Wednesday, January 25, 2012

My Point (is not just on the top of my head)

So all these blogs are doing a pile-up on some book about a soccer playing man-whore and the heroine, a black woman who's milkshake wouldn't bring the boys to the yard (gads, I love that line because it makes no sense). Anyway, what's interesting to me is the side conversation going on about inter-racial romance and how readers will accept a crappy book if it has a character of color.

Written by a woman of color, that is.

I wrote an inter-racial (IR) romance called Sugar B's Back in Town. Look at the book cover. That man is definately of color. That woman is not. Therefore: IR.

Worst selling book I got.

It's wonderfully edited, the story is good, the reviews have been fucking amazing and unlike the soccer playing man-ho, you'd be hard pressed to find misspellings or a lack of commas.

So for all those people posting that they want IR romances and will settle for a piece of shit, why does a good book like Sugar sell so badly? Is it because I'm not black, myself? (I'm also not a porn star but my heroine was.) Is it because I don't write about milky fluid coming out of sweet honey holes? (ewww, see a gyno and get that taken care of!!)

Is it because the only books anyone hears of are simply those that get this kind of publicity?

I don't get it. I'm frustrated by the folks out there saying they want IR romance yet truly aren't buying it. I think they want IR erotica, quite frankly. And I think the reason Ms. Comma-Not has sold so well is because she's an Ellora's Cave author and therefore people trust there will be bodily discharges and jutting unsheathed erections.

It's frustrating. Because I can't scream "Buy my book dammit and see if you like it!" but I want to.

Oh wait, I think I just did.

4 comments:

  1. Interesting premise, and I like the snippet over at LP, though it's a bit too brief to get a truer idea of your voice.

    Generally speaking, I don't much like first person narrative, but there are cases when it's done so well I forget it's happening, so that wouldn't be an obstacle for me.

    Quick question: what is the actual length (or at least a good approximation) page-wise?

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  2. AL, it's about a 50,000 word one. If you want a copy I'll send you one.

    I'm a pathetic, whiny, attention seeking writer asshole.

    On the other hand, I do make an amazing pumpkin bread so that's something in my favor.

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  3. You also write damn good books, and I'd think so even if I didn't know who the hell you were.

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  4. Lori, you are a sweetheart and I don't want to take advantage of you. Gimme a couple of weeks, see if the reviewing mojo keeps coming back (remember Heart of Steel? yeah, haven't reviewed it yet), then I'll probably snag a copy.

    In the meantime, want a brownie? ;-)

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