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How Does the Media Cover Romance Novels?
Media coverage of romance novels has gotten better. You’re less likely to see reporters snickering at romance. But it still has some room to grow.
Even reporters who take other popular genres seriously still find it hard to take romance novels and romance publishing (often called Romancelandia) seriously.
And the comments sections on those articles?! Even now, in 2024, the public comments on those stories can be toxic cesspools of ignorance and misogyny.
Here are some recent examples — all taken from newspaper coverage of the notorious Readers Take Denver 2024 event.
What Was Readers Take Denver 2024?
Hoo boy! First, a quick bit of background. Readers Take Denver 2024 (also known as RTD) was a convention for readers and authors, founded by author Lisa Renee Jones. It concentrated on romance and romantasy, but it also celebrated thriller authors. There were more than 3,000 attendees. That’s … a lot. Most similar romance conventions have just a few hundred attendees — they limit ticket sales to avoid getting unmanageable.
Ticket prices for Readers Take Denver 2024 ran from $300 to $375. You could attend Dragon Con for less!
From the beginning, social media posts on Threads revealed the chaos at Readers Take Denver 2024. (This was a great time for Threads! Many people joined Threads as a result of Readers Take Denver.) The hashtags RTD, Readerstakedenver, and rdt2024 revealed growing concerns. Most reported that they had a terrible experience. The event was not well organized. Attendees mentioned ridiculously long waits in lines, lack of security, and lack of trained staff. (Almost everything was performed by volunteers!) Authors even reported that their books were stolen. The event also ran out of basic things like lanyards and bottled water — as well as running out of the swag bags that all attendees were promised. (Also, you don’t want to run out of water in Denver!!!)
Book signing events were messy. Often, one author’s line blocked the lines for other authors. Too many authors — not enough space.
There were even allegations of physical assault — that’s when I first heard about Readers Take Denver. An attendee reported that a volunteer yelled at her and…
