Transcript
Heather Roberts: I pressed the button.
Heather Roberts: I swear to God, I did. All right, we're not getting intro music today, apparently.
Veronica Adams: That's wild because I heard every note.
Heather Roberts: Did you seriously?
Veronica Adams: Yeah, I heard every note.
Heather Roberts: Did it end? Are you shitting me?
Veronica Adams: I am not shitting you. The intro music was playing for me.
Heather Roberts: Sorry for interrupting the intro music, my friends, but it wasn't playing on my hand. Welcome to for the book's sake.
Veronica Adams: Oh, God bless.
Heather Roberts: This is how today's going to go. This is how today's gonna go.
Veronica Adams: Oh.
Heather Roberts: I'm Hannah Roberts.
Veronica Adams: And I am Veronica Adams. I am overwhelmed with emotion and everything is coming out laughter today. Pardon my hyenas.
Heather Roberts: it's It's been a week. um It is it' Friday, November 8th, a time of recording.
Veronica Adams: Oh, hasn't it though?
Heather Roberts: And things are falling apart. oh
Veronica Adams: That depends on who you are. I think for some people, things have fallen together, beautifully even.
Heather Roberts: well
Veronica Adams: i saw I saw a list of authors on TikTok who are probably very happy right now. You should go look up those videos and make informed decisions about who you're reading these days.
Heather Roberts: Yeah, and I hope that they ah I hope they get everything that they wanted.
Veronica Adams: Right?
Heather Roberts: I do.
Veronica Adams: um I mean, no know genuinely. And I feel the same way. It's going to be difficult for all of us.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: And um there's a lesson here to be learned. And I hope that the people who need to learn it learn it.
Heather Roberts: Absolutely. I mean, and people act like when you say things like that, that you're being like mean or vindictive.
Veronica Adams: So.
Veronica Adams: No.
Heather Roberts: Explain to me how we're being mean and vindictive when we're saying, I hope that you get everything that you want.
Veronica Adams: Right.
Heather Roberts: Because we know, here's the thing though, you you obviously have a kernel of understanding that we know that things aren't going to turn around, turn out how you think they're going to turn out.
Veronica Adams: Right.
Heather Roberts: So you should you should look internally and see why you're feeling that way. Because you know there's nothing that we can do now.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: We've done what we can do.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Heather Roberts: um The election process has happened. A decision was made. And we have to live with it just like you have to live with it. And we hope that it's everything that you hoped it would be, but, you know.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Yes. Now let's maybe back up for one second and say that we've decided to maybe take the filter down today because in light of the election and the election results, um we can no longer ignore the fact that books are political, reading is political.
Heather Roberts: Yes.
Heather Roberts: Yes.
Heather Roberts: And not that we ever ignored it, but we never talked about it blatantly in the way that we have wanted to.
Veronica Adams: Yes, we've never been direct
Heather Roberts: We've never been direct.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Heather Roberts: And it this is a conversation that's happening right now across social media as well.
Veronica Adams: Yes, as it should.
Heather Roberts: People are saying, yeah, and some people are, you know, oh, well, can't we just get back to the books? I just want to go back to the books and not have to talk about politics.
Veronica Adams: Those are the same people who say, can't we just be friends even though we have differing opinions? And I'm happy to say, yes, I would love to be friends with people who have differing viewpoints from my own on things that we can editorialize and feel differently about.
Veronica Adams: But basic human rights and our freedoms are not things that I'm willing to be, ah ah to compromise my values and morality for.
Heather Roberts: Right.
Heather Roberts: Right.
Veronica Adams: So no, we can't just get back to books. We can't be friends with differing opinions in this situation.
Heather Roberts: not not in a way that you think.
Veronica Adams: It's right, right.
Heather Roberts: I mean, yeah, it's it's really frustrating. I mean, there was a situation last week, even before the election, where um an author who writes queer romance was upset and posted on Facebook because she found out that her Um, agent was a Trump supporter and I are their agent.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: I'm, I'm sorry. I'm not sure what appropriate pronouns pronouns are for this specific romance author.
Veronica Adams: Right. Okay.
Heather Roberts: Um,
Veronica Adams: So maybe the author is queer or the author is queer and writes queer romance or the author just writes queer romance and has a binary gender identity.
Heather Roberts: if I believe both.
Veronica Adams: I mean.
Heather Roberts: Correct. i'm I'm not entirely certain, but I know for certain that this author writes queer romance.
Veronica Adams: Okay.
Veronica Adams: Okay.
Heather Roberts: So we'll just call we'll call them this author we'll use they and we'll call them this author also because I want to protect their anonymity as well.
Veronica Adams: Perfect. They.
Veronica Adams: Okay.
Veronica Adams: Of course.
Heather Roberts: um I don't know how much they would appreciate this being.
Veronica Adams: Sure.
Heather Roberts: I mean, I don't know. So I'm just doing that.
Veronica Adams: Well, they posted it on Facebook. I suppose it's, it's for public consumption at this point, but also we don't necessarily need to be platforming their specific struggle if they haven't asked us to do that.
Heather Roberts: Sure.
Veronica Adams: So.
Heather Roberts: Yes, but I understand their plight is what I'm saying. So this author writes queer romance has been having their agent sell queer romance to publishers.
Heather Roberts: The agent is receiving royalties and payment for these services and thus is making money off of queer romance books and then is voting frankly against this agent's own interest.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: um
Veronica Adams: in terms of In terms of their ability to continue selling books for this author and other authors, absolutely.
Heather Roberts: Right. um And so this author, this romance author, felt betrayed because they felt that the person that they were and and that they were entrusting their titles to, and also who was making money off of them, um you know, was and voting for somebody who did not support ah their way of living, that theirre their mere existence, frankly.
Veronica Adams: As they should, yeah.
Veronica Adams: Yes. Right.
Heather Roberts: um And yeah, I can understand that betrayal. This was before the election. So I can only imagine how things are going to continue to be after the election. um But this is an aspect, this is a business aspect where reading is political, right? Where views and values need to be aligned and in play to ensure that, to be comfortable so that everybody feels safe and comfortable.
Veronica Adams: Sure.
Heather Roberts: um But when you're talking about actual reading itself being political, I mean, where have you been if you don't think reading is political? Are you reading the books that you're reading?
Heather Roberts: Like, I don't understand. wi
Veronica Adams: from the dawn From the dawn of time, people have been writing things down to change hearts and minds.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: to educate. And there have been ah forces, alignments, alliances, organizations, churches, kings, empires who have tried to silence and prohibit the people from getting ahold of these things that have been written down.
Veronica Adams: ah it just sit Since we started writing things down as a thesis, there have been people out there trying to keep others from getting their hands on the shit we write down.
Heather Roberts: Right.
Veronica Adams: like this All there is to it
Heather Roberts: and so Yeah.
Heather Roberts: I mean, read and reading it.
Veronica Adams: It's not new.
Heather Roberts: Right. And the content of the books in which you're reading, especially for the romanticy girls and the fantasy folks and all of that. Are you actually understanding the books you're reading?
Heather Roberts: yes
Veronica Adams: e Yes. me Are the metaphors, is are the allegory, are they lost on you?
Heather Roberts: I mean.
Veronica Adams: Or you just like, just want some really hot fairy guy to do whatever he's going to do to you.
Heather Roberts: You enjoy the fight against.
Veronica Adams: And like, that's all you're getting out of it. I mean, that's fine if it is.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Okay. I mean, you do you boo, but also there's some pretty powerful messaging in some of these novels as well.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Right. And a lot of these messages in these novels are political. they're They're coded politically.
Veronica Adams: Yes. yes
Heather Roberts: I mean, in romance as well.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Heather Roberts: I mean, there have been romance books, frankly, that I have thrown, um you know, I've liked up until the very last second I read one very recently. Um, that I was super enjoying. And then in the last scene, one of the last scenes, uh, the hero goes into the father's office of the the heroine and basically says like, you know, while I'm taking, you know, I'm going to be marrying your daughter sort of thing, like, you know, um, yeah I'm giving you something because you're giving me something in exchange. And I.
Heather Roberts: I immediately hated that book. Immediately. And I don't even think the author meant to do that. But to me, that that was a big trigger for me at my own wedding.
Veronica Adams: It's a common trope.
Veronica Adams: It's a common trope. Yeah.
Heather Roberts: I know. And it was a big, but it was a big trigger for me at my own wedding. Like I wrote my i wrote our vows, okay?
Veronica Adams: yeah Yeah.
Heather Roberts: um I gave a script to the pastor that was marrying us. And it's like, do not stray from this script.
Veronica Adams: Yes. Yes.
Heather Roberts: ah Because,
Veronica Adams: We... I wasn't even married by a religious person. I was married by a gentleman who goes by the name Captain Ron, okay? And we exchanged some non -traditional vows as well.
Veronica Adams: So, none of this patriarchy, property...
Heather Roberts: ah yeah, and part of, part of, yes, the ownership, the property pieces were all ripped from, yeah, there was, right.
Veronica Adams: Yes. Yes. The love, honor, protect versus love, honor, obey, none of that shit. If anybody's obeying anybody, it's the other way around here. I'm just, you know, like...
Heather Roberts: There was no obeying, there was none of that.
Veronica Adams: Yeah, yeah.
Heather Roberts: So I think perhaps maybe I'm more sensitive than others when they come across, you know, pieces like that.
Veronica Adams: Sure, sure. It's a thing for you.
Heather Roberts: And it's a thing for me. um And it just in in put a bad taste in my mouth. But that's, guess what? That's a political reaction to reading.
Veronica Adams: Yeah, it is.
Heather Roberts: Okay?
Veronica Adams: It absolutely is.
Heather Roberts: So, you know, you can't tell me that reading's not political.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: When you're reading through these things and you have ah visceral reactions to scenes, there's a reason for that.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Heather Roberts: You know, it's an emotional political reason.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Heather Roberts: It's just reading is inherently political. When we're talking about nonfiction or we're talking that we could go to nonfiction, there's a ton of political books there.
Veronica Adams: Of course.
Heather Roberts: by When we even move outside of the romance genre, science fiction, my friends. have been yeah it's just You can't separate reading from politics.
Veronica Adams: Hugely political, hugely political and man.
Heather Roberts: You cannot.
Veronica Adams: The relationship between like, so storytelling and not just authors, right? Like screen screenwriters and other people who do creative writing, not technical writing or nonfiction writing.
Veronica Adams: They often weave a variety of philosophies, especially the ones that they identify with, into... I'm rambling because I saw something recently about George Lucas's stoicism and the narrative of the Star Wars franchise and how fascinating the relationship is between the story and and the various villain arcs throughout the prequel, the original trilogy, and all of the movies that have since followed in recent years.
Veronica Adams: um and the relationship between those narratives and the principal philosophy of stoicism. Super fascinating.
Heather Roberts: yeah
Veronica Adams: and And it goes beyond that in a lot of ways. Some authors choose to tell very political narratives. um There's been a meme going around on social media and a screenshot of someone mansplaining The Handmaid's Tale to Margaret Atwood herself on Twitter or threads or Insta.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: I don't know which platform it was.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: um But like,
Heather Roberts: Funniest thing I have seen in a minute.
Veronica Adams: Right?
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: and And people are aware that the Handmaid's Tale is ah a warning against a religious -based society, a theocracy, if you will.
Heather Roberts: Yes.
Veronica Adams: And the person who's mansplaining the book to Margaret is saying, no, no, no, the author didn't use Christianity. She used Islam. And of course, you know, like the lion, the witch, and the audacity of this bitch, right?
Veronica Adams: But
Heather Roberts: Right.
Veronica Adams: um Margaret is sort of like the standard bearer now, right? Like she is the one whose books represent sort of the canary in the coal mine for all of us philosophically, but she's not the only one.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Think about young adult fiction.
Heather Roberts: No.
Veronica Adams: Suzanne Collins comes to mind.
Heather Roberts: Oh my God, yes. I mean, there's so many, just off the top of your head.
Veronica Adams: Just just off the top of my head.
Heather Roberts: There's so many books. I mean, frankly, I should say Handmaid's Tale has popped to the top of the charts this week.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: As it should, as it should.
Heather Roberts: So I love that for Margaret.
Veronica Adams: Mm -hmm.
Heather Roberts: But yeah, it's just yeah similar books with dystopian themes.
Veronica Adams: Mm -hmm.
Heather Roberts: I mean, have you read a young adult novel ever?
Veronica Adams: Right?
Heather Roberts: Like, yeah.
Veronica Adams: Or even some children's literature. Uh, I, come on, I'm the Pizza Hut Book It kid, right?
Heather Roberts: yeah
Veronica Adams: Like, I read voraciously. It's probably what planted the seeds that allowed my little mind to eventually challenge some of the things I grew up with. But, um, Yeah, Lois Lowry, The Giver, Number the Stars.
Veronica Adams: true so I mean, The Giver is fiction, is totally fiction. Number of the Stars is historical fiction, right?
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: um but Telling true tales about what happened in the past, about things that maybe school boards and state legislatures don't let taught in public schools anymore.
Heather Roberts: Right.
Veronica Adams: That's why we have book bands.
Heather Roberts: Exactly. Speaking of, I mean, we've been talking about book bands for a couple of weeks.
Veronica Adams: that we have.
Heather Roberts: We did skip last week, though, recording, because it was it was a very busy week. i
Veronica Adams: What what had happened was
Heather Roberts: What had happened was, no, I was on the board, I guess I'm still on the board of the Green Mountain Book Festival in Burlington, Vermont. And we had the festival. So it was on Friday and Saturday of last weekend. And also on Friday, I was giving a workshop on and a virtual conference for IPNE, which is the Independent Publishers of New England. There we go.
Heather Roberts: and about you know marketing and and all of that. So it was a long weekend um and it was just a lot. So it was just busy um and we couldn't do the recording.
Veronica Adams: Yeah. Yes.
Heather Roberts: but And then we rolled right into the election and and all of that. So it's been quite a week.
Veronica Adams: Crazy.
Heather Roberts: I haven't slept a lot.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: um But before that, we were talking about book bandings in public schools and the different lawsuits that are going on.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Heather Roberts: And if you think you saw lawsuits before, boy, howdy, let me get ready.
Veronica Adams: Get ready. Buckle up, baby.
Heather Roberts: And we're going to have a lot of content to talk about. That's all I have to say.
Veronica Adams: provided provided we continue to have free speech rights it remains to be seen, you know.
Heather Roberts: Right. So yeah, I mean, let's talk about that. Cause there's a lot of, you know, people talking about and an accused people are being accusatory and saying that, Oh, you're fear mongering.
Heather Roberts: You know, when you say things like, we're not going to have free speech or, you know, books aren't going to be here or what have you. and Let's talk about it.
Veronica Adams: part of airring Part of preparing for the future is understanding what your worst case scenarios are.
Heather Roberts: Yes.
Veronica Adams: they They may continue to be worst case scenarios, but I really push back against this idea that it's fear mongering to think about what is the worst that could happen.
Veronica Adams: Because how else do you inform yourself about what you need to do now and also in preparation for either the worst case scenario or some some lesser version of it?
Heather Roberts: I agree.
Heather Roberts: You should prepare.
Heather Roberts: Right. And I'm one of those prepare for the worst hope for the best type people.
Veronica Adams: That's it.
Heather Roberts: Okay.
Veronica Adams: That's it. Yeah.
Heather Roberts: So that's what we need to think about. And like, listen, if they actually get, um I'll say this first, and then I'll get to my other point. Do I think that on day one, they're going to ban romance books?
Veronica Adams: no
Heather Roberts: No, no, I don't think that a Trump administration is highly prioritized to ban romance books, that that's not number one on this list. um However, do I think that libraries and publicly funded schools and you know things like that are going to see a lot more book banning?
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Heather Roberts: Yes, absolutely, that is going to happen. ah You can mark my words, mark me. ah You can mark my words. That is absolutely going to happen.
Heather Roberts: and We're going to see a lot more of that type of parental book banning in public libraries and public schools.
Veronica Adams: Yeah. Yes. Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Okay. So that type of, that that's a concern because it's a slippery slope, right? Now, if we get to what a lot of people are throwing around, which is the Project 2025, a little snippet about pornography and and all of that, people are talking about the Comstock Act, which if you don't know what the Comstock Act is, it is an act, it's a law that from like the 1700s, like I'm not joking. um I don't know the exact year of the law, I mean, it's in my mind, but it is not a new one.
Veronica Adams: some Hamilton era shit right here.
Heather Roberts: um Yeah, it's from I believe the 1700s and essentially it is for the United States Postal Service to govern the distribution of pornography and um
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Heather Roberts: you know aboard fashions, abortion pills and things like that through the US mail.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Heather Roberts: right It limits what you can send through the US mail, which is you know why you can't send pornography like that. you know You have to have special packaging and stuff like that.
Heather Roberts: right So that is what people are thinking about.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: And then Project 2025 with the snippet that tries to outlaw, that wants to outlaw pornography and all forms of it. um Now, one could argue, because I've argued many, many times that romance novels are not pornography.
Heather Roberts: And some of them aren't, like, right? oh Many of them are.
Veronica Adams: what what could happen and in this case is that the Supreme Court will have to make that determination at some point.
Heather Roberts: Right. And my question to you is whether we want the government making that choice for us, right?
Veronica Adams: Right.
Heather Roberts: Why should they make that choice? Now, objectively speaking, are some romance novels a lot spicier than others? Yes. I mean, yes, they are. Are they pornography?
Heather Roberts: I don't know. We we can have that art. that's a That's a legal definition -based argument that, as Veronica was saying, would have to be made in the courts to determine the scope of what includes pornography when it relates to books.
Veronica Adams: Yeah. Well, right. And, you know, you get into these really weird digressions and minutia and about how much sexual content in a story is required for it to simply be erotica, which is where the story centers around the sexual content itself, versus a plot where other things happen and characters are on a specific journey of some kind, but there is also sex included.
Heather Roberts: Yeah,
Veronica Adams: So, you know, maybe we end up having that discussion as a society, maybe we don't.
Heather Roberts: this
Heather Roberts: ah yeah I don't know. I don't think that that's going to happen in that discussion and that case would make it to the Supreme Court within the four years of a Trump administration.
Veronica Adams: Right.
Veronica Adams: Probably not.
Heather Roberts: I don't think that that is a high priority. So what I could be wrong, okay, but yeah, exactly.
Veronica Adams: I've been wrong about everything else this year.
Heather Roberts: But I'm just saying from what they have laid out as their plans, I don't see that piece of ah adult to you know free market reading ah being on the chopping block first.
Veronica Adams: Right. Yeah.
Heather Roberts: There's going to be a lot of pushback right about other things as well. So things are hopefully going to move slow with some of these things.
Veronica Adams: Well, and listen, Clarence Thomas is notorious for his alleged consumption of pornography back before he was appointed to the court.
Heather Roberts: yeah
Veronica Adams: So maybe we've got some sympathy from the justices who are in control.
Heather Roberts: I mean, that's that's a silver lining, a silver lining hope grasp if I've ever seen one, but you know, we'll we'll take what we can get these days.
Veronica Adams: google Google it, kids. Those of you who weren't alive in the 90s, Google it.
Heather Roberts: my My point is I've had some authors come to me very concerned, like what do we do? Is this is my way of life going to be gone?
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Am I going to not be able to write what I wanna write. I think immediately, no, I don't think that that's going to be, I don't think my, our business, because listen, it doesn't just affect authors, it affects us too, all right?
Veronica Adams: Right. Yes.
Veronica Adams: yeah Your is your agents, your publicists, your marketing team, your, your PA or VA a is like, we're we're all going to be impacted by this.
Heather Roberts: um
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: but The publishers themselves, you know, they're gonna be watching this very closely.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Heather Roberts: So I don't think that there's going to be an immediate impact, okay?
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Um, we'll see. Anything could happen. Um, and that's, that's, I think the scary part is that it's a very, we don't have a determination of saying, Oh yeah, they would never do this.
Veronica Adams: Right.
Heather Roberts: I can't say that. Um, and that's where.
Veronica Adams: Right. but it we've We've got two opposing groups of people in this movement, right? So we've got ah capitalists and we've got Christian nationalists and their interests on this particular issue are very opposed to one another.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Right.
Veronica Adams: The capitalists, and I say this with Jeff Bezos in mind, they're going to want to sell the stuff that sells. And if you ask Amazon, what the best -selling genre of ebook is, what makes them their money in Kindle Unlimited.
Veronica Adams: They're going to tell you it's romance novels, okay? So you get millions of dollars in a billion -dollar company at stake here and moneyed interests against the Christian nationalist base of folks, the the social movement here, if you will, who would who are responsible for and or support Project 2025 and would like to see all of this content banned.
Heather Roberts: Right.
Veronica Adams: um Your guess is as good as mine as to who prevails in this in this internal argument that they're going to have to sort out.
Heather Roberts: Who's going to win?
Heather Roberts: Correct. And that's what we're just going to have to sit by and watch. But what can you do to start to protect yourself as a business, as we're going into this unknown, ah into this field of unknown?
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: And that's what you know you should be thinking about now. One, make sure that you have your newsletter lists.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Heather Roberts: If we need to go underground for some reason, you need to be able to reach out directly to your consumers who would be wanting to purchase your product.
Veronica Adams: Absolutely.
Heather Roberts: Because let's be clear, the market for these books, for romance books, are not is not going to disappear even if it becomes illegal for us to be able to market them okay publicly.
Veronica Adams: No. No.
Heather Roberts: So the consumption, people will still want to consume it. um there The readers will still be there. And so the question is how to distribute that to those readers.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: So have up your own shops, right?
Veronica Adams: yeah
Heather Roberts: Set up your direct marketing.
Veronica Adams: you You need to be as in touch with your individual readers as you possibly can be, because beyond the issues with ah how and whether you'll be able to sell anymore, ah you're going to see content restrictions on all social media.
Veronica Adams: And TikTok's probably going to go away, um at least temporarily.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Someone may pop up with a replacement for it.
Heather Roberts: Yeah. Or the version of it in that and occur as it currently exists, maybe.
Veronica Adams: ah that
Veronica Adams: Right. Right. But even Facebook and Instagram and Snapchat by X. Well, maybe not X.
Heather Roberts: All right.
Veronica Adams: I don't know. Let's see what's been bought and paid for there necessarily. But um Trump and Zuckerberg are not friends. And Mark's going to have to he's going to have to start restricting certain content and toe the line.
Heather Roberts: yeah
Heather Roberts: Yeah. So be prepared to have to censor your posts.
Veronica Adams: Mm hmm.
Heather Roberts: Be prepared to have hold covers that you can use for social media posts instead of the actual cover that you want to use.
Veronica Adams: Yep.
Heather Roberts: You may have to use an actual cover in newsletters, right?
Veronica Adams: Yep.
Heather Roberts: And then you might have to start leaning into these discrete covers in order to allow for the retailers to publish your book.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Veronica Adams: Start writing that wave.
Heather Roberts: Okay. Right. I'm not saying you have to do this stuff right now, but these are things that you should be thinking about as we're moving forward that you know these might be pivots that you have to make in order to continue selling and feeding your family and having this business.
Veronica Adams: Yep. Yes.
Heather Roberts: So these are things that we're looking at that we're going to be watching very closely.
Veronica Adams: Mm hmm. Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Um, and so if, if you would like that to be also part of your world, please come and talk to us.
Veronica Adams: For sure.
Heather Roberts: We're always hoping for new clients.
Veronica Adams: For sure.
Heather Roberts: Um, but, but really, yeah.
Veronica Adams: But yeah, well, and also consider how well established are you in international markets?
Heather Roberts: Yes.
Veronica Adams: You know,
Heather Roberts: Very good point.
Veronica Adams: what what portion of your readership is in the UK or in Australia or in New Zealand? Are you pursuing translations?
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Have you tapped to the German reader market? Have you tapped to the French reader market, the Italian reader market, the Portuguese, the Spanish? I mean, there are so many doors that you can open for the backlist you currently have while you continue to find new ways to publish and sell books in whatever the environment is going to be.
Heather Roberts: Right.
Veronica Adams: um and And beyond that, consider also your options for serializing your work instead of maybe selling it in one total book, right?
Veronica Adams: um you know there There are technical ways to get around content restrictions. You can get an international VPN and publish from another country.
Heather Roberts: It's true.
Veronica Adams: you know then things like that that you can do. Or you can just leave American markets and be available internationally. So the sky is cloudy, but it's not falling yet.
Heather Roberts: Yeah, there there will be ways to put it. You can also decide. Yeah, that's not falling yet. I mean, I've talked to some authors about, you know, if they want to pursue a passion project in another genre that isn't romance, maybe now's the time to start that pen name.
Veronica Adams: Also, yeah, also a really good thought, I think.
Heather Roberts: um If they're really concerned about this, and I get it, you need to have the backup plan to the backup plan to the backup plan to the backup plan.
Veronica Adams: Also, malicious compliance. Start writing romance novels that are a closed door.
Heather Roberts: Yes.
Veronica Adams: Fade to black.
Heather Roberts: Right. And then also offer all of the sex scenes and bonus content in your direct newsletter or something like that.
Veronica Adams: Such a great idea.
Heather Roberts: I mean, the the amount of, we are creative malicious compliance folks.
Veronica Adams: Such a great idea.
Veronica Adams: Yes.
Heather Roberts: um that's That's our jam.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Excuse me. So.
Veronica Adams: build build a sub -stack or a Patreon community where people who are subscribed are opting in because they want the spicy stuff and that's the only place they can get it.
Heather Roberts: Right.
Heather Roberts: So we will figure this out as it goes on. we We don't know anything yet. And that's the scary part. That's why people are you know thinking about the worst case scenario because we don't know what the scenario is going to be.
Veronica Adams: yeah
Heather Roberts: We've not been really given the...
Veronica Adams: This is also a really diverse community and I think there's a lot of grief and fear about other things too, not necessarily related to publishing, but yeah, absolutely.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: The unknown is the unknown is the worst part in this equation.
Heather Roberts: i mean I mean, and if you are a queer author, right like writing queer romance, or you're writing romance, that'd be...
Heather Roberts: is part of a and marginalized group. Yeah, I understand how your concerns are higher. You're valid, very valid concerns because I don't think they're gonna come for the male, female, contemporary romance books first.
Veronica Adams: No, they're not.
Heather Roberts: Okay, they're not.
Veronica Adams: Well, and listen, look look at the breakdown about who voted for whom, okay?
Heather Roberts: So, right.
Veronica Adams: ah This is a community that's still largely comprised of white women and we unfortunately are not necessarily safe for all of the people who are writing books for us.
Heather Roberts: Yeah, exactly.
Veronica Adams: So there's a lot of harm reduction that wasn't that wasn't engaged with and a lot of pain and distrust.
Heather Roberts: Correct. So it's it's gonna be it's going to be something. it's gonna We're tired, okay? we're We're all a bit tired this week, but what I need to tell you is that we can't stay tired for the next four years.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: You can't just lay down and roll over and say, well, that's it, I'm throwing up my hands. You can't do that.
Veronica Adams: Right. Right.
Heather Roberts: um As Kamala Harris said, now is the time to roll up our sleeves.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: I understand that you're tired. We all are, it's a level of exhaustion.
Veronica Adams: Mmhmm.
Heather Roberts: We don't feel like doing it again, but we have to, okay?
Veronica Adams: Yeah, well, and and that that is that's that's for everybody here in in this particular message, right?
Heather Roberts: a
Heather Roberts: Everyone.
Veronica Adams: Because ah listen. shit's expensive. Life is hard right now. Everybody is feeling a pinch or a real struggle in one way shape or ah or another.
Heather Roberts: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: And I understand that's a motivation for making a decision at the ballot box.
Heather Roberts: Sure.
Veronica Adams: Maybe a decision I disagree with for a lot of reasons, but also I have a lot of privilege that leads me to feel differently. um
Veronica Adams: If you voted because of your financial concerns. But you still firmly believe in freedom of speech and the right to read whatever you want to read or write whatever you want to write.
Veronica Adams: You've also got to be a vocal ally in in spaces where you are adjacent to the people who are going to be making these decisions. You know, I'm, I'm talking to the women who voted for Trump, who would still like to be able to read romances of all kinds.
Heather Roberts: Right. right
Veronica Adams: Like you've got to use your voice and and be on the side of free speech and free press and free publication.
Heather Roberts: Because if it comes down to it, you need to speak up because that you know that is how we are going to ensure that these spaces continue to exist.
Veronica Adams: You just have to be.
Veronica Adams: Yeah. Yeah. Yes. Yes.
Heather Roberts: Um, so now is not, you know, take, take your time. Take some time for yourself. I know I went out yesterday and sat with the goats for about a half an hour and just, it's good to go do what you can do.
Veronica Adams: touching Touching grass is good for everybody.
Heather Roberts: I'm going to be posting more goat content, probably a daily goat content at this point, because I'm not the only one that needs it evidently. So. what When I say find your thing, find the thing that works for you, take your time, but remember that we...
Veronica Adams: I would personally like more videos of your progressive Gen X husband doing subtextually non -masculine things in his masculine way. I personally, that just, that does it for me.
Heather Roberts: I can i can also provide that. you ah um What Veronica is referring to is I walked in on my husband last night. He was wearing a Gen X t -shirt.
Heather Roberts: It literally just says Gen X whatever on it. Making dinner last night, listening to Rage Against the Machine. And it, it warmed something inside of me.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Like, like it was great.
Veronica Adams: Me too. Me too.
Heather Roberts: So I will post more of that for sure. But yeah, take take wait time for yourself. make Make sure that your mental health is good, right?
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: Be around people. Find your community. Be around people who can support you and love you, whether they're on the internet or and or in real life. And then remember that we need to continue using our voices.
Heather Roberts: We can't flee.
Veronica Adams: Yes. Yeah.
Heather Roberts: This isn't a fight or flight situation. We can't flight friends. I know it's tempting. I know lots of people want to.
Veronica Adams: yeah
Heather Roberts: If you can move your family into a safer so state, absolutely by all means, go for it, right? I did that. um You know, right.
Veronica Adams: Remains to be seen how safe states are going to be, though.
Heather Roberts: But if things go nationally,
Heather Roberts: where none of us are safe.
Veronica Adams: Yeah. Yeah.
Heather Roberts: so But do what you have to do for your family. you know We absolutely get that. But at the same time, make sure that you're using your voice to be heard in these situations so that we can continue to live the life that and we want to live and have the freedoms that we want to have.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: And trust too that there's always a really, really good chance that our forms of entertainment are probably going to be safe because they keep us distracted from some of the things that they're doing in other places and in other ways that affect us.
Heather Roberts: Yes.
Heather Roberts: Right.
Veronica Adams: So there's always that too.
Heather Roberts: Yeah. I'm not super concerned for the first four years. If things continue, andton if the Christian nationalists went out within that argument, I'll be very concerned.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Veronica Adams: Yeah, if the billionaires concede and say, you know what, it's a small percentage of our profits, we'll let it go.
Heather Roberts: Yeah. Let's just say I'm watching this.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: I'm watching it very closely. And I will be the first to raise the alarm if I start seeing things popping up that affect this industry. So let's just, you know, hold our collective breaths a little bit more, a little longer.
Heather Roberts: Do what you can do right now to prepare art making a plan.
Veronica Adams: Start making a plan. You've got two months until Inauguration Day.
Heather Roberts: Yes.
Veronica Adams: Yeah.
Heather Roberts: And remember to take care of yourself because that's the most important thing.
Veronica Adams: Yes. Mm -hmm. Yep.
Heather Roberts: And read a book, perhaps a political one.
Heather Roberts: Perhaps ah ah one that has ah a fantasy element with a resistance movement. and Yeah, so let's see.
Veronica Adams: Even better. Yeah.
Heather Roberts: And let's see if this outro music works. And until then, we'll ah see you next time.
Veronica Adams: Until next time, we are maybe for book's sake.
Heather Roberts: Yeah, is it working?
Veronica Adams: Yay, I hear it.
Heather Roberts: Okay, I don't, so you're gonna have to tell me what it's all about.
Veronica Adams: Okay.
