I guess when I screenshot this last night, everyone at the offices of Bon Appetit were still tucked in bed, unaware that they’d managed to offend a pretty big (and vocal) group of people.
Needless to say, they received quite a number of responses to their tweet and Facebook post, and by morning, the tweet was gone and they issued an apology at the end their article. It’s so small I almost missed it.
Still, it made me wonder. Really? Are romance novels really that bad? Is this why I used to lower my voice when someone would ask me, “So what do you write?” and I’d answer (in that lowered voice), “Romance.”
But three years since hitting that Publish button, I’ve changed. I’ve seen some amazing things, like how my stories have changed people’s lives and made it easier for them to go through tough times. I’ve seen more than a million words written on my Ulysses app to the point that the middle row of my Macbook keyboard is useless. I’ve seen myself go from overwhelm mode while learning all about marketing as an author to being able to manage it and see a profit each month from practicing the things I’ve learned. I’ve gone from, OMG I got a 2-star review and they called my hero effeminate–are they blind?! to eh, everyone’s entitled to their own opinion and that’s theirs.
I also started to believe in myself.
I trusted without any doubt that what I do is an honorable thing and not something to be ashamed of. It’s a life that I wouldn’t trade for anything else. It’s knowing that if I were to do this all over again, I’d write my heart out and not worry too much about family or friends watching and judging. They’re going to judge anyway and all I can do is adjust the way I deal with whatever judgment they come up with… and that in the grand scheme of things, what they think about my books doesn’t matter.
Still, seeing that tweet last night made me realize that while not much may change when it comes to the way people see romance authors (and by extension, their readers), what matters is how you see yourself.
And the way I see myself is this: I’m an author and a self-published romance author at that. And no way am I hiding my pulpy romance novels with someone else’s book covers, thank you very much.
Liz Durano 
Good for you! I see no reason not to be proud of what you do. I see a lot of reasons TO be proud. I wish you continued success and much pride as you continue to successfully write novels that impact people.
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Thank you so much! We authors suffer from imposter syndrome a lot, especially when we’re starting out and then later, wondering why we’re not selling as many books like other authors. That’s when we get hit by comparison-itis syndrome LOL but then we get over it and get to work 🙂
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Putting people down for preferring, say, hip-hop to jazz, or green-eggs-and-ham to beetroots, only adds to the level of hostility on the planet. If one doesn’t care for romance novels, one doesn’t have to buy, borrow, or read them. But there’s no need to belittle those who do. I would love to see everyone just be the best version of themselves they can manage, and that would include refraining from putting down other people over what is simply a personal preference.
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Exactly. I remember reading the tweet last night and had to do a double take.
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There is nothing wrong with writing romance, and frankly, I’m tired of other writers looking down on romance. When I wrote a Wattpad, a group of writers looked down on my stories and didn’t take them seriously because of the romance. I say, romance is here to stay, and people need to get over it! Without romance, we wouldn’t be here today!
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So so true. Definitely foot in mouth syndrome for Bon Appetit even if they removed it in the morning, but it showed just how they or their social media person looked down on romance.
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