Romance Writers of America
Encyclopedia
Romance Writers of America (RWA) is a national non-profit genre writers association. It provides networking and support to individuals seriously pursuing a career in romance fiction and supports top authors such as Nora Roberts
and Judith McNaught
.
by 37 authors in the romance genre, including Rita Clay Estrada and Parris Afton Bonds, first President and Vice President, the RWA has long been an advocacy group for their published members. It has persuaded Harlequin books
to register copyrights for authors' works and to allow writers to own their own pseudonyms. Previously, authors were forced to leave their pseudonym behind if they switched publishing houses, making it more difficult for their fans to follow. The current mission statement indicates that the purpose of the RWA is to "advance the professional interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy."
In 2000, the RWA had an operating budget of over $1 million, the largest of any professional genre writers' organization. As of 2007, the organization had over 9,000 members and over 150 chapters. These include chapters arranged geographically as well as special-interest online chapters that focus on themes such as medical romance. Approximately 2,000 of the members have had books published.
RWA chapters allow members to come together for support and to learn more about the industry. They provide writers with the opportunity to meet, either in person or online, in order to critique and learn the art of writing. With this practice, "romance writers are the only authors who train their own competition and pride themselves on sharing what they know."
The RWA was formed to assist authors of romance novels. According to the RWA, the main plot of a romance novel must revolve around the two people as they develop romantic love for each other and work to build a relationship together. Both the conflict and the climax of the novel should be directly related to that core theme of developing a romantic relationship, although the novel can also contain subplot
s that do not specifically relate to the main characters' romantic love. Furthermore, a romance novel must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending."
Some romance novel authors and readers believe the genre has additional restrictions, from plot considerations such as the protagonists meeting early on in the story, to avoiding themes such as adultery
. Disagreements have centered on the firm requirement for a happy ending, or the place of same-sex relationships within the genre. Some readers admit stories without a happy ending, if the focus of the story is on the romantic love
between the two main characters (e.g. Romeo and Juliet
). Others believe the definition should be more strictly worded to include only heterosexual pairing. While the majority of romance novels meet the stricter criteria, there are also many books that are widely considered to be romance novels that deviate from these rules. Therefore, the general definition, as embraced by the RWA and publishers, includes only the focus on a developing romantic relationship and an optimistic ending.
As long as a romance novel meets that twin criteria, it can be set in any time period and in any location. There are no specific restrictions on what can or cannot be included in a romance novel. Even very controversial subjects are addressed in romance novels, including topics such as date rape, domestic violence, addiction, and disability. The combination of time frame, location, and plot elements does, however, help a novel to fit into one of several romance subgenres. Despite the numerous possibilities this framework allows, many people in the mainstream press claim that "all [romance novels] seem to read alike."
. Eight percent of all electronic books are romances, the RWA does not recognize vanity publishers who offer little or no editing or promotional help. Authors who have not received $1000.00 in royalties are ineligible for the RITA Award or PAN membership. In Spring 2010, because they've signed a contract to publish their manuscript, these authors are not eligible to enter the unpublished Golden Heart contest.
, Suzanne Brockmann
, Nora Roberts
, Shana Abe
, and Susan Elizabeth Phillips
. Each year, some of the workshops are business-oriented, focusing on how to pitch a novel or write for multiple publishers. Other workshops focus on creative pursuits, including how to use swords and sword fights in a story line, how to use firefighter lingo, or how to pick the cover art for your book. The annual conference features a literacy
signing, where the public is invited to meet close to 500 authors and gain autographs. In 2007, the event raised almost $60,000 for literacy charities. The conference ends with the RITA and Golden Heart awards ceremony.
The RWA funds several scholarships for members to attend the national conference. The scholarships pay for travel, lodging, and registration fees.
Future conference sites include San Francisco (2008), Washington D.C. (2009), Orlando
(2010), New York City
(2011), Anaheim (2012), Atlanta (2013), San Antonio
(2014), and New York City
(2015).
, the award signifies excellence in one of 12 categories of romantic fiction. Authors and editors submit published works for consideration in the fall. In mid-spring, finalists are announced. The winners are presented with a statue
tte in a ceremony held on the last day of the RWA National Conference each July.
The award itself is a gold medallion in a heart shape thus giving the award its name.
. Other authors honored include Jo Beverley
and Jennifer Greene.
Nora Roberts
Nora Roberts is a bestselling American author of more than 209 romance novels. She writes as J.D. Robb for the "In Death" series, and has also written under the pseudonym Jill March...
and Judith McNaught
Judith McNaught
Judith McNaught is a bestselling author of over a dozen historical and contemporary romance novels, with 30 million copies of her works in print. She was also the first female executive producer at a CBS radio station...
.
History
Founded in 1980 in Houston, TexasTexas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
by 37 authors in the romance genre, including Rita Clay Estrada and Parris Afton Bonds, first President and Vice President, the RWA has long been an advocacy group for their published members. It has persuaded Harlequin books
Harlequin Enterprises Ltd
Harlequin Enterprises Limited is a Toronto, Ontario-based company that is a publisher of series romance and women's fiction. Owned by the Torstar Corporation, the largest newspaper publisher in Canada, the company publishes approximately 120 new titles each month in 29 different languages in 107...
to register copyrights for authors' works and to allow writers to own their own pseudonyms. Previously, authors were forced to leave their pseudonym behind if they switched publishing houses, making it more difficult for their fans to follow. The current mission statement indicates that the purpose of the RWA is to "advance the professional interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy."
In 2000, the RWA had an operating budget of over $1 million, the largest of any professional genre writers' organization. As of 2007, the organization had over 9,000 members and over 150 chapters. These include chapters arranged geographically as well as special-interest online chapters that focus on themes such as medical romance. Approximately 2,000 of the members have had books published.
Organization
RWA offers two programs. The Published Author Network (PAN) consists of published authors. The PRO network is for authors who have completed a manuscript and can prove they've queried an editor or agent about submitting it. Approximately 2000 RWA members have joined the PRO program. Once a PRO member, they are able to view online workshops and booklets about the business of publishing.RWA chapters allow members to come together for support and to learn more about the industry. They provide writers with the opportunity to meet, either in person or online, in order to critique and learn the art of writing. With this practice, "romance writers are the only authors who train their own competition and pride themselves on sharing what they know."
Eligibility
General Membership in RWA is open to those actively pursuing a career in romance fiction regardless of publishing status. A writer does not need to be published to join but must be working toward that goal. Associate membership is available to publishers, editors, agents and other industry professionals who work in the romance publishing field. Associate members do not have the right to vote and are ineligible to hold office. Affiliate membership is available to librarians and booksellers.The RWA was formed to assist authors of romance novels. According to the RWA, the main plot of a romance novel must revolve around the two people as they develop romantic love for each other and work to build a relationship together. Both the conflict and the climax of the novel should be directly related to that core theme of developing a romantic relationship, although the novel can also contain subplot
Subplot
A subplot is a secondary plot strand that is a supporting side story for any story or the main plot. Subplots may connect to main plots, in either time and place or in thematic significance...
s that do not specifically relate to the main characters' romantic love. Furthermore, a romance novel must have an "emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending."
Some romance novel authors and readers believe the genre has additional restrictions, from plot considerations such as the protagonists meeting early on in the story, to avoiding themes such as adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
. Disagreements have centered on the firm requirement for a happy ending, or the place of same-sex relationships within the genre. Some readers admit stories without a happy ending, if the focus of the story is on the romantic love
Romantic love
Romance is the pleasurable feeling of excitement and mystery associated with love.In the context of romantic love relationships, romance usually implies an expression of one's love, or one's deep emotional desires to connect with another person....
between the two main characters (e.g. Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet
Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy written early in the career of playwright William Shakespeare about two young star-crossed lovers whose deaths ultimately unite their feuding families. It was among Shakespeare's most popular archetypal stories of young, teenage lovers.Romeo and Juliet belongs to a...
). Others believe the definition should be more strictly worded to include only heterosexual pairing. While the majority of romance novels meet the stricter criteria, there are also many books that are widely considered to be romance novels that deviate from these rules. Therefore, the general definition, as embraced by the RWA and publishers, includes only the focus on a developing romantic relationship and an optimistic ending.
As long as a romance novel meets that twin criteria, it can be set in any time period and in any location. There are no specific restrictions on what can or cannot be included in a romance novel. Even very controversial subjects are addressed in romance novels, including topics such as date rape, domestic violence, addiction, and disability. The combination of time frame, location, and plot elements does, however, help a novel to fit into one of several romance subgenres. Despite the numerous possibilities this framework allows, many people in the mainstream press claim that "all [romance novels] seem to read alike."
Electronic publishing
Of the 9000 RWA members, approximately 2,000 have seen their novels published in print. An unknown number of other writers have published their books through electronic publishersElectronic publishing
Electronic publishing or ePublishing includes the digital publication of e-books and electronic articles, and the development of digital libraries and catalogues. Electronic publishing has become common in scientific publishing where it has been argued that peer-reviewed scientific journals are in...
. Eight percent of all electronic books are romances, the RWA does not recognize vanity publishers who offer little or no editing or promotional help. Authors who have not received $1000.00 in royalties are ineligible for the RITA Award or PAN membership. In Spring 2010, because they've signed a contract to publish their manuscript, these authors are not eligible to enter the unpublished Golden Heart contest.
Annual conference
Every summer, the RWA holds a national conference. In 2007, approximately 1900 members attended the conference in Dallas, Texas, participating in workshops and attending lectures designed for both published and unpublished authors. A Librarian's Day started the conference, and, in 2007, over 150 librarians attended presentations by some of the more popular romance authors, including Jayne Ann KrentzJayne Ann Krentz
Jayne Ann Krentz, née Jayne Castle is an American writer of romance novels. Krentz is the author of a string of New York Times bestsellers under seven different pseudonyms. Now, she only uses three names. As Jayne Ann Krentz she writes contemporary romantic-suspense. She uses Amanda Quick for her...
, Suzanne Brockmann
Suzanne Brockmann
Suzanne Brockmann is an award-winning American romantic fiction writer. She lives outside of Boston, Massachusetts with her husband, Ed Gaffney, and their two children, Melanie and Jason...
, Nora Roberts
Nora Roberts
Nora Roberts is a bestselling American author of more than 209 romance novels. She writes as J.D. Robb for the "In Death" series, and has also written under the pseudonym Jill March...
, Shana Abe
Shana Abé
Shana Abé is an American author of romance novels. She is a past winner of the Romantic Times Career Achievement Award and has won numerous Romantic Times Reviewers' Choice Awards.-Biography:Shana Abé was born in Texas...
, and Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Susan Elizabeth Phillips
Susan Elizabeth Phillips is an award-winning and best-selling American writer of romance novels.-Biography:...
. Each year, some of the workshops are business-oriented, focusing on how to pitch a novel or write for multiple publishers. Other workshops focus on creative pursuits, including how to use swords and sword fights in a story line, how to use firefighter lingo, or how to pick the cover art for your book. The annual conference features a literacy
Literacy
Literacy has traditionally been described as the ability to read for knowledge, write coherently and think critically about printed material.Literacy represents the lifelong, intellectual process of gaining meaning from print...
signing, where the public is invited to meet close to 500 authors and gain autographs. In 2007, the event raised almost $60,000 for literacy charities. The conference ends with the RITA and Golden Heart awards ceremony.
The RWA funds several scholarships for members to attend the national conference. The scholarships pay for travel, lodging, and registration fees.
Future conference sites include San Francisco (2008), Washington D.C. (2009), Orlando
Orlando, Florida
Orlando is a city in the central region of the U.S. state of Florida. It is the county seat of Orange County, and the center of the Greater Orlando metropolitan area. According to the 2010 US Census, the city had a population of 238,300, making Orlando the 79th largest city in the United States...
(2010), New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
(2011), Anaheim (2012), Atlanta (2013), San Antonio
San Antonio, Texas
San Antonio is the seventh-largest city in the United States of America and the second-largest city within the state of Texas, with a population of 1.33 million. Located in the American Southwest and the south–central part of Texas, the city serves as the seat of Bexar County. In 2011,...
(2014), and New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
(2015).
Golden Medallion
First awarded in 1982 in four categories, the Golden Medallion award was the most prominent award given throughout the genre of romantic fiction. The categories expanded to six in 1983, eight by 1989 and eventually twelve. In 1990 the Golden Medallion was replaced with the RITA Award.RITA Award
The most prominent award given throughout the genre of romantic fiction is the RWA RITA Award. Named for the RWA's first president, Rita Clay EstradaRita Clay Estrada
Rita Clay Estrada is an U.S. writer of romance novels as Rita Clay, Tira Lacy and Rita Clay Estrada, she also wrote non-fiction books about writing romance novels...
, the award signifies excellence in one of 12 categories of romantic fiction. Authors and editors submit published works for consideration in the fall. In mid-spring, finalists are announced. The winners are presented with a statue
Statue
A statue is a sculpture in the round representing a person or persons, an animal, an idea or an event, normally full-length, as opposed to a bust, and at least close to life-size, or larger...
tte in a ceremony held on the last day of the RWA National Conference each July.
Golden Heart award
The RWA also honors unpublished authors. Over 1000 manuscripts are submitted to the competition each year. The first round is judged by a panel of RWA members. One hundred manuscripts are chosen as finalists. The finalists' manuscripts are judged by acquiring editors from romance publishing houses. The winners of the competition are announced on the last day of the RWA Annual National Conference. Generally, about 30% of Golden Heart finalists find their work accepted by print publishers.The award itself is a gold medallion in a heart shape thus giving the award its name.
Hall of Fame
The RWA Hall of Fame was established as a way of honoring those authors that have won at least three RITA Awards in a specific category of romance (For example: Long Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense, or Regency Romance). Formerly a novelist had to have won four RITA Awards in a specific category to be inducted into the Hall of Fame but the criteria for induction changed to require only three RITA Awards per category. The first RWA Hall of Fame inductee was Nora RobertsNora Roberts
Nora Roberts is a bestselling American author of more than 209 romance novels. She writes as J.D. Robb for the "In Death" series, and has also written under the pseudonym Jill March...
. Other authors honored include Jo Beverley
Jo Beverley
Jo Beverley, née Mary Josephine Dunn is a prolific British-Canadian writer of popular historical romance novels....
and Jennifer Greene.