![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Twitter is guaranteed to bring out the snark in me. People can be so dumb on it.
Stumbled upon an article in the NY Times about How Colleen Hoover Came to Rule the Best Seller List - note it is the NY Times Best Seller list. (NY Times is becoming a bit of its own marketing demon of late, and like a lot of print/online publications increasingly unreliable as a result. It really needs to stop it with the marketing push.)
Anyhow, I vaguely remember reading Hoover way back when - sometime in the mid-00s, with the book Slammed. I didn't get very far - I was put off by the dysfunctional and mildly abusive teacher/student romance dynamic in the book. Also Hoover specializes in abusive/dysfunctional contemporary new adult and young adult romances, which isn't really my thing. A former social worker, with three songs, married to a truck driver and living in a trailer (most likely not now), in the midwest, Hoover came to fame writing and self-publishing her New Adult and YA novels, then got a publishers interest. The publishing industry doesn't quite know what to do with her, and she's kind of putting them to shame.
One of her novels, "The End of US" is described thusly, "explores the romantic relationship between a florist and an abusive and emotionally detached neurologist". The writer wrote it to better understand her mother's relationship with her father. It's a two-parter, the second novel, It Starts with Us, is about the florist's relationship with a new man, while co-parenting with her ex.
Her rabid fan base - describes her novels as a punch to the gut, or being punched in the face. They are emotionally painful reads - which they adore.
And the fan base has sold the books by word of mouth (mainly on Good Reads and TikTok and Tumblr and Amazon). She's also ruling Tiktok with her self-deprecating posts.
I found myself thinking about her success this morning - and discussed it with mother tonight.
Mother: Dysfunctional family books...
Me: Abusive dysfunctional romances with lots of angst, so kind of worse?
Mother: Why do people love these books? They seem to be really popular at the moment.
Me: I think for the same reason they like reality shows? Either it's relatable, or it makes them feel great because it's not relatable at all, and at least their life is better than that? I may be bad off - but it could be worse...
There's a cathartic thrill to be had - in reading about a fictional romance gone wrong, and can't succeed.
To give Hoover credit, I don't think they do end happily ever after in these novels, which means they aren't really romances. Her books kind of cross genres, and don't fit a formula or marketing nitch, which is why the publishing industry is struggling with her - and can't quite figure out what to do with her. They are used to James Patterson, John Grisham, Nora Roberts, people who fit a formula or category - not someone who does their own thing, doesn't change to fit a formula, and/or fit a marketing nitch.
I decided to pick up a few of her books for free via Kindle Unlimited, to get an idea of what all the fuss is about. Although I doubt I will - since I'm really NOT a fan of the New Adult Romance Genre. I don't understand her fans at all, but this is nothing new. I didn't understand the appeal of Twilight (movies or books), nor do I understand the appeal of game shows, reality television (with few exceptions), cop procedurals, or video games.
For as eclectic as my taste is - there are things I don't like.
**
Chidi made fun of me for knowing who Kendrick Lamar is. I know because my niece is into him. My sister-in-law's favorite music is rap and hip/hop.
( Read more... )
***
Discussed Faith with mother. I feel as if I'm losing mine at times.
( Read more... )
Stumbled upon an article in the NY Times about How Colleen Hoover Came to Rule the Best Seller List - note it is the NY Times Best Seller list. (NY Times is becoming a bit of its own marketing demon of late, and like a lot of print/online publications increasingly unreliable as a result. It really needs to stop it with the marketing push.)
Anyhow, I vaguely remember reading Hoover way back when - sometime in the mid-00s, with the book Slammed. I didn't get very far - I was put off by the dysfunctional and mildly abusive teacher/student romance dynamic in the book. Also Hoover specializes in abusive/dysfunctional contemporary new adult and young adult romances, which isn't really my thing. A former social worker, with three songs, married to a truck driver and living in a trailer (most likely not now), in the midwest, Hoover came to fame writing and self-publishing her New Adult and YA novels, then got a publishers interest. The publishing industry doesn't quite know what to do with her, and she's kind of putting them to shame.
One of her novels, "The End of US" is described thusly, "explores the romantic relationship between a florist and an abusive and emotionally detached neurologist". The writer wrote it to better understand her mother's relationship with her father. It's a two-parter, the second novel, It Starts with Us, is about the florist's relationship with a new man, while co-parenting with her ex.
Her rabid fan base - describes her novels as a punch to the gut, or being punched in the face. They are emotionally painful reads - which they adore.
And the fan base has sold the books by word of mouth (mainly on Good Reads and TikTok and Tumblr and Amazon). She's also ruling Tiktok with her self-deprecating posts.
I found myself thinking about her success this morning - and discussed it with mother tonight.
Mother: Dysfunctional family books...
Me: Abusive dysfunctional romances with lots of angst, so kind of worse?
Mother: Why do people love these books? They seem to be really popular at the moment.
Me: I think for the same reason they like reality shows? Either it's relatable, or it makes them feel great because it's not relatable at all, and at least their life is better than that? I may be bad off - but it could be worse...
There's a cathartic thrill to be had - in reading about a fictional romance gone wrong, and can't succeed.
To give Hoover credit, I don't think they do end happily ever after in these novels, which means they aren't really romances. Her books kind of cross genres, and don't fit a formula or marketing nitch, which is why the publishing industry is struggling with her - and can't quite figure out what to do with her. They are used to James Patterson, John Grisham, Nora Roberts, people who fit a formula or category - not someone who does their own thing, doesn't change to fit a formula, and/or fit a marketing nitch.
I decided to pick up a few of her books for free via Kindle Unlimited, to get an idea of what all the fuss is about. Although I doubt I will - since I'm really NOT a fan of the New Adult Romance Genre. I don't understand her fans at all, but this is nothing new. I didn't understand the appeal of Twilight (movies or books), nor do I understand the appeal of game shows, reality television (with few exceptions), cop procedurals, or video games.
For as eclectic as my taste is - there are things I don't like.
**
Chidi made fun of me for knowing who Kendrick Lamar is. I know because my niece is into him. My sister-in-law's favorite music is rap and hip/hop.
( Read more... )
***
Discussed Faith with mother. I feel as if I'm losing mine at times.
( Read more... )