liking. <br /><br />Fifty Shades was at the right place and right time, nothing more. Twilight left all the above tween women who read it salivating for more after the fade to black in Breaking Dawn. They went looking for it in fanfiction. James took advantage of that. She wrote chapter by chapter while getting immediate feedback from readers. She gave them what they wanted. As soon as it was published it was those same Twilight readers that bought and recommended it. Word of mouth is a glorious thing. So are those loyal romance readers I mentioned above. But while some readers went on to continue reading BDSM, some did not. Not one of my friends that read FSOG (there were a few) went on to read another BDSM book even if they did continue reading romance. Keep that in mind the next time you want to reference it.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-61582058435075029442014-12-21T16:59:06.113-06:002014-12-21T16:59:06.113-06:00KT Grant: “How about Zane? She pushed the envelope...KT Grant: <i>“How about Zane? She pushed the envelope with erotic romance way back in the mid 90's and 2000's and was big time mainstream. You mentioned erotic romance in the early 2000's and everyone knew Zane. Addicted came out in 1998 and Nervous in 2004 by Atria. She even had her own Cinemax series”</i><br /><br />All of those answers prove that: <i>“couldn't have been written ten years ago because the genre, opportunity, and mindset didn't exist”</i> and <i>“I wrote an erotic romance that breaks boundaries”</i> is wrong. It did exist. It was written ten years ago and between then and 2011 when FSOG was published.<br /><br />You’re just choosing to dismiss all of these comments. You ignored the information given to you and tried to get more and more specific with what you were asking. To the point that Karen Stivali commented: <i>“I think it's really important to note that no one (or at least no one I've seen) is accusing you of plaigarism or of writing fan fiction. No one has said "your story is EXACTLY like so-and-so's story", so demanding a book with exactly the same plot and characters of your book is really a bit silly. I think you know that's not what people mean. What they mean is that female buddies, male escort heroes, explicit sex (including BDSM), etc have all been done in various combinations, some serious, some comedic, some romances, some erotica, some crossovers for a very long time and by a wide variety of authors.”</i><br /><br />And you continue to dismiss all this information. That is where you lost me. Where I went from “oh he’s not so bad” to “now I understand”. You’ve asked “Am I wrong” a couple of times but when you’ve been proven wrong, you don’t even think that’s possible. As someone who didn’t know much about the history of erotic romances to know if you were right or wrong at the beginning of all this, by the evidence presented I agree with the other side. You are wrong. <br /><br />It’s like you moving into this old neighborhood. All the neighbors like throwing parties. They take their turns and invite a bunch of people from other neighborhoods to come party. Then you come into the neighborhood, throw a party and tell everyone it’s the best party ever thrown on the block and no other party has done the things you’ve done. While the ideas might be new to you, all the other neighbors know they’ve already been done and are rightfully upset that you think you’re hot shit. They’re not saying you shouldn’t have thrown the party, they’re just saying you shouldn’t have said you’d done things first when you didn’t. You might not care your new neighbors are mad at you, but don’t get mad when they get together by the curve and talk bad about you.<br /><br />You also mentioned this: <i>“I'm writing in this genre because I like this genre. My wife likes this genre. It's a great genre that doesn't get the respect it deserves.”</i><br /><br />You might want to realize that you’re not giving it the respect it deserves. You’re not giving the authors in that genre the respect they deserve by being dismissive of the work they did. You are doing the same thing you claim others have done.<br /><br />One good thing about the romance genre is it has many loyal readers. We make sure to tell everyone about this great book we just read and OMG you have to read it right now. We’re loyal to the authors we’ve read and liked. The authors themselves are usually readers who are just as loyal and just as quick to recommend. Pissing most of them off by being dismissive to the authors so many are loyal to in a genre you have just started writing in is not very good PR, imo. <br /><br />Continued…Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-3343508048103032622014-12-21T16:58:40.514-06:002014-12-21T16:58:40.514-06:00So, I’m not an author. I don’t feel disrespected b...So, I’m not an author. I don’t feel disrespected by what was said. I really have no horse in this race. I’m just an avid reader that has been addicted to books since middle school, eons ago. I happen to read the romance genre. And I thought WTH, why not comment.<br /><br />I found out about this after reading about it on an author’s twitter. I read all the tweets catching up on what they were protesting about. Saw the tweets with Ann, your co-writer, and your tweets with Courtney Milan. Then I came on here and read the comments.<br /><br />At first, while I understood why they were mad, I thought you weren’t as bad as they were saying. I had never heard of you or Ann for that matter. I thought maybe there were prior incidents that have made up their minds about you and this just made things worse. You were asking genuine questions about the genre. Maybe you just didn’t know what was written 10 years ago. I sure didn’t. You seemed like you truly wanted these authors to tell you about the other authors writing in this genre you had just joined.<br /><br />But as your responses came in and I saw more and more dismissal of what you were being told, I thought “oh, now I understand the fuss being made.”<br /><br />You’re original post included: <i>“It has romance. It has female-buddy banter. It has humor. It has insanely kinky sex. It's a feminist, empowering, 21st century love story that couldn't have been written ten years ago because the genre, opportunity, and mindset didn't exist.”</i><br /><br />In your first comment addressing the hoopla, you stated: <i>“EL James blew the genre up. Ten years ago, Want It Bad wouldn't have been able to find a wide audience. Pillories and candle wax and man whore weren't in HQ series that were sold in Walmart. But today we can publish without restrictions. That's the sum total of my point.”</i><br /><br />On your next comment, you wrote: <i>“I write a blog post saying I wrote an erotic romance that breaks boundaries, and I get scolded dozens of times.”</i><br /><br />You were also asking for titles of erotic romances that were breaking boundaries. You got all kinds of responses:<br /><br />Victoria Dahl: <i>“I've published 26 books in the romance genre. One of those was an erotic romance with spanking and ropes and jizz published by HQN before 50 Shades.”</i><br /><br />Jill Sorenson: <i>“Of course Harlequin has published plenty of erotic material and boundary-pushing stuff. I see Megan Hart commented--her novel Stranger by Harlequin Spice has an escort hero, I believe. Tiffany Reisz is another example of a boundary pushing author.”</i><br /><br />Michelle Smart: <i>“I will answer with this: Harlequin Spice was HQ’s erotic line and is now published under the HQN imprint. … As for male prostitutes and infidelity after the hero and heroine meet, Maisey Yates has written a book about a former male prostitute for the Presents line; Lynne Graham wrote a linked-duet story where the hero had sex and impregnated another woman AFTER meeting the heroine. Which, incidentally, was published in 2011.”</i><br /><br />Victoria Dahl: <i>“There was also a ton of erotic romance being published & sold online ten years ago. Truly filthy, lovely stuff. You can start here: http://wendythesuperlibrarian.blogspot.com/2014/10/the-quick-and-dirty-history-of-erotic.html?m=1”</i><br /><br />KT Grant: <i>“Also, In the Cut by Susanna Moore in 1995 was a run away best seller and made into a movie with Meg Ryan. At the time that book made some waves and did very well.”</i><br /><br />V.M. Black: <i>“I had a romance in 2005 IN WALMART featuring a prostitute under my old name. In 2008, I had one featuring S&M. Also in Walmart.”</i><br /><br />Leslie Kelly: <i>“Waving hands as someone who had a male prostitute hero in a Harlequin series book sold in Wal Mart in 2008*<br />PS: Same hero also had a threesome with another couple in another Blaze. <br />PSS: Bondage, blindfolds, sex toys, food sex, role-playing, exhibitionism, stripper heroines, filthy-mouthed best friends...done, done, done, done, done, done, done. Long before FSOG. And those are just MY books.”</i><br /><br />Continued...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-15891085084982554102014-12-21T12:13:36.077-06:002014-12-21T12:13:36.077-06:00This cricket says the point wasn't salient.
...This cricket says the point wasn't salient. <br /><br />No one is objecting to Joe and Ann writing a book together. We're not talking about Ann writing an erotic romance. We're not talking about the work she put into a book. We're talking about Joe's words on Joe's blog, so unless Ann put work into this post, no one is erasing her.<br /><br />Now I'm taking this conversation back to Twitter if you want to continue. That's my preferred medium and it's where the people are who started the discussion. Thanks for the interaction here.Victoria Dahlhttp://www.victoriadahl.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-88188049353555465982014-12-21T11:40:10.263-06:002014-12-21T11:40:10.263-06:00But it sure is ironic that the romance community, ...<i>But it sure is ironic that the romance community, which is so concerned about female authors being erased and where I have published 27 books (and Joe only one), is also acting as if I don't exist.</i><br /><br />*crickets chirping*<br /><br />You may have a point, Ann.JA Konrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-8198333007735783882014-12-21T11:38:55.312-06:002014-12-21T11:38:55.312-06:00Because someone pretending to be you sought out pe...<i>Because someone pretending to be you sought out people on Twitter who were talking about your post, engaged them, and then invited/shamed people to come over here and talk to you about it.</i><br /><br />I care about facts and logic, and debate and discourse are ways for people to learn.<br /><br />I don't care about your delicate little feelings, or whom I offend.<br /><br />I didn't call you a name at recess that hurt you so badly you had to run crying to your third grade teacher. In fact, I didn't call you any names at all.<br /><br />I wrote a blog post. A bunch of thin-skinned romance writers, with serious inferiority complexes, overreacted, and then tried to "correct" me and did a really poor job at it. <br /><br />You stated your case, and failed to persuade. But thank you for giving it a shot. It was fascinating to witness. And to think you were still able to respond after I erased you and your peers. It must be some sort of Christmas miracle. :)<br /><br />Harlequin recently signed a deal with Scribd, to put titles--possibly some of yours--into their subscription service.<br /><br />If you'd like a platform to voice your displeasure about this situation, my blog is yours. That's a battle that interests me; big publisher screws writers who have no choice and can't fight back.<br /><br />Harlequin is evil. They've consistently offered lower royalties than the industry average. They created a dummy company so they could cut ebook royalties to 2%. They string writers along, shitty contract to shitty contract, giving them barely enough money to live on but not enough time to write something for themselves; something that would free them from the company store. <br /><br />I know your opinion of me. My opinion of you, and your petty, poorly structured arguments, over sensitivity, overreacting, and failure to engage any of the salient points I made, hasn't changed a bit.<br /><br />I like you. I think you're smart, and brave. I bought one of your books, and look forward to reading it. I wish you continued success, and hope you make more money than you'll ever be able to spend.<br /><br />I don't take anything on the Internet personally. Cheers, and happy holidays.<br /><br />And if you ever do want to lambaste Harlequin, you have my fullest support.JA Konrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-63150809593104869042014-12-20T23:22:01.181-06:002014-12-20T23:22:01.181-06:00I can’t believe I just took the time to read this ...I can’t believe I just took the time to read this 200 comment long discussion, but it speaks to the intelligence and wit of both sides that it kept me interested for that long. Now, because this is the internet, I feel I must form an opinion and blather about it.<br /><br />First I guess I should say that I didn’t find the marketing promo particularly offensive. Sure, I rolled my eyes at its exaggerated, over-the-topness. But then I read the book, so it must have done something right. Entertaining book. Got so into it I didn’t want to put it down.<br /><br />Then I discovered there was a crazy discussion going on over here and I was all like, whoa! <br /><br />It’s accurate to say that this book couldn’t have been written ten years ago because this book is a direct response to the FSoG driven billionaire erotic romance genre. It takes the tropes and flips them upside down for kicks and giggles. Nothing that hasn’t been done before, but good fun, all the same. If FSoG didn’t exist, this book couldn’t have responded to FSoG and therefore wouldn’t exist, which would be a shame.<br /><br />But I think this discussion is way more convoluted than that so I’m going to roll my sleeves up and try my hands at arguing! Okie dokies, so the main phrase being argued about is the “couldn't have been written ten years ago because the genre, opportunity, and mindset didn't exist” bit. I’m going to do one better than breaking it down by line and break it down by word!<br /><br />Genre<br />Did the genre for this book exist in 2004? Depends how you label the genre. Erotic romance seems to be the main genre it fits into, and my research shows that genre went mainstream-ish in 2005. (My research being Wikipedia because I’m super lazy, okay?) Since genre is a way of classifying books so that readers can easily find them, I think it’s safe to argue that even if books that would’ve fit this genre existed before this time, the classification itself wasn’t being used in marketing material. So. Point one, Konrath!<br /><br />Opportunity<br />Could you have reached a worldwide audience with an erotic romance in 2004? You could’ve published it with an e-publisher, but there weren’t any e-reading devices really embraced by the public until 2007, so your audience would’ve been pretty niche. The big publishers didn’t have imprints specifically for this sort of book, but it could have been published under a different genre. I looked into Zane’s Addicted and discovered it was a self-publishing erotica success story from 1998, so yeah, it would’ve been possible. Tough, but possible. Call this one a tie?<br /><br />Mindset<br />Okay, this might be too hazy to analyze. What mindset is necessary to write this book? Feminism? Obviously much older than 2004. Enjoying sex? Same thing. The mindset to put it all together and collaborate on a cool project with your friend? Could’a done that in other times, too. Honestly, I have no idea what to conclude on this one. Need more data!<br /><br />There you go, my really long opinion. I guess I just don’t see how Konrath said anything bad enough to get angry about. I mean, he wasn’t trampling over the genre screaming “Me Man! Me do writing better than you!” And he had a female co-writer, anyway, so that would’ve been a difficult claim to support. Unless he was dragging her along by her hair? …I should probably end this metaphor now. <br /><br />Now I’m going to hide because I think everyone else posting in this comment section is super awesome and I fear retribution. (It is known that Victoria Dahl can shoot lightening bolts from her eyeballs. Probably.)<br /><br />(I didn't just mansplain, did I? I looked up what it meant and realized I make that mistake all the time! I'm so slow, I'm always like, This is what I think! and other people are like, That is obvious and dumb. Go away. We're trying to have an actual discussion here, geeze.)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14624811068547794734noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-41792874385999892642014-12-19T17:02:44.718-06:002014-12-19T17:02:44.718-06:00"For the record, I stopped caring about the o..."For the record, I stopped caring about the opinions of strangers when I was in Junior High--something I encourage you to try."<br /><br />This is utterly weird. Because someone pretending to be you sought out people on Twitter who were talking about your post, engaged them, and then invited/shamed people to come over here and talk to you about it. Then you engaged us for a bunch of days before telling us that none of this mattered at all to you and you didn't care about our opinions and we should try not caring about all of this, too. <br /><br />So odd. You should check into that.Victoria Dahlhttp://www.victoriadahl.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-56214918240195845072014-12-19T14:47:10.428-06:002014-12-19T14:47:10.428-06:00If you don't do this, I'm curious to hear ...<i>If you don't do this, I'm curious to hear your sales pitch.</i><br /><br />My sales pitch is "here's a thing I did. Try it!"<br /><br />People try it, they like it, and they spread the word. That's pretty much it and it's working very nicely.<br /><br />Thank you for you comments and thoughts. We've all learnt a lot, I think.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-89952389775072593722014-12-19T11:59:26.510-06:002014-12-19T11:59:26.510-06:00Less than ten years ago RWA itself was struggling ...Less than ten years ago RWA itself was struggling with accepting erotic romance. To say that nothing has changed in those ten years is ridiculous. Of course Kindle changed things. Of course FSoG changed things. Of course the authors who wrote in this sub genre over those last ten years changed things. But most of all the READERS changed things. The sub genres they buy flourish. The ones they don't fade, at least for a while.<br /><br />The entire romance genre has changed in that time, not just ER. I know. I lived through those years. I published through those years. I was an RWA member through those years. It seems to me that if Joe was a female romance author, the romance community would have noticed this blog post about as much as they're now noting that he has a female co-author.<br /><br />Joe and I also co-write the Codename: Chandler series of over-the-top spy thrillers. If you read through the reviews for the books, you'll find he's often given sole credit for writing them, as if I didn't exist. Since he is well-established in the mystery/thriller genre and I've only published two solo thrillers, I suppose that's to be expected.<br /><br />But it sure is ironic that the romance community, which is so concerned about female authors being erased and where I have published 27 books (and Joe only one), is also acting as if I don't exist.Ann Voss Petersonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15141783064748972033noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-67329913553401989102014-12-19T11:04:44.726-06:002014-12-19T11:04:44.726-06:00I've never had to compare my product to someth...<i>I've never had to compare my product to something I consider inferior in order to explain what it is.</i><br /><br />So you don't compare your product to inferior products?<br /><br />Isn't that pretty much standard when it comes to selling?<br /><br />Selling involves knowing what the buyer likes and doesn't like. It isn't about forcing a product on them that they won't want. It's about letting them know about something that they do want.<br /><br />The fastest way to do this is to compare what you're selling with something the buyer already knows--good and bad.<br /><br />If you don't do this, I'm curious to hear your sales pitch. Here's mine. It's almost ten years old, but still relevant for face-to-face sales.<br /><br />http://jakonrath.blogspot.com/2006/06/booksignings-everything-you-need-to.htmlJA Konrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-17847004069013238872014-12-19T09:18:53.726-06:002014-12-19T09:18:53.726-06:00Having handsold over 10,000 books (handselling is ...<i>Having handsold over 10,000 books (handselling is when you meet a reader face to face and talk to them), I know a little bit about this topic.<br /><br />You... not so much</i><br /><br />I know what handselling means, thanks. I do it a lot, and very successfully, with my own product (which isn't books), and I've never had to compare my product to something I consider inferior in order to explain what it is.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-37075685884925907252014-12-19T08:52:42.354-06:002014-12-19T08:52:42.354-06:00I wish I could have rescued a few when mom died.
...<i>I wish I could have rescued a few when mom died.</i><br /><br />Try www.abebooks.com. I've found a lot of long lost books there. JA Konrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-5640153218005313242014-12-19T08:50:51.148-06:002014-12-19T08:50:51.148-06:00You don't get to change the history of this ge...<i>You don't get to change the history of this genre to promote yourself or your cause. </i><br /><br />I no more have the power to change the history of a genre than I do to erase anyone, Victoria. <br /><br />Promote my cause? What does that even mean? <br /><br />This isn't a real concern of yours. You're not really worried that the work of thousands of authors will disappear because of something written on a blog.<br /><br />But you're offended, and you feel the need to show me how my words are harmful. Words that I've defended in these comments, with no response from you on many of my points. <br /><br />I have no control over how people react, or overreact, to things I say. That's on you, not me.<br /><br />But let's pretend that I'm truly an uncaring, sexist jerk who set out to piss off every romance writer I could.<br /><br />Why do you care?<br /><br />As Stephen Hughes said: "You were offended? Who cares? Since when did <i>sticks and stones</i> stop applying?"<br /><br />For the record, I stopped caring about the opinions of strangers when I was in Junior High--something I encourage you to try. <br /><br />Thanks again for your thoughts and comments.JA Konrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-63254484675025749102014-12-19T08:22:51.492-06:002014-12-19T08:22:51.492-06:00I grew up sneaking those 1980's and older HQ b...I grew up sneaking those 1980's and older HQ books from my mom's shelf. They were way more... Steamy than the modern titles. There was sh*t in those books that they would never be traditionally published now days lmao. BDSM before we knew that what is was called. No pretence that it was all mutual consent. Memories. I wish I could have rescued a few when mom died. Quotidianlighthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03797482895372882116noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-62505505812159137092014-12-19T08:03:14.321-06:002014-12-19T08:03:14.321-06:00So you don't think the BDSM in 50SoG was any g...<i>So you don't think the BDSM in 50SoG was any good and you didn't enjoy the book, but you're still willing to invoke the title to sell your Melinda DuChamp books.</i><br /><br />You mean why would I being willing to invoke the one title that everyone on the planet knows, because it instantly tells readers the kind of book it is?<br /><br />Are you serious?<br /><br />Years ago I wrote a blog post about how to do booksignings. One of the truisms then remains a truism today; the simplest way to describe a book to a reader who has no idea who you are or what you write is to compare it to something the reader knows.<br /><br />Having handsold over 10,000 books (handselling is when you meet a reader face to face and talk to them), I know a little bit about this topic.<br /><br />You... not so much.JA Konrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-65927145985942713462014-12-19T02:59:44.097-06:002014-12-19T02:59:44.097-06:00So you don't think the BDSM in 50SoG was any g...So you don't think the BDSM in 50SoG was any good and you didn't enjoy the book, but you're still willing to invoke the title to sell your Melinda DuChamp books. Okay. I guess as long as you don't actually criticise EL James (because of your rule), that's not shady at all.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-26558923348790099362014-12-19T02:04:30.381-06:002014-12-19T02:04:30.381-06:00"Congrats. You finally found a title."
..."Congrats. You finally found a title."<br /><br />Yeah, it didn't take me that long to find a title. I included Natural Law on a list of ten erotic romances that I wrote for Publishers Weekly a year ago. It took me that long to give in to your demands to be spoon fed titles for a genre you don't know anything about and couldn't care less about. Several of us mentioned other authors and lists, but you couldn't be bothered with even picking out your own title. <br /><br />"No doubt that title was only one of tens of thousands, indicative of the thriving, billion dollar erotic romance market.<br /><br />Or not. Because the market didn't boom until FSoG and Amazon."<br /><br />Ah, there's the truth! It's a billion dollar boom, and here you are taking advantage of it. Good for you. Enjoy the ride. <br /><br />But that's nothing to do with what could have been written and published 10 years ago. It has nothing to do with what actually WAS written and published 10 years ago. Your only concern is how much money you couldn't have made 10 years ago. That's a mindset, all right, and it's got fuck-all to do with erotic romance.<br /><br />Frankly, I don't have any problem with your money-making mindset. Make your money. But I don't have to find your promotional strategy honest or charming. You don't get to change the history of this genre to promote yourself or your cause. <br /><br />And for the record, I think you'd happily do the same to any profitable genre. I don't think your attitude is about romance or women...but our response definitely is. Victoria Dahlhttp://www.victoriadahl.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-76058648202593534132014-12-18T23:07:28.281-06:002014-12-18T23:07:28.281-06:00"I just don't understand why that's a..."I just don't understand why that's annoying. At all. Why would you blame them, or EL James, for that? Why do you care?"<br /><br />I don't blame them. It annoys me due to its limited frame of reference and this isn't something I find bothersome solely in regard to writing. I have spent most of my life honing my baking skills. When I spend all day baking a chocolate cake from scratch and grating chocolate for ganache and I tell someone I baked a cake I don't want their first response to be "Like Betty Crocker?" either.<br /><br />Regardless, neither of these things (people thinking James invented dirty books or people thinking cake mixes are as good as scratch) keeps me up at night---again, I was just answering your question.<br /><br /><br />"She's the first person in history to write a dirty book that sold 100 million copies."<br /><br />A lightbulb went off in my head when you made this comment---here's the disconnect. You're talking about quantity, I'm talking about quality. I think James is a much better businesswoman than I think she is a writer. These are totally separate issues and accomplishments in my opinion.<br /><br />"I think this is a good thing. Which was the point of my blog." <br /><br />The point of your blog was to sell your book, which is what the point of your blog should be. The point of my responses was to help shed some light on why other people have had a reaction to that which you may (or may not) have anticipated. Either way, it's your blog and you can say whatever you want on it to promote your books however you'd like. And you specifically asked for people to Tweet about it, then you asked on Twitter for comments to be brought here instead, so that's what happened. Mission accomplished. <br /><br />Thanks for your thoughts, and for answering my question.<br /><br />You're welcome.Karen Stivalihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08753764211848981159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-12093282750286222882014-12-18T22:48:42.305-06:002014-12-18T22:48:42.305-06:00It's annoying that when you tell anyone from y...<i>It's annoying that when you tell anyone from your neighbor to your local bookstore owner to your dentist that you write romance, there's a good chance the first words out of their mouth will be "like 50 Shades?"</i><br /><br />I just don't understand why that's annoying. At all. Why would you blame them, or EL James, for that? Why do you care?<br /><br /><i>And that doing that helps to further the myth that she's the first person in history to write a dirty book.</i><br /><br />She's the first person in history to write a dirty book that sold 100 million copies.<br /><br />I think this is a good thing. Which was the point of my blog. <br /><br />Thanks for your thoughts, and for answering my question.JA Konrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-51236989247276105422014-12-18T22:28:31.722-06:002014-12-18T22:28:31.722-06:00"That sounds like a pretty good definition of..."That sounds like a pretty good definition of envy. <br /><br />Who cares? I'm serious."<br /><br />If that's what you took from my explanation of the reaction of a large chunk of the romance community, you're mistaken. Perhaps I communicated poorly when answering your question about why EL James isn't at the top of some romance authors' favorites list.<br /><br />Are people envious of her enormous success? In terms of most people wishing they'd write a hugely successful novel or series, yes, of course there's some envy. But that's not what I was referring to at all when I said that romance writers find it annoying that she's regarded by some as having been the first writer to ever venture into this genre or even topic. <br /><br />It's annoying that when you tell anyone from your neighbor to your local bookstore owner to your dentist that you write romance, there's a good chance the first words out of their mouth will be "like 50 Shades?" And that's annoying (to me personally) because, no, I don't write BDSM, I don't write billionaire heroes (or even alpha heroes for that matter) or naive heroines, and my book didn't start as fan fiction. It's annoying because even writers like Danielle Steele or Nora Roberts or any other uber-famous mega seller are not the first names on people's tongues when they ask "Oh, romance, like..." There have been scores of famous, successful writers of romance ranging from sweet sex-free stuff to things so dirty they make 50Shades look like a scholastic easy-reader book---that's the point---there have been writers before (and since) her. She's not the only one. There's no envy involved in that. Just annoyance that some people seem to regard her as having invented something she didn't invent. If you want to be technical about it, she didn't even invent her characters, Meyers did that.<br /><br />Again, this was just me answering the question you chose to raise about community sentiment toward James, and this is just my take on why some in that community don't list her as their favorite author. It doesn't have much to do with your original post other than the fact that you used the name of her runaway success series as part of your promo. And that doing that helps to further the myth that she's the first person in history to write a dirty book.Karen Stivalihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08753764211848981159noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-11832633207979158022014-12-18T22:20:25.622-06:002014-12-18T22:20:25.622-06:00Incidentally, I thought of pointing out the manspl...<i>Incidentally, I thought of pointing out the mansplaining too. </i><br /><br />Where do you think I was mansplaining? Saying that, and not pointing to it, isn't helpful.<br /><br />And I really like the idea of you actively not buying my book. I have a funny image in my head of the book walking down the street, and you shooting it as it runs away screaming.JA Konrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-11291165.post-81016323457696579342014-12-18T22:18:03.501-06:002014-12-18T22:18:03.501-06:00What do you think all these people have been doing...<i>What do you think all these people have been doing in the comments here?</i><br /><br />Honestly?<br /><br />I think women in this genre have been disrespected for years, by their peers and their publishers, and they leapt at the chance to stand up for themselves.<br /><br />The problem is that I deeply respect romance writers, and anyone who knows me or reads my blog regularly knows that. I meant no offense, and I really can't care much about those who took offense when none is intended.<br /><br />I'm not going to apologize because people don't like me. If I did, I'd be apologizing constantly.<br /><br />Nor am I upset that people obviously misunderstood my intent and meaning. It happens. The internet isn't the best way to communicate.<br /><br />But if you think I harmed anyone with this post, we'll just have to agree to disagree.JA Konrathhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08778324558755151986noreply@blogger.com