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October 10, 2006
Aiming at the high-brow
. . . and shooting yourself in the foot.
That Which Simmers Is Not to Be Dissed - New York Times:
Time was when it seemed safe to regard the works of Plato as intellectually superior to the racy romance novels of, say, Nora Roberts. In underground Washington, those days are over.
Consider the hoo-ha over new subway posters that try to capitalize on the percentage of people with advanced degrees living in the region.
The Greater Washington Initiative, a business group devoted to attracting investment to the area, put up the posters, which feature side-by-side photographs: of a man reading Plato’s “Republic,” under the caption “Greater Washington Subway Reading,” and of the same man poring over a romance novel, under the caption “Average Subway Reading.”
The reaction from romance writers — and readers — was as fast and heated as a steamy sex scene.
“I’m an erotic romance/romance publisher, and I live in your marketing area,” Stephanie V. Kelsey, editor in chief and chief operations officer of Mojocastle Press, wrote to the group. “Despite the erroneous position many take that romance is ‘easy money,’ it requires the same hard work, honing of skill and commitment as any other genre. To insinuate otherwise in a media representation of your company is not recommended, and we are not amused.”
Neither was Ms. Roberts, a Maryland resident and best-selling author eager to defend the genre and its fans. “The fact that Romance novels make up about 50 percent of sales of all mass market fiction should be an indication of how many passengers are reading a Romance novel on the D.C. Metro,” she wrote, “and how many might be insulted by this ad.”
The folks at the Greater Washington Initiative have been doing a lot of great work on the Creative Economy. However, in this case I think they fell into the same "great man theory" as the Economist (see earlier posting).
Romance readers are as important to innovation and a creative economy as Plato readers. And are likely to be the same people.
Posted by Ken Jarboe at October 10, 2006 10:14 AM
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