Posted April 16th, 2012 by Jaci & filed under Featured.
The Romance of Barack Obama: Best Friends and Bastards.
Popular romance sells.
According to the Business of Consumer Book Publishing 2011, Romance fiction generated $1.358 billion in sales in 2010, in which year 8,240 new romance titles were released. Romance fiction took the largest share of the U.S. consumer market in 2010 at 13.4 percent.
Women are generally the authors of Romance and Chick Lit genres and they are overwhelmingly the readers of such books, books that depict love vs. hate: respect vs. cheating: good vs. evil: strong vs. weak.
So what does this all have to do with Barack Obama?
Sales, of course!
For a writer, it's fodder for characters in their book. For a politician, it's fodder for their campaign. The protagonist vs. the antagonist. The best friend vs. the bastard. Let me give you a political example;
The Best Friend: Introducing Obama: What woman could forget seeing President Barack Obama and the First Lady Michelle dancing to Beyonce singing the Etta James classic "At Last" at the Home State Ball on Jan 20th 2009 when celebrating Obama's Presidential inauguration? Welcome to the protagonist: a husband with eyes only for his wife.
The Bastard: Introducing Bill Clinton: When news of the Clinton–Lewinsky relationship broke in January 1998, and Clinton claimed "I did not have sexual relations with that woman, Miss Lewinsky", the matter instantly occupied the news media. Welcome to the antagonist: a husband with eyes for… well, we all know the outcome…
Come on – tell me the human race doesn't love a lover and loathe a cheater. Just take a look at the viewers' response to the love and respect Obama showed for his wife when Oprah Winfrey first interviewed the couple on her show in October 2006.
It's these emotions a writer seizes upon when searching for their characters. Indeed, emotions such as these provided the inspiration for my novel, Best Friends and Bastards.
Popular romance sells. Women love a love story. We hate a bastard. Moreover, we love to see our sisters rising out of the mire: Think Sandra Bullock vs. Jesse James, Jennifer Aniston vs. Brad Pitt, Elin Nordegren vs. Tiger Woods, Princess Diana vs. – we all know who! The list goes on. Whether selling a book or a political campaign, we need to appeal to our audience – and as women make up for 50% of that audience we need to give them what they want!
'Til my next blog – Jaci Byrne. www.amazon.com/author/jacibyrne
Tags: Barack Obama, Romance
