Angela Benedetti

I just posted a new column on Romancing the Blog. This time around I’m talking about an issue brought up during a discussion on Torquere’s Yahoo group regarding the reasons why the editor-in-chief of Ace and Roc thinks there’s no print market for m/m romances. She’s just repeating the party line which is passed around the New York publishers, but it seems to me that the basic premise behind that party line — that women won’t buy m/m romances because they want to insert themselves into the story in the heroine’s place, and since m/m books don’t have a heroine there’s no part for the reader to “play” — is deeply flawed. If it’s impossible for the (presumably female) het romance reader to enjoy an m/m romance because there’s no female protag, that implies that it’s impossible for anyone to enjoy reading a book where there’s no same-gender protag. Am I the only one whose eyes cross at that particular piece of logic…? [squint]

Aside from the fact that most of the m/m romances being sold right now — in print as well as e-pub — are purchased by women. [cough]

Anyway, I’m collecting data from readers — come give me your two cents’ worth.

Angie

I had a new column go up on Romancing the Blog this morning, this time on worldbuilding. I’ve been heavily into science fiction and fantasy since I was small and this has always been one of my favorite topics. Head on over and let me know what you think.

Building Your Own World

I just posted a new column on Romancing the Blog. This time I’m talking about the lack of any indication in romances, particularly erotic romances, of just what the sex-to-story ratio is. It makes it tough to know just what you’re going to get when you spend your money; just because you like explicit sex doesn’t mean you want the books you read to be 80+ percent sex scenes. It’s not about limiting what’s published or complaining that there’s not enough of “my” kind of book out there, but rather about giving readers the info they need to find the books they’ll like. Come read, and tell me what you think.

Angie

I have a new column up at Romancing the Blog. This one talks about the Amazon Kindle and the number one reason I don’t think it’s going to take the market by storm any time soon.

Angie

A while back, I was invited to be a regular columnist over at Romancing the Blog (which was incredibly flattering ) and my first column went up this morning. A bit earlier than I was expecting — I set it for 6am as per instructions and just assumed that’d be Eastern time, but whatever. It’s up here, and it’s about jealousy in romance novels.

Oh, and the butterfly in my icon over at RtB is a pic I took at a butterfly farm on St. Martin. I have no clue what species it is, but it’s very pretty and I’m delighted that it came out, since my camera skills are rudimentary at best.

Angie