European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 30, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Any Magazine cottage Industry of the 80s by Jane associated press encouraged by publishers like Simon which sponsors How to seminars from coast to nearly a million women in America Are trying their hands at Romance the new cottage Industry of the from Atlanta to Jackson to Silhouette which Simon schuster created in is crisscrossing the country this year to promote what it Calls con temporary bran name Romance and to pick up new in where Dalton booksellers reports sales of 144 Romance books a week in its store in North Park the number of books sold is leveling but the number of writers is according to Betty Ruth who promoted a Silhouette How to write a Romance novel workshop for the recently opened North Park shopping about 40 of the 250 participants had submitted Manu scripts to publishers and 20 were in people who read Romance novels believe they can write she despite a 90 percent rejection rate by some everybody in Mississippi thinks they can that they have a Little Faulkner in Silhouette books publishes 28 new titles or about 7 million volumes a it Sells anywhere from to a million copies of each Book at to a its stocks in drugstores and variety stores dont include releases by its once rival harlequin harlequin bought but both Are now marketed through Simon the books stay on display for Only a before being shipped Back to according to Bud who introduced Canadas harlequin romances to America nearly 25 years and who Heads mass Market distribution for Simon women generally Clear most new titles from the shelves within 10 Days of the Romance Book which comprises about 35 percent of the Mas Market paperback is like the Magazine he readers know precisely when they go on the production and marketing is done by boy meets theres a conflict and they solve their its like producing Campbells Egbert Romance is a phenomenon for women All Over the says who has watched publication expand into 20 foreign the demographics indicate that the average Romance Reader is years old with one or two sixty percent of them work at least part time and most have a year of College Egbert Joan a promoter of Romance writers and com pares the burgeoning Romance with its magazines and with the culture surrounding science she sees an additional love stories fill an emotional in real courtship Doest last she Romance writing also reflects a change in women Romance is the Only genre where you can talk about women being she youd be amazed at the level of feminism among Romance the writers come from All backgrounds and Terri Herrington of for has published two Silhouette a writer since the age of Harrington says part of her preparation was immersing herself in Romance i read hundreds of them before i and while writing the first one i was constantly Reading Harrington was lured into the Field by Many of whom now write Romance novels of the 30 women she sees regularly at meetings of the Shreve chapter of Romance writers of 10 Are now the 27yearold writer All Are Treyve read and absorbed the Silhouette guidelines for contemporary the abcs of what editors want to the writers must Tell their Story through the heroines eyes and create a woman who is Strong but still Herrington says her books Are anchored in my hero in my first Book looked exactly like my she i think most of us dedicate our first Book to our but she says there Are no real perfect our heroes have real men have they do what we want them to but our heroes dont manipulate sex is handled by Silhouette in a very strict creating a sex scene is like painting by there Are five Levels of Romance ranging from Silhouette contemporary Romance to the the Silhouette desire and Silhouette intimate moments they offer predictability like movie ratings readers know just How much sex to expect by the the difference Between the says is primarily the length of a love the More lines offer the Chance for sensuous but never promiscuity for but never for a hero or heroines and for but never unhappy the publishers promote All their love scenes As sensuous rather than telling writers to focus on textures and sensations rather than graphic Treyve found the formulas that right Down to contemporary Christian in the Lingo of the Industry Herrington says Shes still earning out the royalties from her first in Young in this she adding that she would eventually like to move into the mainstream of fiction Romance writers Are becoming sophisticated in handling the business aspects of their As her ringtone has an agent and an she attends Romance writers she reads her trades the romantic and she bought a word processor with her first july 1985 the stars and stripes Page 13