Wednesday, August 26, 2015

Women of Color in Romance with Rebekah Weatherspoon @WOCInRomance @rebekahwsm

Hey, everyone! Some of you may recognize Rebekah Weatherspoon's name from when I interviewed her last year.  Since then, she's published a few more awesome books (seriously, go read the FIT trilogy--hot!) and has been hard at work on a social media presence designed to help promote women of color in romance writing.

I'll stop chatting now and let her tell you a bit about it!

First off, congrats on finishing the FIT Trilogy and on the well-deserved awards it’s won. Sated was a fantastic book, and a fitting end. I loved the little bonus scene with Grant at the end, too. Woo!  *fans self*

How did you come to start WOC in Romance--the FB page, Twitter, tumblr, etc.?

I was seeing a lot of pushes and promo for diverse YA books, but I wasn’t seeing any place that was specifically set up for Authors of Color. I wanted to create that space.

Do you run the sites by yourself, or do you have help? If you’re looking for help running them, where should people contact you?

It’s 100% me. At this point I just need book recommendations and books to promo so if you know of WOC who’s books I should know about TELL ME!

Do the WOC in Romance sites promote other authors/works? Can people promote their own diverse romance books? How does the process work in case a reader wants to promote a book by a WOC in Romance?

Again the focus of WOC in Romance is to highlight romance novels by Women of Color. Anyone can suggest a book to me via email, twitter, facebook, or tumblr. The only criteria are that the author be a Woman of Color. The site is trans inclusive and open to non-binary and gender fluid folks as well.

What’s one piece of advice you’d give to authors of color? Or WOC authors of romantic fiction specifically?  

Keep writing, keep writing, keep writing.

What does “diverse romance” mean to you? Does it just include authors of color and/or stories including people of color, or are LGBTQ authors and stories included in the definition? (Just curious! I’d love to hear your take on this.)

I actually can’t stand the world diverse because it centers everything on certain groups that aren’t even the global majority, but since we live in the Western world, I believe it encompasses all that are marginalized due to their races, gender, sexual orientation, sex, and physical capabilities.

That's a great point!

Why do you believe diverse romance stories are so important? 

Because people die over these differences and it’s our responsibilities as members of the media to portray a wide variety of characters to readers.

You just returned from RWA 2015—how was the experience?

I had a great time. It was like finally going into the office after working from home for 2 years. Except your office is a bar and you love all of your coworkers.

I can certainly agree with you!

Where can we find WOC in Romance on the interwebs?

Twitter: https://twitter.com/WOCInRomance
Tumblr: http://wocinromance.tumblr.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/WOCInRomance
Email : wocinromance@gmail.com

Readers: you heard Rebekah! If you know of WOC who's books need to be promoted, let her know by contacting her at one of the links above. 

xoxo Sarah



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