Whom Did I Exploit This Week (To Sell Books)?

A Literal Literary Loser Has No Shame

Regular readers of this Substack know that I am shameless. I have written posts like:

• Using Non-Fiction News Hooks To Sell Your Fiction

• Exploiting Others’ Work To Sell Your Own

So whom did I exploit this week via news hooks to sell my fiction? Buckle up, folks, this one is going to be a doozy!

Back in September, I put out one of my most popular pieces, My Husband, the Coat Rack. In it, I wrote:

How to write BIPOC (Black, Indigenous People of Color) characters. One of the instructions was to avoid writing characters who “live to serve and nurture their White counterparts with little or no aspirations of their own.” There was a follow up graphic about them not being “pushed around by outside forces to each plot point… because it strips a BIPOC character of (their) agency.”

Except that, in my upcoming historical fiction, Go On Pretending, I may have done that very thing. Because I based the romantic lead on my husband. (Read how much I love my husband, here.)

I’ve been exploiting my African-American husband for decades now to sell books. (See examples above.) But this week, I went a whole step further and exploited multiple African-Americans.

On Monday, February 24, a new soap opera called Beyond the Gates premiered. It’s the first new daytime drama in 25 years (I have this memorized because Passions debuted the day I brought my oldest son home from the hospital). It’s the first new CBS soap since 1987. It’s the first majority Black lead one, both in front of and behind the camera, EVER.

Naturally, I needed to take advantage of that. For myself.

First, I wrote a post for Kveller about Irna Phillips, the Jewish mother who invented soap operas:

Despite popular opinion holding that American audiences didn’t appreciate stories about “foreigners,” Irna wrote a tale for “The Guiding Light” featuring Rose Kransky, an Orthodox Jewish girl who wanted more from life than merely getting married and working in her father’s secondhand store.

Reverend Ruthledge loaned Rose money to attend secretarial school, which led to her working for a handsome – and WASP-y… and married – book publisher. Which led to an affair. Which led to Rose’s pregnancy. Which led to her lover denying his responsibility…. Irna was ahead of her time when it came to representing minority characters. Rose Kransky was even briefly spun off into a show of her own called “The Right To Happiness,” and “Guiding Light” was the first soap opera to introduce African-American contract players. In 1966, Jim Frazier was played by Billy Dee Williams, then James Earl Jones, while his wife, Martha, was portrayed by Cicely Tyson, then Ruby Dee in 1967.

The diversity of “Beyond the Gates” cast, which includes Clifton Davis (“Amen”) and Tamara Tunie (“Law & Order: SVU”) is a direct descendant of Phillips’ groundbreaking multicultural storylines, as well as those of one of her protegees, Agnes Nixon. In 1968 for “One Life to Live,” Nixon penned the story of Carla (Ellen Holly), a Black woman passing for white, which is remembered and celebrated to this day. In 1995, “One Life To Live,” which originally premiered with a Jewish family front and center, also featured a wedding officiated by a rabbi (played by Camryn Manheim before “The Practice”), a minister and Little Richard!

I followed that exploitation up by covering the Paley Museum’s NYC screening of Beyond the Gates’ pilot episode for SoapHub. (My husband and daughter were there to film me and take photos - more usury!) Though the SoapHub piece didn’t mention Go On Pretending directly, when I shared the pictures on social media, I included links for the book’s pre-orders AND information on how anyone who bought the novel in any format before the official May 1, 2025 release date would also get a free copy of my non-fiction book, Soap Opera 451: A Time Capsule of Daytime Drama’s Greatest Moments.

Finally (and, remember, it’s only Wednesday), I placed a post called Is It Time for Women To Reclaim The Soap Opera? with Talkhouse:

General opinion regarding the genre’s decline in popularity includes reality television taking over, all primetime shows becoming serialized, women no longer staying home to watch regularly, on-demand viewing making “tune in tomorrow” optional and, of course, O.J. Simpson.

But I blame a different culprit. I blame men.

Of the four soap operas left, The Bold and the Beautiful’s executive producer and head writer is a man, Bradley Bell (son of the show’s late creator, William Bell). The Young and the Restless’ executive producer and head writer is a man, Josh Griffith. General Hospital’s executive producer is a man, Frank Valentini. General Hospital has been playing musical chairs with head writers since 2023, with always at least one man at the helm, even if the team also happens to include a woman, like the current duo of Chris Van Etten and Elizabeth Korte. Over on Days of our Lives, another nepo baby, Ken Corday (son of the show’s creators, Ted and Betty Corday) is the executive producer, while Ron Carlivati was head writer from 2017. He has recently been fired, and a team of women, Paula Cwickly and Jeanne Marie Ford, installed in his place. But because the show tapes so far ahead, we won’t begin seeing their material air until late April of this year.

So, there are four daytime dramas left. And every single one is written and produced by men.

That’s a problem.

Soap operas were created by women, for women. I’m not saying men can’t be soap fans. My husband watched All My Children from its first day to its last, and I know many passionate, devoted male soap fans. But soaps weren’t made for them. They were made for us.

And, of course, I included a link to Go On Pretending.

Now, as I’ve written endlessly, when it comes to book promotion, nobody knows anything. Will all my exploitation help sell Go On Pretending?

I certainly hope so. I’d hate to think I was a horrible person for nothing….

What do you think? Tell me in the Comments!