Smart Bitch Sarah

The New Yorker: US Historical Settings (and bodices)

Sarah — Wed, 05 May 2010 19:49:30 +0000

Meredith Blake of the The New Yorker Book Blog wrote an article about the Mills & Boon announcement of a series of books set at National Trust locations, wondering if the same could be done in the US.

Cue my groans and pounding of head on desk at mention of “quivering” and bodices ripping, alas. But I was asked to discuss US historical locations that would work in a romance, and I pointed out that romance already has embraced settings that are historically significant in the USA:

I’m hardly an expert on romance novels—though Lauren Colins’s’ Profile of Nora Roberts certainly brought me a step closer to that lofty goal—so I turned to someone who is, Sarah Wendell, of the blog Smart Bitches,Trashy Books. I asked her if there are any Harlequin titles analogous to “Scandalous Innocent,” and she steered me to “The Rebel and the Lady,” a novel set at the Alamo. She also mentioned the “Luxe” series, set on the Upper East Side of Manhattan at the turn of the century (think of it as a YA version of Edith Wharton). Wendell says the historical setting is just as alluring to American readers as it is to Brits, even if we don’t have quite so many viable romantic settings. “Funny thing about American romance readers: many of us were introduced to narratives focused on the heroine through the Sunfire series from Scholastic. Each book featured a romantic young woman’s story set against an historic event—the Civil War, the Johnstown, Pennsylvania, flood, etc.”

I totally loved the Sunfire series – and I love US-set historicals as well. What about you?

Twitter: I’m not me me me!

Sarah — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 17:02:29 +0000

Kristine Rusch writes in her article about social networking about how she found me, the site, and my social network:

If you haven’t read last week’s post on Online Networking, double back and do so now. With the help of writer Ryan Viergutz, I explained how people use the internet to network and to gather information. In private e-mails, a few of you expressed concern that I was confusing networking with marketing in that post. But I didn’t: as you’ll see in the next few posts, online networking and marketing go hand-in-hand.

I think this is best summed up by Sarah Wendell who, along with Candy Tan, writes a marvelous blog about romance novels called Smart Bitches Trashy Books. Smart Bitch Sarah, as she signed her letter to me, also has her own blog, sbsarah.com.

She wrote, “I network on the internet by talking to people who share my interest or by answering questions from those who are curious. It helps my business, but then, my business is creating a space for conversations about romance novels.”

I found her via Twitter, but I found her blog because of a review of a book she and Candy Tan wrote called Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels. (It’s in my Recommended Reading list. Check it out here.) What I like about Sarah’s Tweets are the fact that they maintain the same attitude as her blog, but they also provide a link to the romance community online, since she forwards other people’s tweets (called retweeting, for those of you not on Twitter) and she often has links to good blog posts elsewhere.

In other words, her networking isn’t just me, me, me. It’s useful and fascinating and opens doors to other worlds.

Ok, that’s about one of the finest compliments I’ve ever received, especially since I was absolutely dumbfounded by Twitter when I first signed on. “What are YOU doing?” “I’m drinking an import and watching the market returns!” Thank you, Kris!

I’m a Woman… of GLO!

Sarah — Wed, 07 Apr 2010 17:17:29 +0000

MSN and Hachette have a new women’s network called GLO, and my article from Tango Mag is part of today’s issue: Don’t Judge a Book By Its Cover: Why Romance Novels are Smarter Than You Think.

I had no idea until Genevieve from Tango emailed me – but I LOVE the intro from GLO :

While we’re guilty-as-charged chick-lit aficionados, we haven’t dappled in romance novels much beyond the Twilight series. Yet, we were so enamored by this defense of the genre that we’ve added a few to our spring reading list. Check out the slideshow of Harlequin romances, left.

Yay! More curious readers? Win!

The Big Money: Digital Publishing

Sarah — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 19:41:19 +0000

I was interviewed alongside intellectual masterminds Jane Litte and Angela James for The Big Money’s article on digital publishing: A Tale of Digital Desire: How the world’s most famous romance publisher fell for e-books.

It’s mostly a look at Carina Press and Harlequin, with a discussion of why they are as digitally-centered as they are:

But those readers—women from 31 to 49, in a romantic relationship—are still handling most of the nation’s child care, and that’s without even mentioning professional responsibilities. So e-books are quicker to buy and read on the go.

Online communities of readers are also pressing loudly for more digital options. Two voices have emerged to lead the online chorus for e-books: Sarah Wendell, the co-founder of SmartBitchesTrashyBooks.com, and Jane Litte, the proprietor of DearAuthor.com. Both juggle careers and Web sites, as well as raising young children, and they’ve turned to digital formats for ease. “It’s a form of reading so attuned to a woman’s lifestyle right now,” says Wendell.

I think this is my favorite part of the article though: “So while the bulk of Harlequin’s revenue will still come from print, Carina could attract new customers. Most mainstream publishers won’t jilt their blockbuster authors to dally with new talents in the digital space. But they could learn a move or two.”

On NPR’s Monkey See Blog, Harlequin Titles and Women’s Desires

Sarah — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 19:19:52 +0000

I’m over at the NPR Monkey See blog today, responding with a big ol’ DUH to research into Harlequin titles and what they reveal about women’s desires:

Stop the presses: Harlequin titles reveal our — by “our” I of course mean “women’s” — evolutionary coding and psychological desire for … wait for it, wait for it … You sitting down? Good.

We prefer to mate with “a physically fit, financially secure man who will provide the resources needed to successfully raise a family.”

In other news, ice is slippery, water is still wet, and those silly romance readers are once again looking for fantasy men. Pah.

I can has book deal? Yes! I can!

Sarah — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 20:14:51 +0000

Announced yesterday at Publisher’s Marketplace:

NONFICTION
Advice/Relationships
Co-founder of SmartBitchesTrashyBooks.com Sarah Wendell’s EVERYTHING I KNOW ABOUT LOVE I LEARNED FROM ROMANCE NOVELS, to Sara Kase at Sourcebooks, by Daniel Lazar at Writers House (world).

Woo hoo! The book will look at different stages of relationships and how romance novels can serve as guideposts to people navigating normal relationship stuff. One thing that has always ticked me off is the accusation that reading romance novels gives women unrealistic expectations of real life, and I love having the opportunity to dismantle that hogwash page by page. I’ll be reaching out to authors, referring to scenes and books, incorporating real situations that people face – and I hope revealing more of the awesome women and men who write and read romance.

Glee- I has it. Lots of it!

Romance Novels: Smarter Than You Think

Sarah — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 21:00:35 +0000

TangoMag asked me to write about my definition of romance, so I drew on a whole lot of romance reading to write a short advisory article on how romance novels can help you keep the romance in your life: Why Romance Novels are Smarter Than You Think:

Romance novels can teach you that romance itself is not merely a single gift or a gesture, and it sure isn’t just knockin’ boots. Romance doesn’t even guarantee a happy ending—anyone who has been through a bad breakup can tell you that, myself included. It’s not chocolate or hearts, diamonds or roses, yachts or airplanes. It’s not the gesture itself that creates the romance. It’s the motivation behind the gift or action, no matter what time of year it arrives.

I have no idea why the stylesheet doesn’t load at that site when I look at it – but the words are there, so enjoy.

Salon’s Laura Miller on Book Trailers

Sarah — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 17:52:41 +0000

Salon Magazine’s Laura Miller wrote a critical article on book trailers, and included quotes from me about whether they work. Never coming to a screen near you looks at the idea that trailers, or movies about books, don’t sell books to consumers.

She and I had a lengthy email conversation about book trailers – I’m convinced that unless there’s a unique hook or angle to the trailer itself, book trailers that are only about the book itself are only interesting to other authors (who are told they Must Have One). (Note: you do not have to have a book trailer.)

From that conversation, Miller quoted me talking about live action trailers featuring actors who were singularly unattractive to me:

Mind-blowing science fiction about nanotechnology or interplanetary travel is pretty hard to reproduce on your Flip HD, and affordable actors seldom measure up to the gorgeous heroines and heroes of romance. As Sarah Wendell, a co-founder of the Web site Smart Bitches, Trashy Books and coauthor of “Beyond Heaving Bosoms: The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels,” told me in an e-mail, “as a reader and shopper for genre fiction, I’ve never been swayed to make a book purchase based on a trailer … A few have featured actors so unattractive to me I was totally turned off.”

There have been some great book trailers in romance – many of which created by the authors themselves on a minuscule budget. But most of them leave me uninterested, and I have never purchased a book because the trailer was amazing. They may lead me to look up an author whose trailer is creative and witty, but they’ve never made me think, ‘I MUST have that book.’

Bosoms are Required reading at Yale

Sarah — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 18:42:46 +0000

Hot diggity! Beyond Heaving Bosoms is required reading at Yale University, and both the local and campus newspapers are talking about the course to be taught this spring by Lauren Willig and Andrea Darif.

First, from the New Haven Register:

Willig is not surprised by either the popularity of the course (80 applied for 18 spots) nor the willingness of the university to endorse it. The genre has been embraced by academia for years, early on by Eric Selinger at DePaul and Sarah Frantz at Fayetteville.

“The two of them have been instrumental in the movement to treat romance novels as text in their own right, rather than a sociological construct,” says Willig. “The trend was to treat romance novels only as interesting as to what they told us about the readership. They weren’t being looked at in terms of structure, theme and the usual critical literary apparatus.”

Then, at the Yale Herald:

It was, however, very surprising to see my suitemate come home from the Yale bookstore with books with titles such as Regency Buck, The Accidental Duchess, and to top it all off: Beyond Heaving Bosoms; The Smart Bitches’ Guide to Romance Novels. It wasn’t so surprising to see her with all those books, especially after the time she dragged me along to an erotica writing workshop (side note: erotica and romance novels are two different genres, but romance novels often contain erotic imagery), but the fact that the books came from the Yale bookstore and were to be read for course credit made me confused, jealous, ~~and hot~~.

I’m A Pop Culture Human, Standing Next to Drew Barrymore

Sarah — Tue, 29 Dec 2009 17:12:56 +0000

Linda Holmes, mastermind of the NPR blog Monkey See, has named me among her Top 10 Favorite Pop-Culture Humans of 2009. I don’t think there is a better compliment than “pop culture human.” Even better? I’m #8 between Drew Barrymore and Ben Folds. Sweet Holy Crap.

8. SB Sarah. One of the founders, and seemingly the current primary blogger, at Smart Bitches, Trashy Books, Sarah Wendell is fearless and opinionated and puts her chin out every day to do one of the toughest jobs a lady can assign herself, which is to challenge people’s preconceptions and prejudices about culture. In Sarah’s case, she writes thoughtfully and hilariously about romance novels, dumping on the worst cliches and celebrating the writers who find ways to make a difficult genre interesting.

She’s also become very knowledgeable about e-books (which are perfect for romance readers), and wrote wisely and well about the new FTC guidelines for bloggers. Nothing warms my heart like a stereotype-buster, and nobody busts the stereotype that women who read romances are dumb, unthinking, or anti-feminist quite like Sarah.

I have fainted with the power of the compliment above. Gracefully, of course, and my skirt didn’t fly up and reveal my shapely ankles or anything. HOLY CRAP. Thank you, ma’am.