I'm very excited to share my new Intrigue cover with you. A Doctor-Nurse Encounter will be an August release, although it's available from Amazon and Barnes and Noble online for pre-order. I also want to share an annoyance with you that occurred around my participation in a library event. I live in a small town plopped in the middle of L.A. if you can imagine that. We have a little local newspaper, so when my first Intrigue came out in Dec. and I had a book signing at our local Borders, I put the event in our newspaper.
About a month after the event, a librarian contacted me and asked if I'd be interested in participating in the Author Fair the library has in June every year. I jumped at the chance, had a nice chat with the librarian, and sent her a copy of The Stranger and I, my Dec. Intrigue release.
I just got the flyer for the event, and my name is listed there as a...fiction writer! Huh? Sure I write fiction, but I'm a Romance writer first. Why wouldn't the library put that?
Last year before I was published, I picked up the flyer for this same event in the library. I showed it to the librarian when I checked out my books and asked why there were no Romance writers. She wrinkled her nose and proclaimed, "Oh, I don't read that stuff." Did I ask her if she read Romance? I replied with stunning cool, "Well, I write that stuff." She became very flustered and suggested that I participate next year. So I was excited this year about being part of the event as a Romance writer, and they have to ruin it by calling me a fiction writer!
Do you think the library might be embarrassed to have a Romance writer at their event? I don't know, but I think a lot of people in my town read Romance and would be a lot more interested in meeting a Romance writer than an author of a wedding planning book. I'm just sayin'. There are going to be a lot of "fiction" writers at this event. I wonder what they REALLY write. I'm going to sneak into the library with a Sharpie, find the flyers, and correct my genre!
Do you think I'm justifiably annoyed?
13 comments:
Beautiful cover, Carol!!! The hero looks like Viggo! Yum!! I can understand your irritation with the library and the way they are trying to disguise what you write. A nearby library takes a similar dim view of romance, or at least one of the librarians does. When she learned I write romance she said, well, if you can't get published in romance you may as well give up.
Huh?? Is she imagining it's easy? Has she ever tried it? Clearly not. Her insult struck me speechless, but in the future I'll likely insult back. I'm preparing a list now.
Carol, we all know that some ignorant and deprived people are convinced that romance is not literature. In their minds, it's just the stuff that bored housewives are lucky enough to sell. But here's my question: would a library like yours be embarrassed if Jane Austen requested a signing? I think not.
I'm sorry they mis-labeled you. Your cover is beautiful. Congratulations!!!
Amber
Amber Leigh Williams
www.amberleighwilliams.com
Steamy Romantic Adventure & Suspense
FOX & HOUND, SR Reviews "Outstanding Read"
Carol-I love that cover!! :-) And you are most justifiably annoyed. I do get so tired of the romance industry being looked down upon--especially considering how many romances sell every day in this world!
I had a great experience in a bookstore, recently, though. I stopped to sign stock and the manager was super welcoming--and he was very glad a romance writer had come to the store. He said their romance sales accounted for almost twice the sales of the other book in their store.
whoops--sorry--that should have been "twice the sales of the other books" (cause I didn't mean to imply the store only sold one book!)
Carol,
Wow on the library's (or maybe just that librarian?) distancing themselves from romance. And yet, I am not surprised (even though my 'wow' would seem to imply surprise. :-) )
Even some of my friends give me the too-bright smile, and the 'Oh, wow. Romance? Hmm. Wow" response.
But I understand why. I mean, they've read all the romance out there, and have also *written* so many books of their own, so . . . .
:-)
Have at 'em, girl!
(I wonder if a different librarian might be more sympathetic/ enthusiastic . . . .)
Kris
Vonda, yes the hero is Viggo-ish. I'm happy because both H/H look like they should, and I like the Intrigue-y background of the blurry ambulance. Yes, we Romance writers definitely need a pocketful of good come-backs!
Amber, the library sure carries enough Romances! When I was a teen I got all my Romances from the library.
Cynthia, yes Romance sells! It's kind of ironic that I have to keep running around my local Barnes and Noble to switch our Secrets Vol. 21 from the Literature Anthology section to the Romance section. I guess I'm just destined to be labeled "literary." Must be those years as an English major!
Kris, well, the librarian setting up the event was quite nice and welcoming. I don't know if she's the one who put together the flyer, but she probably was. I'm just going to have to run around and change the flyer every place I see it (just like I change the location of my books in the bookstores). LOL I'll bet I have a lot of people at my table (of course it will help that I'm local and I'll tell everyone in town to drop by).
Great cover, Carol! Congrats!
I'm with you on the romance writer stigma. Someone once said to me, "So you write bodice-rippers, eh?" and it was all I could do not to shoot back, "You're such a moron." ;-)
Carol, I hope you're mobbed! Love the cover, and certainly agree with your ire over the romance being left off fiction writer.
Carol,
I love your cover. Really terrific. You should put it up on ratemybookcover.com.
I'm sorry about the librarian not saying romance instead of fiction. I wish these people would quit being such snobs. Either that or they just have a problem with sex. lol
Sandy
Calista, I love that term "bodice ripper"! Loved those covers too of the old historicals.
Stacey, I love the cover too. I'm sure I'll get plenty of visitors once they see I write Romance.
Thanks for stopping by, Sandy. Ha - if they have a problem with the sex in my Intrigues, they'd better not open a Secrets volume!
I love the cover, Carol. Looks like a winner.
It frankly would not bother me if I were labeled a fiction writer rather than a romance writer at an event such as this. I do consider that I write fiction; romance and its subgenres are a part of that.
There ARE readers out there who would like to try reading romances, but don't want to be labeled a romance reader. So look at it this way. Maybe some of those readers will pick up your book as a result of how you're labeled at this event--and you'll gain new readers.
Great cover, Carol!
I feel your pain. *grimace* I remember when I asked a respected (at least then) friend to help critique my first novel. This was before I'd found such a lovely community of writers. I mentioned a couple of other authors I felt my work was similar to, and asked if she could read those first.
She... SHUDDERED.
OH MY GOD. I couldn't believe it. She was SO horrified at the mere thought.
Our friendship has cooled over the last few years. I think she's vastly disappointed that I'm not focusing on "real books."
I remember one romance author's response when someone asked when she might write something more literary. Her response?
"When I get tired of writing books that sell."
*heh-heh*
--Chiron O'Keefe
Love the cover, Carol! And sorry for the librarian's behavior. You could always show up for the signing with a handful of heart-shaped balloons and some other "romancy-type things!"
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