One of my romance writer friends was recently told to get a more glamorous picture. Readers expected a little more from romance authors.
Well crap – no one ever told me this. There are now expectations that I be glam? I have really missed the mark. Especially since I make it a habit of posting my worst pictures to my website (much to my Mom’s disgust).
Do readers want a certain persona from their genre writers? Should John Grisham lug a briefcase as he dashes into Wal-Mart because his first grader forgot to tell him 32 cupcakes MUST be at school that morning. Should Stephen King keep a small mutant bat/rat tucked into his shirt pocket at the next homeroom parent meeting? (The bat/rat comes from a short story of his I read in HS where in the sewers the bats and rats mated. An image I’ve never been able to erase. I actually shuddered as I typed that.)
Would it really break the illusion if I told you that in the winter time, I wear socks to bed? Something my husband reminds me is UNsexy (and probably the VERY reason there’s not another little Monroe running around).
Okay, I’m NOT keeping Big Blue in my purse when I go to a PTA meeting (or am I?).
9 responses so far ↓
Caro // Jan 5, 2005 at 3:43 pm
Should Stephen King keep a small mutant bat/rat tucked into his shirt pocket at the next homeroom parent meeting?
Actually, some of us suspect he does…
Karen Junker // Jan 6, 2005 at 12:29 am
This is why I started Writer’s Weekend. Nobody’s gonna see me in pantyhose anytime soon. I actually heard a speaker at one romance writers conference give a talk about how distressed she was to find a woman at the national convention who was wearing only sandals and no stockings with her outfit! In Dallas. In July, for cryin’ out loud!
Still, it would be kinda fun to come up with a signature ‘look’, like those long strands of pink pearls…
Love me, love my cargo shorts, I always say.
Brenda Coulter // Jan 6, 2005 at 6:55 am
Karen, I’m afraid I was the barelegged woman at the Dallas conference last summer. My cotton dress was so long, I just didn’t think anyone would notice. But now I find that someone did note my egregious violation of the Romance Writers Dress Code.
Oh, the humiliation!
Larissa Ione // Jan 6, 2005 at 7:09 am
You need a picture with a nice feather boa. And maybe a glass of wine. Yes, that’ll do. Then EVERYONE will know you’re a romance writer! *g*
Susan Gable // Jan 6, 2005 at 9:46 am
Brenda, actually, I thought that was me in the sandals with no stockings. LOL. So, I guess there were a few of us who broke the dress code. Yeaayyy for us!
As you can see, I feel no shame or humiliation about it. (G)
Jill, socks in bed as birth control?? Hmmmm…wonder if my editor would let me get away with that one? (G)
booksquare // Jan 6, 2005 at 10:07 am
Sorry ladies, it was me. The last time this body saw, uh, pantyhose was as it walked rapidly past them in a grocery store display. I should also confess that there are likely hundreds of pictures of me with a boa and glass of wine (probably more with the wine than the boa).
On a more serious note, count me as one who could care less what the author looks like. It seems highly irrelevant. Unless I know the author, then, yeah, I want to see how close the photo comes to matching reality.
Susan Gable // Jan 6, 2005 at 3:39 pm
I think I have a photo of both you and Jill that includes a boa. (G) I don’t think there’s any wine in the photo, but wouldn’t be surprised to know there had been some prior to the photo. Maybe after, too. LOL.
booksquare // Jan 6, 2005 at 8:41 pm
I promise there was wine involved. Probably more than a little. I do have standards. They might be low, but they exist…
The way to tell for sure…am I wearing just the boa (g)?
Susan Gable // Jan 7, 2005 at 3:55 pm
Hey, hey, I don’t do *those* kinds of pictures! (G)