Bitter Divorce For Romance Writers Association

 

 

Romance is the top-selling genre in America, but its once powerful author lobbying and networking group has just filed for bankruptcy five years after the seeds of an argument led to its membership plummeting by 80% and its debts to soar past three million dollars.  

This is not a common occurrence in book publishing. With more published authors than ever before, writer associations should be growing, not shrinking, or in this case, disintegrating.  

So, what the hell happened here? 

Allegations of racism, boardroom power plays and mismanagement have conspired to do the once-vaunted group in. Romance Writers of America is suffering a heart-breaking divorce.  

According to published reports in 2019, best-selling author Courtney Milan publicly criticized passages in Kathryn Lynn Davis’ Somewhere Lies the Moon for including what she considered harmful stereotypes about Chinese women. The RWA board voted to ban Milan for a year and banned her from holding a leadership position. 

It raises a lot of questions: 

·         What happened to free speech?

·         Why was a writer punished for trying to address what she believed was racism?

·         Can’t a writer criticize the craft and content of another writer, the way book reviewers do?

·         Why is this the issue that causes an organization that makes a living writing about orgasms to crumble? 

All of this led to a backlash by members and fed into a convergence of other social movements on anti-racism. 

The Guardian reported the “controversy prompted at least ten members of RWA’s board of directors, including the president, to resign. The board members who resigned included black, Asian and Latinx authors, who had previously made up what had been hailed as the most racially diverse board of directors in the group’s history.” 

The board rescinded its action a few months later, pending a legal review. But the shit-show just kept rolling and now, the RWA is a walking-wounded zombie. 

Formed in 1980, the non-profit writers association was at its peak in 2019 with over 10,000 members and 150 chapters, issuing major book awards and holding an annual national conference. Its mission, according to its charter, is to "advance the professional and common business interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy and by increasing public awareness of the romance genre."  

The RWA was criticized for being too white in the past. In today’s world, publishers bend over backwards to publish non-whites, non-males, and anything LGBTQ, risking quality control at times in desperate favor of appearing inclusive. Further, anyone can self-publish, so the color or gender barrier has been shredded. 

But it will take a very creative writer to re-write the demise of the RWA. Once the spark leaves and the romance dies, often couples break up. It looks like there is no love for the current version of the RWA, but it seems there should be another wedding of romance authors in the future. 

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About Brian Feinblum

Brian Feinblum should be followed on www.linkedin.com/in/brianfeinblum. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog ©2024. Born and raised in Brooklyn, he now resides in Westchester with his wife, two kids, and Ferris, a black lab rescue dog, and El Chapo, a pug rescue dog. His writings are often featured in The Writer and IBPA’s The Independent.  This award-winning blog has generated over 3.9 million pageviews. With 4,900+ posts over the past dozen years, it was named one of the best book marketing blogs by BookBaby  http://blog.bookbaby.com/2013/09/the-best-book-marketing-blogs  and recognized by Feedspot in 2021 and 2018 as one of the top book marketing blogs. It was also named by www.WinningWriters.com as a "best resource.” For the past three decades, including 21 years as the head of marketing for the nation’s largest book publicity firm, and director of publicity positions at two independent presses, Brian has worked with many first-time, self-published, authors of all genres, right along with best-selling authors and celebrities such as: Dr. Ruth, Mark Victor Hansen, Joseph Finder, Katherine Spurway, Neil Rackham, Harvey Mackay, Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey, Warren Adler, Cindy Adams, Todd Duncan, Susan RoAne, John C. Maxwell, Jeff Foxworthy, Seth Godin, and Henry Winkler. He hosted a panel on book publicity for Book Expo America several years ago, and has spoken at ASJA, Independent Book Publishers Association Sarah Lawrence College, Nonfiction Writers Association, Cape Cod Writers Association, Willamette (Portland) Writers Association, APEX, Morgan James Publishing, and Connecticut Authors and Publishers Association. His letters-to-the-editor have been published in The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, New York Post, NY Daily News, Newsday, The Journal News (Westchester) and The Washington Post. His first published book was The Florida Homeowner, Condo, & Co-Op Association Handbook.  It was featured in The Sun Sentinel and Miami Herald.