The other day a couple romance bloggers were interviewed for a piece on the Today Show about romance novels and RWA (SBSarah and Jane from Dear Author), but only SBSarah’s clip was used). It aired this morning, and I’m glad to see it really cast romance in a positive light for once. Well, if you ignore that part about “Now we know what we should be doing in our spare time”. Not that I think she really meant it that way…
Video embedded, but here’s the link in case you can’t see it.
If you look closely you can spot some of our fellow bloggers.
*thanks to Marianne Mancusi for the link, via Twitter
I know her comment came off as snarky, but she may have actually been sincere. There are a lot of tv news people who are frustrated writers. Back when I worked for the Boston NBC we used to joke that EVERYONE in our department was writing a romance novel.
Two of us (me and Hank Phillippi Ryan) actually published them! 🙂
It was a decent report overall, about as positive as you’re going to get from mainstream media. I didn’t really like the movie star dreaming thought bubbles as that was completely cheesy from a production standpoint, but other than that, it didn’t bother me. Pretty standard, pretty vanilla, but pretty fair.
Since I work on a lifestyle show instead of news now, I try to do romance related segments as much as possible. 🙂 I did that one on behind the scenes of making a romance novel cover a few months back, just did one on author Jane Green last week and am doing a feature on Sherrilyn Kenyon later this month. (This will be a hard one to do without sounding too fangrrly!)
Marianne
I actually don’t think it was that snarky. More like a “I wish” kind of thing. It does bother me that they cut out all of Sarah’s comments (I’m assuming there were more) except the bit about “good sex”, but I realize there’s only so much time in a segment.
I do really appreciate you sharing your insider knowledge with us, though. I saw the piece you did on Jane Green (remind me next time and I’ll link it here..I spaced it out) and thought it was very well done. Don’t think I saw the other one, but if you do SK I’ll be squeeing right along with you. 😛
Whether snarky or not, the off-hand manner in which it was tossed in does show a certain subconscious lack of respect for what it takes to write a successful romance novel.
‘Cause let’s face it, there’s mention of the many millions of dollars made through romance novels but not a word about the actual quality of the writing.
I just watched the clip again. No mention of the fact that RWA and its members are donating all proceeds from the signing, is there?
AL,
No, I don’t believe there was a mention, but for Major Media, this is a positive spotlight. The tone wasn’t snarky and it was spun in a very positive way.
This is what we were discussing at TGTBTU, and the reason we think “internet” media should be considered the same as major media. Because romance bloggers WOULD have mentioned the signing and how all proceeds will be donated.
It’s frustrating to know the biggest supports of the genre aren’t taken seriously as media outlets.
But again, this spot was VERY favorable towards romance, especially considering the general scoffing tones used when referring to or talking about genre.
It’s certainly one of the better reports that I have seen for the reasons that you said Holly.
I believe the reason that she said the “spare time” line is because in the piece the reporter talks about the authors as professionals of other fields. She says something like “These women are lawyers, doctors…etc.”
It’s not like Meredith said “Oh, oh, let’s quit our job and make millions writing romance!” She said, “We should do this in our spare time (like these women do).”
Let’s face it, the majority of romance authors DO write books in their spare time and unless they have wealthy spouses or are bestsellers, most cannot quit their day jobs to do so.
I am one of these people. 🙂
Marianne
Well I liked it 🙂
I don’t think it came off as snarky either.
The the Patrick Dempsey bubble… What do people see in him? To me, he still looks like the geeky nerd from Can’t Buy me Love.
Well, while it was scary thrilling to be ON THE TODAY SHOW!!!HOLY SHIT and I am defintely getting my shit in gear when I get home and join gym and Jenny Craig or something, I was disappointed by the amount they cut. Marcella White Campbell did a fabulous job when they interviewed her on why she reads romance and they cut the whole thing out. I wish they had cut more of the Sex and the City stuff and left in a couple of more interviews and played more of Sarah’s interview. But overall, I don’t think it was a bad piece. It could have been worse that’s for sure
I was there and they cut out some wonderful interviews from Jane along with the bulk of Sarah’s comments. I am walking around in the white sweater. 😀