  Romance/Love
This week: Do Men Read Love Stories? Edited by: esprit  
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Welcome to the Romance/Love Newsletter! From poetry and stories to creative polls and interactives, we'll bring you a wide variety of items to enjoy. We will also feature "how to" advice and items that will help to jump start the creation process on Writing.com
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Do Men Read Love Stories?
In preparing for an interesting topic for the editorial of one of my favorite newsletters, I entered a simple phrase into Google. 'Do men read love/romance fiction?' I found some answers, but I also found romance still isn't considered serious writing by too many people.
Harlequin isn't feeling the crunch other businesses are, in fact, their sales keep going up in these slow times. Nightline did a segment on the romance novel publisher Harlequin's 60th Anniversary, and I decided to take a look.
http://videogum.com/archives/newsmagazines/paul-rudd-and-seth-rogen-read_064182....
Reading the short excerpt shown below the tube, I got the idea Nightline had little respect for the genre, and less for the authors and readers. If Comedy isn't a sub-genre, they shouldn't be laughing. I hope I'm mistaken, but their choice of descriptive words tells me I'm not.
You can watch the entire segment, about Harlequin's history and how they're Canadian and how the recession is only making their audience more hungry for bodice-rippers, here, but since this entire "news" report seems like an excuse to show celebrities reading from dirty lady books, I'm not sure why anyone would want to. [Oh, and insert old lady who loves Paul Rudd and romance novels and owns more than two cats joke here.]
I'm interested in knowing whether men can enjoy reading love/romantic books openly. I know many read them and men even write them, but there seems to be a cloud of embarrassment hanging over their heads. Male authors hide their genre behind feminine pin names, and male readers deny the book is theirs. They dread being laughed at, maybe? That's really sad.
Men complain they can't 'understand' why women need to read romance. Being strong and protective, and always winning the woman of your dreams is every man's dream. Strength isn't limited to the physical muscles you may or may not have. Bet you didn't know that. Smarts, values, brains and common sense go a long way in impressing a woman.
After reading a few romantic love stories, you'll begin to learn how a woman thinks, and how she wants to be treated. I'm not talking about lust, I'm speaking of lifetime relationships - love. Learning the difference between romance and erotica is easy. Most women need romance, and they need a man who knows what romance is. It is gentle, strong, trustworthy, honest, loyal. Her Hero loves her. These are the traits women write into their hero characters over and over, because they are building the kind of man they want to spend the rest of their life with. They are telling you what they want; pay attention if you truly want to understand women.
Picture yourself on the cover of a love/romance; is the Hero you? It could be. And to repeat a fact from the top, romance is still selling big. You could try writing one; men need romance in their lives too.
Thanks for reading,
I'll see you again next week. In the meantime, fall in love all over again with your SO by reading a romantic story to each other.
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Comments on "Romance/Love Newsletter (March 18, 2009)"
Submitted By: pooja_sr
Submitted Comment: Good one. Thank you for clearing the confusion!
Submitted By: fleckgirl
Submitted Comment: Thanks Esprit... I created a port here because I enjoyed reading - not writing. Gradually, I began to write, although that has dropped off a bit now, but I don't think I ever really knew there was a difference between these two genres, so I appreciate you helping those of us who are genre-definitive challenged!
Thanks!
Fleck
Submitted By: Voxxylady 
Submitted Comment: Esprit, wonderful newsletter about the difference between a romance and a love story. There are a lot of us romance authors trying to work on delineations of the different genres of romance, as well. Not all of us think romance has to be erotically detailed and believe readers should know what to expect and how to find romance that isn't.
Submitted By: Acme
Submitted Comment: I'm trying my hand at writing different genres, so I signed up for all the newsletters. This 'formula for romance' edition is just what I needed. Of course, knowing and doing are two very different things, but at least with with advice like this I have somewhere to start. Thanks.
Submitted By: Jaye P. Marshall 
Submitted Comment: Thanks for a very helpful - especially for defining the differences between Romance and Love stories. I am one of those often confused by the two.
I truly appreciated your encouraging feedback, thank you!
Editors:
Fyn-elf 
darkin
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Romance/Love: May 06, 2009 Issue [#3037]
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