Kassia Krozser and her husband are the creators of Romance Wiki, a wiki-format online encyclopedia of all aspects of romance fiction. Ms. Krozser gracefully answers a few questions on her own past, what led to her interest in romance fiction, and information on the birth of all her enterprises, among them RomanceWiki, booksquare.com and medialoper.com.
Q: Tell readers a little about yourself?
A: I am an unpublished fiction writer. In addition to writing long-form fiction, I am a lifelong essayist. After taking a (very!) early retirement from my job in the motion picture industry, I combined the latter with my knowledge of how the entertainment business works and, in 2004, started booksquare.com, which focuses on publishing, the future of publishing, and how technology is changing our world.
I am incredibly proud of that project and its sister project, medialoper.com, which focuses more on all aspects of entertainment media. It's been hard work, but I have established myself-I believe-as a respected voice in the industry. As a writer, there is nothing more satisfying than realizing you're being read, and that people are really responding to what you're saying.
I still consult in the motion picture industry, which cuts into what I consider my 'real' job, but it's also allowing me to keep on top of the really important topics that impact both Booksquare and Medialoper. I think it's really important to have a voice that gets what's going on from both the corporate and artist sides.
Q: When did you first start reading romances?
A: I was one of those kids who read 'Johnny Tremaine' (one of the bestselling children's novels of all time) for the romance. Seriously, I was like eight years old and thinking that his relationship with Cilla was just the greatest part of the novel.
I've always been attracted to romantic fiction, but when I was a senior in high school, a relative gave me grocery bags full of old Harlequin Romances. Stuff from the sixties and seventies, you know, the years when heroines did exotic things like drive their Minis on the A4 (I so wondered about that; it was less exciting in reality than fiction).
At some point, this same relative started slipping Harlequin Presents into my bags o' books. I immediately abandoned fantasies about moving to a sheep farm in Australia in favor of mysterious Greek tycoons. Of course, in those days, tycoons were merely millionaires. I'm glad I didn't settle; I have expensive tastes and this decade's billionaires might-just might-be able to keep me in the style to which I'm sure I could easily become accustomed.
Q: What made you think of starting RomanceWiki?
A: Here is the deepest, darkest secret about the wiki: it wasn't my idea. In this case, legend is very close to the truth. I was sick one day and just wanted to sleep. My husband was doing some research and, boom! 'Romancewiki'. Really. He told me about his idea-we had been wanting to work with wikis as part of our business-and I apparently grunted, said 'fine', and went back to sleep. Or so he says. I'm sure I was way more enthusiastic than the story goes. I mean, it's an awesome idea.
Q: What advice would you give romance authors who wish to create or edit their entries on RomanceWiki?
A: One wish I have is that authors think three years down the line when they add themselves to the wiki. Romance writers are incredible self-promoters and the tendency is to write for the wiki as if it's promotional copy. Some authors are great about keeping their wiki bios up-to-date (and I salute those authors!) and a 'today perspective works really well. But I think it's better to treat the wiki more as a resume. We don't have a lot of hard rules about how and what to do, but I see the best entries for authors as those that send a professional message...with some personality!
As for books, wow, do you have any idea how many romance novels have been published? Neither do I. It's a lot easier to capture information about authors than it is about books. We have a few fans who are creating pages for their favorites, and some authors add theirs. It's a lot of work, and my advice is that authors add their books and create a real resource.
In addition to bibliographic information, add links to reviews, or properly attributed quotes from reviews. And add something about the book that goes beyond the cover copy; what is the book about? Cover copy, we all know, is shorthand, but what makes this book or that book special? It's so hard to stand out in the crowd, no matter what genre you're writing for, and readers really want more information to make informed decisions.
For more on RomanceWiki:
RomanceWiki: The Online Encyclopedia of Romance Fiction
Kassia Krozser’s sites:
RomanceWiki.com
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