More drama. The RITAs cancelled. Major publishers dropping support as well and distancing themselves from the organization until changes are made. Read Here
The U.S.’s foremost writers association for romance writers has announced that it will postpone the 2020 RITA Contest, the country’s top prize for romance fiction, until next year.
Source: RWA Cancels 2020 RITA Awards
From accusations to resignations, it’s a bit of a mess. “RWA itself acknowledged in a public statement last week that the organization was at a turning point and that we have lost the trust of our membership and the romance community.” Read More at The Guardian article published 12/31/19 below.
Trade group representing 10,000 writers decided to punish author Courtney Milan, prompting a reversal, fierce debate and resignations
Source: A romance novelist spoke out about racism. An uproar ensued
Drama in romance writers land. . .
Chinese-American romance writer Milan had been suspended earlier this month for criticizing other novels as being racist.
Source: Romance Writers Drama: Courtney Milan’s Suspension Rescinded, 8 Board Members Resign
UPDATE: Read the link to the article regarding the rescinding of the decision and resignation of board members.
Source: Romance Writers of America Suspends Novelist Courtney Milan for Calling Rival’s Work ‘Racist Mess’
This is a very interesting article with lots of comments that deserves re-posting. I, for one, even as an author, lament the rut that Historical Romance has been in for some time. I wrote about it last year, posting that thought. Read Here.
Some of the comments bring up good points about overused tropes, historical inaccuracies, and characters sounding and acting far too modern. Authors struggle with the fact that the days of bodice rippers are over and the “me-too” attitude should now be in books. That’s a hard task to accomplish when people want historical accuracy but they don’t want to read about women who in reality had very little rights.
Sure, there were pockets of strong women who accomplished much in life in spite of living in a man’s world. Nevertheless, it’s like the constant focus upon aristocrats in historical romance when only ten percent of the population was in that class in England. What happens to the ninety percent without titles? I suppose it doesn’t satisfy the need for the fantasy of the rich lifestyles and the titled duke when falling in love with a farmer or bricklayer is no doubt a boring prospect. We cannot always blame the authors who try to write beyond those constraints because of the lack of interest, although we do have those occasional pirates, cowboys, and Vikings to freshen the mix.
Whatever the thought, you might enjoy the hot comments on All About Romance.
We listen to you, we really do. And we’ve noticed that you, along with several of our reviewers, aren’t all that happy with most – not all, but most – of the historical romance that’s been published in the past year or so. Using our Power Search feature, we looked at all the Historical Romance reviews we’ve written in 2019. We’ve given out 19 As, 47 Bs, 21 Cs, 13 Ds, and 2 Fs. Getting Cs, Ds, and Fs were several authors we’ve reviewed positively in the past: Victoria Alexander, Lorraine Heath, Madeline Hunter, Anne Gracie, Marguerite Kaye, and Laura Lee Guhrke to name a few. Several of the DIKs are debut books are are by lesser-known authors. So, is there a problem with historical romance right now? And, if so, what is it? There was a very strong response to this column, both on Twitter and in the comments below. AAR’s publisher has written a response to the […]
Source: the ask@AAR: Does Historical Romance have a quality problem? : All About Romance
Johanna Lindsey, a romance novelist whose best-selling paperbacks ranged through the centuries, chronicling passionate and independent women in pirate ships, Viking forts, medieval castles, the American West and on a distant planet called Kystran, died Oct. 27 at a hospital in Nashua, N.H. She was 67. She published her first book when she was 25 and sold more than 60 million copies.
Source: Johanna Lindsey, master of historical romance novels, dies at 67
Read More:
Fabio pays tribute to ‘incredible’ romance novelist Johanna Lindsey
Vanessa Riley on how ‘The First Wives Club’ inadvertently inspired her new Regency romance.
We reveal the cover for Vanessa Riley’s new romance ‘A Duke, The Lady, and a Baby.’
Read More at Entertainment Weekly. Source: Vanessa Riley on how ‘The First Wives Club’ inadvertently inspired her new Regency romance
“Dive deep into these drama-free (hah!) historical romances about estranged lovers. Every romance reader has their favorite tropes, and estranged lovers is definitely one of mine. For one thing, in the vast and interconnected web of romance tropes, estranged lovers touches so many of my other favorites: forced proximity, secret baby, crash the wedding, reveeeeenge. For another, estranged lovers is such an emotionally laden trope.”
Read More At
Source: We Have History: 15 Historical Romance Novels About Estranged Lovers
What’s so great about Regency romances anyway? Even with a forthcoming romance novel whose characters could promenade the same ballrooms as Emma Woodhouse and Mr. Knightley, Anna Harrington, author of An Inconvenient Duke, doesn’t lower her voice when she says it: “I hate Jane Austen.”
Set to debut in 2020, ‘Bridgerton’ is based on a series of historical romance novels by bestselling author Julia Quinn.
Source: ‘Bridgerton’: Shonda Rhimes’ First Netflix Show – Spoilers | IndieWire
Get your tissues ready. Half of the world is in tears, and when this hits PBS, the remainder of us will be crying in our tea.
Read More: ITV’s dramatization of the unfinished novel has offended the sensibilities of many Janeites. Alison Flood wonders if this makes sense
Source: Sanditon: why are Austen fans so enraged by Andrew Davies’ ending? | Books | The Guardian
“Love and sex and relationships, they transcend.”
Source: Why Sanditon’s viewers shouldn’t be shocked by Georgian sex
We keep you up to date on all the news about the new Shonda Rhimes Netflix series, ‘Bridgerton,’ based on the bestselling historical romance novels by Julia Quinn.
Source: Shondaland and Netflix’s Bridgerton series: Everything we know | EW.com
Screenwriter says he used all the material from Austen’s work in first half of first episode.
Source: Jane Austen’s Sanditon ‘sexed up’ in Andrew Davies adaptation | Television & radio | The Guardian
I guess we have plenty of sex in Regency romances in book form. What do you think about taking a Jane Austen book and sexing it up?
Julie Andrews is set to voice Lady Whistledown in Netflix and Shondaland’s Untitled Bridgerton Project, based on Julia Quinn’s bestselling series of novels.
Source: Julie Andrews To Voice Lady Whistledown In Netflix ‘Bridgerton’ Series – Deadline
For her latest series and her first with Kensington, Duke Dynasty, Jeffries chronicles the lives of the children of a thrice-widowed duchess. (Sponsored)
Source: Grande Dame of Historical Romance Comes to Kensington: Spotlight on Sabrina Jeffries
Interesting article. Netflix has picked up the first two seasons. Diana is working on another book. This article was published in Oprah Magazine on May 15. Follow link to read. Though not a true “historical romance,” as even Diana admits, I’m sure readers will enjoy the news.
Gabaldon is currently working on the series’ ninth book titled Go Tell the Bees I’m Gone.
Source: Outlander Based on Books by Diana Gabaldon – Outlander Books in Order
The tragic fire of Notre Dame has risen Victor Hugo’s The Hunchback of Notre Dame to the bestseller list. In France, it’s currently number one in Gothic Romance and number 26 on Amazon USA Historical Romance Best Seller list! Read more below at one of the many articles being published about its resurgence to fame.
When it was first published in 1831, the novel led to the restoration of Notre Dame.
Book piracy is a huge problem for authors. Yesterday, I got an alert from Google that one of my books was available for download on a piracy site. It’s not the first time, nor will it be the last. I sent a take-down notice, but 24-hours later, it’s still there for free. It will probably get ignored like all the rest of the notices I’ve filed.
In a writers group today, I read about an author who had sold 47,000 copies of a book that was pirated 101,000 time – that means 101,000 books downloaded, and she didn’t receive a penny.
Piracy is a word that perhaps conjures up images of Captian Jack Sparrow in the Caribbean, being the somewhat comical pirate pillaging and stealing. He may be an entertaining character, but he’s still a thief. For authors, piracy is no ship ride that we enjoy to see our hard work posted by thieves and given away to the general public. Perhaps those who download think they have the permission of authors to do so because occasionally authors will do free giveaways for a limited time or have a permanently free book for readers to download. On pirate sites, that’s not the case, and most of these sites don’t advertise to those who visit them with flashing neon signs, “We stole these books so you could read them for free.”
Below is a good article from the Guardian talking about illegally downloaded books and the damage it does to authors. Next time you are tempted, please don’t hit the download button. Authors are like any other people – they are working people who have bills to pay, families to feed, etc. We write for you, the reader, and only ask for a small amount in return for the joy of reading our books.
To keep in perspective, when you pay 99 cents for a book on Amazon, authors get 35 cents. When you pay $2.99 for a book, we get $2.06. For a $3.99 book, we get $2.76, which will get me a cup of coffee at Starbucks. I can’t live off of coffee, even though I’ve tried.
The next time you’re tempted for a free book, please pay and give the author a nod of thanks for their hard work.
As publishers struggle with ‘whack-a-mole’ websites, experts, authors and Guardian readers who illegally download books, assess the damage
Source: ‘I can get any novel I want in 30 seconds’: can book piracy be stopped? | Books | The Guardian
