Resources for Romance Authors
Websites:
Books:
Top Romance Authors:
Nicholas Sparks
E.L. James
Nora Roberts
Top 10 Romance Authors
- Romance Writers of America: http://www.rwa.org/.
This website’s goal is to be the “voice of romance writers,” and contains links to conferences and events, awards and contests, as well as resources about the genre as a whole, including a page for librarians and booksellers with statistics and subgenre info. Devotes a page to authors and books with current “Hall of Fame” authors and “Honor Roll” authors, and lists all authors alphabetically with links to their personal websites. That the website contains mostly facts as opposed to opinion and links to the authors' own websites rather than new biographies gives it a sense of authority and reliability, although it could also read as somewhat dull. - Smart Bitches, Trashy Books: http://smartbitchestrashybooks.com/ With a bright background and younger writing style, this website offers a fresh perspective as a blog website. It has a “sizzling book list” with opinionated and descriptive reviews. Users can search by title, grade, or by author, and can also click on links to purchase books from amazon. It also provides reader’s advisory by suggesting similar books.
- Romance Writers: www.allromancewriters.com/, www.contemporaryromancewriters.com/, www.historicalromancewriters.com/. 3 sister websites that focus on all types of romance writers, contemporary romance writers, and historical romance writers, respectively. They each follow the same website format (with only the background color changing), where they promote one current novel in the “spotlight” and have featured authors, a blog, a forum, and lists of reviews. Users can also search by author name to find a brief biography of the authors and a list of their works. From the author’s page on the website, the user can also select to “contact the author” or go directly to the author’s personal website.
Books:
- Romance Today: An A-to-Z Guide to Contemporary American Romance Writers, by John Charles and Shelley Elizabeth Mosely
Offers biographical information (some provided by statements the authors themselves made) for over 100 prominent romance authors chosen for quality of work and how popular/prevalent they are in the genre. That the authors are both librarians themselves, and respected in the field (previously-published and award-winning) lends the book a sense of authority. However, with the most recent version published in 2007, the book and the authors and works it discusses are slightly outdated. - Romance Authors: A Research Guide, by Sarah Sheehan This book is one in from the “Author Research Series” and offers a brief description of the genre as a whole as well as a timeline of important happenings within the Romance Genre. Divides authors into subgenres and offers biographical info for each. Acts as a useful annotated bibliography for any reader, student, or librarian doing research on the romance genre. While the majority of the rest of these resources have focused on American/English authors of newer romance releases, this research guide widens the options by covering international authors from both the 20th and 21st centuries.
Top Romance Authors:
Nicholas Sparks
- nicholassparks.com This is Sparks' personal official website, which contains not only a biographical page, but also Sparks' advice for aspiring writers, recommended reading by other authors, latest news, upcoming appearances, and links to all of Sparks' works. The overall picture of Sparks that this website paints could be seen as positively skewed in favor; seeing as how it is displayed from either Sparks himself or his public relations. On the other hand, the information could also be seen as more reliable, especially regarding dates and background information.
- True Believer, from Entertainment Weekly, by K. Valby: http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20230339,00.html This article written for Entertainment Weekly reflects the author's interaction with Sparks. Useful in that it provides a new perspective on the author, allows users to form a more rounded biographical picture based on anecdotes and details. However, this article is dated in that it was originally written in 2008.
E.L. James
- www.eljamesauthor.com/ James' personal official website. Contains only a brief "About Me" page, but still offers valuable personal insights to the author in that she provides Wine Lists, blog posts, as well as links to social media, such as fan sites and her facebook page. The website was recently redesigned and is very easy and pleasant to navigate.
- Who Is E.L. James, from the Chicago Tribune, by S. Johnson: articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-05-03/entertainment/ct-ent-0502-50-shades-of-grey-20120501_1_fan-fiction-book-signing-event-fans-bond/2 This article written for the Arts and Entertainment section of the Chicago Tribune newspaper offers another perspective on James. It highlights her interactions with fans, her personally-stated thoughts on her popular novels, and also includes some statements from her husband.
Nora Roberts
- www.noraroberts.com Roberts personal official website. Contains quite a bit of biographical information, including background on her childhood, her marriages, and her journey to become an author. Has an entire page titled Nora: Up Close and Personal, containing direct statements and anecdotes from the author, as well as page dedicated to interesting facts about Roberts and her books, titled Did You Know?
- The Official Nora Roberts Companion, by Denise Little and Laura Hayden Designed as a reference guide for readers, this book discusses in-depth Roberts' life, career, and interactions with fans, including a background discussion on her inspiration for many of her novels. Also contains a section for readers' most frequently asked questions about the author, including personal details such as favorite food, movies, and music, as well as visual material, including pictures of Roberts with her fans. In addition to biographical background, this book also contains a list and summary of all of Roberts' works.
Top 10 Romance Authors