Readers Up #21: Racing Romance Roundtable

The three Rs? Tired: reading, writing, 'rithmetic. Wired: a roundtable of racing and romance! By now, hopefully everyone's well-apprised of my position on romance and its rightful place in the continual and broadening development of racing media; if not, let the record state once and for all that:

1. I began reading about horse racing for research purposes because I
2. was planning to write a romance novel about a jockey, and
3. to date, I have devoted approximately 400,000 words to this highly specific niche.

ABR, NTRA, and all other acronymous Powers That Be, take note. There is more than one gateway to the sport. RWA (ugh) and kissing-book publishers, take heed. Romance is more than ready for racetrackers. In the spirit of celebrating the most romantic month and interrogating certain of my twin passions' angles, I chatted with two of the few centered in the racing-romance Venn diagram, Renee Dahlia and Carly Silver. You'll find our conversation below, along with a brief introductory reading list for racetrack romance!
 

DIANA HURLBURT: So, first off, if you’d like to both introduce yourselves and give a little biography of your backgrounds in both racing and romance...

RENEE DAHLIA: I'm Renee and I write romance as Renee Dahlia, and horse racing as Renee Geelen. I grew up in a country town in New Zealand and begged my parents for a horse. They had no interest, so I begged local farmers and the pony club for a horse, and ended up borrowing (leasing but not formally) several horses (otherwise known as exploiting free teenage labour). From there, I worked as a strapper (USA backstretch worker/hot walker) while studying physics at uni… Now that my romance writing takes up more time (plus I have 4 kids), I only work for the magazines now (Bluebloods and Breeding & Racing).

CARLY SILVER: Hi, I'm Carly. I'm an associate editor at Harlequin Books, where I edit category romance novels. I have also been a turf writer for 16 years and am a regular contributor to The Blood-Horse, New York Breeder, Thoroughbred Daily News, and Thoroughbred Racing Commentary, among other publications.

DH: So, given your backgrounds and current career fields, it's safe to say that we're talking with two experts on the sport of racing, romance as a genre, and the intersection of the Two!

RD: Carly, which imprints/categories do you edit at Harlequin?

CS: I edit primarily for our series program, which consists of category titles. I edit specifically for Romantic Suspense, but acquire for all series lines and also have authors who publish with Love Inspired, Love Inspired Suspense, Intrigue, Special Edition, and more.

DH: Have you ever received a pitch for a racing-centric romance?

CS: That's a good question. I don't recall--I may have in the past, but not recently. It's a tricky niche to market. Although I'd always be interested in reading submissions set in and around the racing world.

RD: There are so many great racing stories that would lend themselves well to rom-sus.

DH: On that topic, a related question for Renee: how many spots did you take your Merindah Park series before landing with your publisher?

RD: I already had the Bluestocking series with them, and the acquiring editor put a note in the author group for the imprint that she wanted some more Aussie rural stories that were a little different to all the cattle station ones she had. I said 'what about horse racing?' and she said something like 'yes that's what I meant, write it and send it in.' So I did. Lucky timing, I guess?

DH: Timing would seem to be a huge part of publishing success!

CS: For sure.

DH: Sports romance in general is, of course, a huge chunk of the romance market, but in the US, at least, we don't see too many horse racing heroines and heroes. Any thoughts on why that might be?

RD: Horse racing, generally, is quite an insular sport. Maybe there isn't much cross over to the rest of society? I would've thought it'd be a natural place to set romance--so many rich people interacting with so many people from all walks of life!

DH: Racing also lends itself well to popular romance tropes... rags to riches, high-roller family dynasties, rich girl/poor boy pairings. Of course, this seems obvious to us as fans and writers, but maybe not to the average reader or publisher.

CS: I think racing has lost much of the glamour associated with it in the mid-1940s and into the '70s. Movie stars aren't hanging out at the track anymore; the leaders of pop culture aren't invested in it. While owning part of a horse is more accessible than ever, the number of racetracks is dwindling, so there are fewer opportunities to go to the track. More people associate racing with betting and gambling and breakdowns than beautiful animals and a great day out.

DH: On the purely marketable side of things, I venture that the male athletes involved in the sport may not be what people think of when they think 'romantic hero.'

CS: Good point; while an athlete might be a hero of a sports romance, I've never read a jockey hero. I'd love to read one, though; heroes come in all shapes and sizes.

RD: Yes, all of that. Plus people are a generation (or two) removed from working animals, so they don't have a natural connection to horses and often don't understand why horse people interact with horses the way they do. To portray a jockey's daily life wouldn't be very romantic--the hours suck and their eating habits are odd--however, the glamour and the money at the top end are highly 'romance hero'.

CS: Beautifully said. The mundanity of horse racing and the intense struggles individuals on the backstretch undergo bely some of the escapist nature of romance.

DH: Renee, representation and diversity are a huge part of the Merindah Park series, which I love and really appreciate as a reader. Queer characters and characters of color make up the ranks of your romantic heroes and heroines. Is this also reflective of reality in the Aussie racing scene?

RD: Yes--Australia is very close to Asia, so we have a lot of rich owners from China, Hong Kong, etc. And our staff are often migrants. We have at least two openly queer men on racing TV too, which is pretty cool, especially because no one really cares or comments about it. There’s a strong link with Japanese racing too.

CS: I do think that a successful romance could be set on the backstretch easily, but again, is it a setting many readers would be drawn to? With racing's current issues in America specifically, I think it would be a challenge to sell that book right now. I can’t speak to Australia, though, and I adore Renee’s books!

DH: Racing, in the US, is often popularly perceived as a sport for wealthy white people. Romance has an ongoing conversation of "who gets the happily ever after"--who is represented on the page as worthy of love. In this sense, portraying the realities of racing as an often blue-collar industry, comprised of many people of color from difference backgrounds, seems like a perfect topic for modern romance... but again, perhaps I'm biased. The sport abroad seems generally healthier (in all senses) than US sport right now, so maybe that's why Aussie romance is a little more open to racing romance!

CS: Diana, I completely agree that it would be a great setting for a romance, ones that I know I would love to read. However, I think the challenge lies in bringing the book to a publisher and trying to market it. Racing is facing a lot of issues in the public eye right now, and it's not as popular of a sport as, say, baseball or basketball, so the audience or public interest isn't necessarily there already. I'd imagine that some editors would find it hard to find the racing setting as a particularly saleable hook.

I'm not saying it's correct, but, having been in many editorial meetings, I can tell you that I do think it would be a difficult sell based on the setting. A good book is a good book, and that will and should be acquired, but when giving an elevator pitch to a more senior individual at a publishing house, we junior editors need to show why a story will appeal to readers. And the sad thing is, racing does such a poor job of marketing itself to communities other than straight white men that I don't know if romance readers would intersect with most racing fans.

DH: That is the interesting double bind, I think. Where racing appears in fiction, it's typically literary (or Dick and Felix Francis thrillers). Romance readers may not want to read about racing, and racing people--who are, accurately or not, perceived as straight white men-- may not want to read romance.

RD: I agree that any racing set book has a lot of marketing hurdles to get past--even among the equestrian community here outside of Australia there are a lot of misunderstandings. So [racing romance] wouldn't necessarily connect with the 'horsey' readers either?

CS: I would never say never based on the setting of a book alone. But I do know that certain settings or premises, like small towns, are attractive right off the bat and can add a point in that book's favor. Racing isn't something that's been proven to sell recently--but few people have published racing-set books, so it's all hypothetical at the moment. I think racing itself needs to do a better job of appealing to more than just a cis-het male audience and developing a more diverse fanbase. The romance fan is often--not always, of course--but doesn't often coincide with the racing fan.

RD: Agree re marketing of racing. Same issue here to some extent...the marketing of horse racing to women isn't very good, even if the men are from non-white cultures often enough.

CS: I also think that racing contains many hierarchies that are fundamentally not good, and I would love to read a book that featured people upending said hierarchies in a romance. I may seem to be contradicting myself by saying I'd love to read a book set in a world that would be hard to sell, but just because something might be difficult to sell (because it hasn't been done recently) doesn't mean I wouldn't read it or *try* to sell it. I wonder if racing romance could be used to help turn the tide of its public image in a way--e.g., these great stories about amazing animals and the humans who love them (and each other) show there's so much more to racing than what is portrayed on a given media outlet.

RD: I’d like to hope so!

DH: I like to think that!

RD: For mine, the issues around how trainers treat their staff is a much bigger concern than animal welfare. The horses are treated like the athletic kings, while the staff work their butts off (often for not much money and terrible hours) because they love their horses.

DH: So much of the emphasis even inside the sport, to horseplayers, is on the normative, rich-owner-classy-horse-G1-race narrative, rather than who makes all that possible (staff! often immigrant staff!). Romance's current moves toward more diverse characters, settings, and themes make me think it has space to talk about a sport that often gets only one very narrow narrative.

CS: The industry has so many issues, with horses, people, working conditions--all of which have been named before by others, and I won't go into now--and only some of them are being addressed actively. The reality is, it's a hard sport to love much of the time...Both racing and romance are industries facing similar challenges, and the next few years will be crucial in determining their respective fates. Interests of authors and readers (in romance) and human employees and equines (in racing) need to be paramount.

RD: Even though the current media attention on the worst parts is often misinformed and frustrating, it is forcing administrators to notice they aren't in a bubble and they have to market the good parts better. Similarly, romance needs to open up the market to more diverse authors because our readers are already more diverse than what is written and they want those authors.

CS: Both industries need to focus on the welfare, needs, and interests of the people within them, and amplifying the voices of marginalized individuals within both.

Carly's journalism can be found here, and her contact info at Harlequin here (send her your brilliant trackside smoochies!). A look at Renee's journalism is located here, and information about her novels, including the excellent Merindah Park series, right here. If you've read some of Renee's titles and your appetite for racing romance is piqued, check out these options: the Stay the Distance series by Mara Dabrishus; The Hidden Horses of New York by Natalie Keller Reinert; Backstretch Girls by Dawn Lefevre; and a short collection by yours truly. 

Speaking of giveaways... Katelyn W., you're about to become the owner of a lovely print copy of phoebe 49.1. Stand by for an email from me for shipping info. Happy reading, everyone!

Kissing a horse on the nose somewhere soon,
Diana