book recs, author services, general badassery
  • Blog
    • Free Romance Reads
    • Our Thoughts
    • 1-Click Wonders
    • Author on Authors
    • Chattin' with Authors
    • So You're New To...
  • Book Recs
  • Reviews
    • 5-Star Reads
    • Contemporary Romance
    • Historical Romance
    • New Adult Romance
    • Paranormal Romance
    • Romantic Comedy
    • Romantic Erotica
    • Romantic Suspense
    • Teen Young Adult
    • Hall of Shame
  • About
    • Contact
    • Review Policy
    • Guest Post Guidelines
    • Advertising on Romance Rehab
  • For Authors
    • Romance novel blurb help
    • Referral Program
    • Romance Remedy
    • Romance Author Services
    • Online Writer's Resources
    • Proofreading Test >
      • Proofreading Test Answers
  • Blog
    • Free Romance Reads
    • Our Thoughts
    • 1-Click Wonders
    • Author on Authors
    • Chattin' with Authors
    • So You're New To...
  • Book Recs
  • Reviews
    • 5-Star Reads
    • Contemporary Romance
    • Historical Romance
    • New Adult Romance
    • Paranormal Romance
    • Romantic Comedy
    • Romantic Erotica
    • Romantic Suspense
    • Teen Young Adult
    • Hall of Shame
  • About
    • Contact
    • Review Policy
    • Guest Post Guidelines
    • Advertising on Romance Rehab
  • For Authors
    • Romance novel blurb help
    • Referral Program
    • Romance Remedy
    • Romance Author Services
    • Online Writer's Resources
    • Proofreading Test >
      • Proofreading Test Answers
Picture

Tongue-in-cheek fun, or insult to romance readers everywhere? You decide.

5/8/2017

16 Comments

 
For those of you who haven’t heard, KFC just published its first romance novella, starring none other than Colonel Sanders himself. (And before you ask: no, I’m not sure, but I do THINK this is one of the signs of an impending apocalypse. You might want to start hoarding canned goods and antibiotics just in case.)

The novella, released to celebrate Mother’s Day, is called Tender Wings of Desire (gag) and portrays a love affair between Lady Madeline Parker and Colonel Harland Sanders. Currently, it’s a free Amazon download. (Update, 5/9/17: looks like it's 99 cents, now)

I can kind of picture how this “book” came to be. I’m pretty sure it happened like this: a bunch of middle-aged, white, MALE marketing executives got together for a meeting (or maybe a round of golf) and asked themselves, “how can we capitalize on a holiday like Mother’s Day and make it less about mothers and more about US and selling chicken?”
​
Tongue-in-cheek fun, or insult to romance readers everywhere? You decide.
I then imagine one of these smarmy dudes saying, “Well, women like romance novels. How about we have our ad agency write one of those and throw it out there on Amazon? I mean, how hard can it be? Anyone can write a romance novel, after all.” Then they all chortle and pat each other on the back on a job well done and move on to the next order of business.

Now, we’re assuming Tender Wings of Desire was meant as a cute, tongue-in-cheek joke/semi-clever marketing ploy (although none of the many, many press releases about this book actually state that outright). And if the book had been well executed, we might be able to chortle along with the old white dudes who conceived it. But it was FAR from well executed. Amateurish writing, absolutely zero regard for time period accuracy, multiple grammatical errors, every old romance novel cliche known to man, crappy, embarrassing cover art...this book looks and reads like someone studied up on stupid romance novel myths and did everything they could to incorporate EVERY SINGLE ONE OF THEM into one cliche-laden volume.

The fact that this marketing ploy perpetuates every myth sites like ours—and all the great romance authors out there—have been working so diligently to destroy irks the crap out of me. I mean, even some of the press releases about this book were fairly offensive to real romance readers. (For an example, I point you to Business Insider, who said, “Of course, no one reads romance novels for the plot. Instead, it's all about skipping to the ‘good parts,’  if you know what we're saying.”) But honestly, that’s not my biggest problem with this book.

My biggest problem with this book can be best expressed by this, my question to KFC: if you wanted to give something to mothers for free to help celebrate how they, you know, give BIRTH TO and raise little human beings (kind of an important job), why didn’t you care enough to give them something GOOD? I’m guessing the marketing budget for this little disaster was fairly huge. You easily could’ve found a real romance author to write a good book for you. (Because as it turns out, Business Insider and KFC, romance readers actually DO expect plot in their novels. Sorry to wreck your whole worldview there, guys.) Did you think that moms who enjoy romance novels don’t care about or deserve quality? Can we expect something similarly crappy as your gift to fathers on Father’s Day? Maybe a super low-quality set of KFC-branded socket wrenches, or something? Because, hey, all men love socket wrenches, right? (See how we just lumped all men into one category? Does that offend you guys? Welcome to the club.)

So, for the old white dudes who conceived this idea, I leave you with this advice:
  1. In the future, before you launch a marketing campaign that’s geared toward women, consider actually asking a woman (a real one) what she thinks of the idea. You might learn a thing or two.
  2. Romance readers DO expect their books to be well-written, and there ARE plenty of great romance authors out there (shocking, I know, but bear with me, guys)
  3. Avoid cliches. No one likes them.
  4. How about you focus on making and selling chicken, and let real authors worry about writing and publishing?    
What about all you romance readers out there? What are your thoughts? ​

16 Comments
Diana
5/8/2017 07:50:08 pm

I'm utterly appalled and disappointed that a national food chain would choose to make a joke and insult us as women. In short, you took something I enjoy, and many other women if the 2500+ women I've met over the years at the book conventions I've attended, and you made a national laughing stock of it. No marketing ploy that insults me and my friends and a whole genre of people (women to name one), no matter how unintentional was worth that. I hope you find your laugh at the expense of losing a customer.

Reply
Jennifer, Romance Rehab
5/8/2017 09:13:56 pm

Well said, Diana! Thank you so much!

Reply
Tess Thompson link
5/8/2017 08:44:54 pm

I'm absolutely positive this means the apocalypse is coming soon. Holy gawd, it doesn't seem possible this is real. Great article! I'm now off to stock up on canned goods. xo

Reply
Jennifer, Romance Rehab
5/8/2017 09:12:56 pm

Thanks so much, Tess! (And don't forget to stock up on antibiotics, too. They're just as important as canned goods in the apocalypse)

Reply
Cindi
5/8/2017 09:39:39 pm

I'm so sure that whoever wrote for the Business Insider is an idiot...who definitely does not have any good parts..and definitely is not getting anything good..since this person does NOT possess a brain..maybe this person is a frustrated BAD writer who has not made it to AUTHOR status because of its lame comments in IT'S books...this statement is such an insult and needs to be retracted...

Reply
Jennifer, Romance Rehab
5/9/2017 08:36:05 am

Thanks so much for commenting, Cindi! And you're right...the Business Insider reporter was definitely ignorant about the genre. I'm sure she didn't even realize she was being insulting. (Which is almost worse than intentionally insulting someone, in my opinion) Totally agree that a retraction is in order.

Reply
herding cats & burning soup
5/9/2017 12:51:47 am

Oh what ever. It was a cute little read and you're getting your knickers in a bunch over nothing. Was it a perfect book...no. But it wasn't any worse than half the crap on the market that we actually pay for. They did something cute and unique and meant to have fun.

Reply
Jennifer, Romance Rehab
5/9/2017 08:30:25 am

Thanks for commenting! Everyone's entitled to their opinion and I respect yours, but...you think this book wasn't any worse than half the crap on the market that you're actually paying for? My God, what are you reading, sweetheart???? I'm concerned about you! Let me be your personal book shopper for a bit. I know countless gifted authors who write books so beautiful you'll cry. Let me help you! I can change your life...

Reply
Scott link
5/9/2017 08:37:48 am

Hey, it's a free country. You're certainly welcome to your opinion. That said, I respectfully and strongly disagree. I have no doubt it may have been intended to be "cute, unique and fun" but based on the comments we've been seeing on this blog and others as well as email and social media, the vast majority of romance fans think it was anything but.

Also, if you think that dumpster fire of a book was "no worse than half the crap on the market" you're either incredibly bad at picking out books or should probably just quit reading the genre altogether. From what I've seen and read, the romance genre is filled with insightful, thoughtful and incredibly talented authors who have a seemingly limitless capacity to explore the human condition. Are there some bad books in the genre? Absolutely, but no more so than any other genre. If you can't find any, check out some of the lists and reviews. If you simply can't appreciate their talent, I'd advise you to look elsewhere for your reading pleasure. I wish you luck. Trust me, you'll need it if you hope to find another genre with as much diversity and excellence. In my opinion, it doesn't exist.

Reply
Karen
5/9/2017 09:37:33 am

To give the Chicken guy's a break, They produced a book, it looks like, that has the same quality as their chicken. Honestly, I haven't tasted really good KFC since we took a trip to Corbin Kentucky and saw the KFC original spot back in 1995. And before THAT, not since the 70's. So they are not really into Quality. Just quantity. That being said, it doesn't surprise me that they are alright with flooding the market with cheap, inferior products. The best thing we can do is not give them any more attention.

Reply
Jennifer, Romance Rehab
5/9/2017 09:43:43 am

Good point, Karen. Why expect a cheap fast food chain to produce anything of quality? It definitely would've been better if they hadn't even tried. There's no excuse for the reporter from Business Insider slamming an entire genre (a billion dollar genre, as it turns out) with an off-hand, ignorant comment, though. They don't get a pass from us on this one. Thanks for commenting and getting involved in the discussion!

Reply
Pam
5/9/2017 01:32:58 pm

Please disregard and, if possible, delete my prior comment. I accidentally copied and pasted it here when I intended to post it to another blog post. Please accept my deepest apologies if I offended you in any way as this was not directed at your or your article. Thank you.

Reply
Jennifer link
5/9/2017 02:01:33 pm

Pam, per your request, we've deleted your prior post but no worries. It's pretty obvious who you were directing your message towards. S'all good.

Reply
Pam
5/9/2017 10:04:06 pm

Thanks so much, Jennifer!

Annie Arcane link
5/15/2017 04:14:38 pm

KFC chicken is just one of those things I get a whiff of and wanna eat. Every. Single. Time. Knowing full well it's gonna make me sick. Every. Single. Time. No joke. This little novella was kinda sorta like that. :P

Great article, Miss Jennifer!!

Reply
Jennifer, Romance Rehab
5/16/2017 09:23:08 am

I too have a weakness for the original recipe chicken (with the mashed potatoes & gravy, of course). Can't say for sure that this novella will make me boycott KFC (although I'd like to), but I definitely hope the romance community gets together and jumps all over this little fiasco so that the KFC marketing department puts a little more thought into their next campaign! Thanks for commenting!

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Romance Rehab newsletter sign up

    FOLLOW US 
    Reedsy Top Book Reviewer 2019

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2023
    February 2023
    January 2023
    December 2022
    November 2022
    October 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    July 2022
    June 2022
    May 2022
    April 2022
    March 2022
    February 2022
    January 2022
    December 2021
    November 2021
    October 2021
    September 2021
    August 2021
    July 2021
    June 2021
    May 2021
    April 2021
    March 2021
    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017

Picture

BLOG
FREE Romance books
​Book Recommendations

Our Thoughts
1-Click Wonders
5-Star Reads
Authors on Authors
Chattin' with Authors
So You're New To...
What Not to Read
REVIEWS
​
Contemporary Romance
Historical Romance
New Adult Romance
Paranormal Romance
Romantic Comedy
Romantic Erotica
Romantic Suspense
Teen/Young Adult
ABOUT
Contact
Review Policy
Guest Post Guidelines
Advertising on
​Romance Rehab

​
FOR AUTHORS
Online Writer's Resources
Proofreading Test
ROMANCE AUTHOR SERVICES 
Romance novel blurb help
Romance Remedy program

Referral program

Romance author services
  • Book cover critique
  • Animated book covers and social media graphics
  • Beta reading
FREE Romance Rehab newsletter: ​Subscribe here
KnockinBooks LLC is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com.
​© 2020 KnockinBooks LLC