For Pictorial at Jezebel, Kelly Faircloth explores the public imagination’s view of the romance writer, focusing on the genre’s boom in the 1980s and the modern-day romance writer with her eye on the business of writing.
[The Romance Writers of America’s annual conference] reminded me of something like Mary Kay, or Avon—an empire built on the talents of women hunting a flexible opportunity to bring home some cash doing fulfilling work. It made me wonder just how much of this business, from big-budget crossover hardcovers to $2.99 a pop Kindle titles, is driven by corporate America’s historical unfriendliness to women, and to women with kids especially.