Romance Writers of America

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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 is one of the largest writers' organizations in the United States.

Contents

 1Organization
 2Annual conference
 3Awards
 4History
o 4.1Diversity and Inclusion issues
 5References
 6External links

Organization[edit]
Authors are eligible to join the Romance Writers of America (RWA) if they are actively
pursuing a career writing 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 subplots that do not specifically relate
to the main characters' romantic love. Furthermore, a romance novel must have an
"emotionally satisfying and optimistic ending." [1][2]
Authors are divided into two tracks. Approximately 2,000 members qualify for the
Published Author Network (PAN).[3] These authors have seen their novels published in
print and have earned a set threshold from royalties or advances. Authors who
use vanity publishers who offer little or no editing or promotional help do not qualify for
PAN access.[4] The PRO network is for authors who have completed a manuscript but
not yet published it. Once a PRO member, they are able to view online workshops and
booklets about the business of publishing. [5]
Members may also join local or online RWA chapters. These provide writers with the
opportunity to meet, share critiques, 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."[6]
Industry professionals, as well as aspiring authors who have not completed a
manuscript, can join as non-voting associate members. Booksellers and librarians can
join as non-voting affiliate members.
All members receive the RWA's magazine, the Romance Writer Report.[7]

Annual conference[edit]
Every summer, the RWA holds a national conference. In 2007, approximately 1,900
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attending lectures designed for both published and unpublished authors.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 Krentz, Suzanne
Brockmann, Nora Roberts, Shana Abe, and Susan Elizabeth Phillips.[8] 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.[9] 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. [8] The RWA funds several scholarships for
members to attend the national conference. The scholarships pay for travel, lodging,
and registration fees.[10]

Awards[edit]

RITA Awards

The RWA holds an awards ceremony during the annual conference. [8] In 1982, the RWA
presented its first award, the Golden Medallion, in four categories. The categories
expanded to six in 1983, eight by 1989 and eventually twelve. In 1990 the Golden
Medallion was replaced with the RITA Award.[citation needed] Named for the RWA's first
president, Rita Clay Estrada, the award signifies excellence in one of 12 categories of
romantic fiction. Authors and editors submit published works for consideration near the
end of the year. A few months later, finalists are announced. The winners are presented
with a statuette.[11][12]
For many years, the RWA also honored unpublished authors with a Golden Heart
Award. The first round was judged by a panel of RWA members. [13] One hundred
manuscripts are chosen as finalists.[11] The finalists' manuscripts are judged by acquiring
editors from romance publishing houses. [13] Generally, about 30% of Golden Heart
finalists find their work accepted by print publishers. [10] The award itself is a gold
medallion in a heart shape.
Authors who have won at least three RITA Awards within a specific category of
romance (e.g., Long Contemporary Romance, Romantic Suspense) is inducted into the
RWA Hall of Fame. The first inductee was Nora Roberts. Other authors honored
include Jo Beverley, Julia Quinn, and Jennifer Greene.

History[edit]
The Romance Writers of America RWA) was founded in 1980 in Houston, Texas, by
romance editor Vivian Stephens and 37 authors in the romance genre, including Rita
Clay Estrada and Parris Afton Bonds, first President and Vice President,[7][11] According to
their by-laws, the organization's purpose is to “advance the professional and common
business interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy
and by increasing public awareness of the romance genre." [7]
The romance industry boomed in the 1980s, and the RWA grew rapidly. [7] In 2000, the
RWA had an operating budget of over $1 million, the largest of any professional genre
writers' organization.[10] As of 2007, the organization had over 9,000 members [11] and over
150 chapters. These include chapters arranged geographically as well as special-
interest online chapters that focus on themes such as medical romance. [5] As
membership has grown, the organization has grappled to identify its core purpose; for
example, is the organization primarily a social club or a place for professional
networking. There have also been discussions within the membership about whether it
is meant for published or unpublished authors, and which types of published authors
should count.[7]
Part of its mission has been to advocate for authors. RWA 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. [5] RWA has
also assisted members to escalate issues they have experienced with various
technology platforms.[7]
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.[14][15]
Diversity and Inclusion issues[edit]
RWA, like many other organizations, has struggled with diversity and inclusion. More
than 80% of its members are white, as compared to about 61% of the population of the
United States.[16] As the industry changed, there was resistance to including authors of
romance novels which featured homosexual love stories. A 2005 poll in the Romance
Writer Report asked members if the by-laws should be changed to define romance as
between a woman and a man. Nora Roberts, one of the most prolific and famous
romance authors, wrote a letter of protest that the question had been included. The
then-president of the Board of Directors responded in an email that she was worried
"the lesbians were going to take over" the RWA. [7] There was a community uproar, and
the matter was dropped.[7]
Another uproar ensued in 2015, when a finalist for the Best Inspirational Romance RITA
was accused of anti-Semitism. The novel's hero was a Nazi concentration camp
commandant, and the heroine was an imprisoned Jew who later converted to
Christianity.[7] At the same conference, an editor for a major publisher admitted that they
did not purchase any books by non-white authors or featuring non-white characters;
those were instead segregated to a different imprint. [7] The Board began to focus more
on diversity and inclusion efforts, leading to a backlash from some of its white members.
In summer 2017, founding RWA member Linda Howard posted on an internal forum
that "'Diversity for the sake of diversity is discrimination'". [16] The resulting furor led
Howard to leave the organization.[16]
Many authors pointed to the RITA awards as evidence that the organization did not take
diversity and inclusion seriously. Any author could pay to nominate her books. Entrants
can then elect to judge other nominees.[17] Judges were not provided with training on
scoring or avoiding bias.[18] An RWA analysis of the previous 18 years of RITA finalists
and winners showed that less than 0.5% of the finalists were black authors, and no
black woman had even won.[16] Jennifer Prokop, the romance reviewer for Kirkus
Reviews, analyzed 60 books that were finalists for the 2019 RITAs and discovered that
white authors overwhelmingly created worlds that were populated with white, cis-
gendered straight characters, regardless of the timeframe or setting of their novels. This
was true even for paranormal stories that featured fictional creatures such as vampires.
[18]

In 2018, several critically praised books by authors of color were not among the finalists
for RITAs.[16] Some authors of color, including RWA Lifetime Achievement Award
Winner Beverly Jenkins and popular novelist Helen Hoang, refused to enter their books
at all. In other cases, the books were entered but did not score highly enough to
become a finalist.[17] At the annual conference that year, Lifetime Achievement Award
Winner Suzanne Brockmann gave a speech denouncing white supremacy within the
organization and the industry.[16] In an effort to address the controversy, the Board
changed some of the contest rules, including by tracking scores by individual judges to
attempt to detect bias.[16] They also required that some of the judges in each category be
librarians or booksellers, and that at least one judge should be a person of color or a
queer person.[7] Of the 80 authors who were finalists in 2019, three were women of color.
The finalist list excluded author Alyssa Cole, whose submission had been named one of
the New York Times's 100 Notable Books of the Year, an honor that is exceedingly rare
for a romance.[16] Many authors began to debate whether the RITA Awards were truly
representative of excellence in the industry. The Board released a statement
"“apologiz[ing] to our members of color and LGBTQ+ members for putting them in a
position where they feel unwanted and unheard.” [7] At the conference in July 2019, two
of the RITA winners. M. Malone and Kennedy Ryan, were Black women, and one was a
woman, Nisha Sharma, was the first winner of South Asian descent.[7]
In August 2019, many authors participated in a Twitter discussion about racism and
gatekeeping within the romance publishing industry. Courtney Milan, a Chinese-
American author, joined the discussion and critiqued a book written by a current
acquiring editor, Kathryn Lynn Davis. Milan labeled the book and its portrayal of a half-
Chinese heroine as racist. Davis and the publisher for whom she works, Suzan Tisdale,
filed RWA ethics complaints against Milan, who was at the time the chair of the Ethics
Committee.[19] In late December 2019, the Board voted to suspend Milan for one year
and ban her from leadership for life; within a few days, after questions were raised
about the process used to sanction Milan, the Board rescinded the punishment. [20] Eight
members of the group's Board of Directors, all women of color, resigned as a block.
[19]
 RWA President Carolyn Jewell also resigned.
The backlash to the sanctioning was intense. The annual RITA awards were cancelled
after many judges resigned and hundreds of authors withdrew their books from
consideration.[19] Most of the major publishers in the industry announced they would not
attend or support the annual RWA conference because they questioned the RWA's
support of diversity and inclusion.[20]
The Cultural, Interracial, and Multicultural Special Interest Chapter of the RWA, which
hosted authors whose local chapters were not perceived as welcoming to women of
color, started a petition to recall new President Damon Suede. Suede and the RWA
Executive Director resigned on January 9, 2020.[19] More board resignations followed.

References[edit]
1. ^ Zaitchik, Alexander (July 22, 2003),  "The Romance Writers of America convention is just
super",  New York Press, archived from  the original on August 23, 2007, retrieved 2007-04-30
2. ^ "Romance Novels--What Are They?". Romance Writers of America. Archived from the
original on 2006-10-03. Retrieved 2007-04-16.
3. ^ "Writing From the Heart". CNN. August 11, 2000. Retrieved 2007-06-22.
4. ^ Brown, Janelle (September 29, 1999), Forbidden romance?, Salon.com, retrieved 2010-07-
29
5. ^ Jump up to:a b c Danford, Natalie (November 21, 2005), "Embraced by Romance",  Publishers
Weekly
6. ^ Toth, Emily (1998), Wilma Mankiller; Gwendolyn Mink; Marysa Navarro; Barbara
Smith; Gloria Steinem (eds.), The Reader's Companion to U.S. Women's History, Boston,
Massachusetts:  Houghton Mifflin Company, p.  519, ISBN 0-395-67173-6
7. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h i j k l m Faircloth, Kelly (January 15, 2020), "Inside the Spectacular Implosion
at the Romance Writers of America",  Jezebel, retrieved January 16, 2020
8. ^ Jump up to:a b c Fox, Bette-Lee (July 17, 2007),  "Romance Writers of America Meet in
Dallas",  Library Journal, archived from the original  on August 22, 2007, retrieved  2007-08-13
 9. ^ McAndrew, Sibohan (July 27, 2005), "Romance in the air for writers",  Reno Gazette-
Journal, archived from  the original  (–  Scholar search) on February 1, 2013, retrieved  2007-08-13
10. ^ Jump up to:a b c Ward, Jean Marie (2003).  "RWA National 2000: Contrasting Passions".
Retrieved 2007-08-13.
11. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Clay, Pat (August 8, 2007), "Authors earn respect of romance writers",  Florida
Today, archived from the original  on 2007-09-30, retrieved  2007-08-13
12. ^ Bouricius, Ann (2000),  The Romance Readers' Advisory: The Librarian's Guide to Love in
the Stacks,  Chicago: American Library Association, p. 69,  ISBN  0-8389-0779-2
13. ^ Jump up to:a b "Golden Heart Awards: Overview". Romance Writers of America. Archived
from  the original on 2007-09-27. Retrieved 2007-08-13.
14. ^ Crusie, Jennifer (March 2000), "I Know What It Is When I Read It: Defining the Romance
Genre", Romance Writer's Report, PAN
15. ^ "Submission Guidelines". Dorchester Publishing. Archived from  the original on 2007-04-30.
Retrieved 2007-04-30.
16. ^ Jump up to:a b c d e f g h Beckett, Lois (April 4, 2019), "Fifty Shades of White, romance novels,
racism, RITAs RWA", The Guardian, retrieved January 16, 2020
17. ^ Jump up to:a b Pryde, Jessica (March 25, 2019),  Ritas so White...Again, BookRiot,
retrieved January 16, 2020
18. ^ Jump up to:a b Prokop, Jennifer (July 26, 2019),  How Do You Solve a Problem Like the RITAs?,
retrieved January 16, 2020
19. ^ Jump up to:a b c d Prokop, Jennifer (15 January 2020), "Is Romance Writers of America a Sinking
Ship?",  Kirkus Review
20. ^ Jump up to:a b Willingham, AJ (13 January 2020),  A romance novelist accused another writer of
racism. The scandal is tearing the billion-dollar industry apart, CNN.com

External links[edit]
 Official website
 Rainbow Romance Writers, a special interest chapter of the Romance Writers of
America

ISNI: 0000 0004 0525 1589

LCCN: no96017386

VIAF: 135171526

WorldCat Identities: lccn-no96017386
Categories: 

 American literary awards

 American writers' organizations
 Romantic fiction
 Arts organizations established in 1980
 1980 establishments in the United States
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