Shay Bohannon’s journey to House of Bohannon CEO

From commanding the airwaves as “The First Lady of Radio” to revolutionizing the romance publishing industry, Shay Bohannon’s journey embodies the essence of entrepreneurial spirit. As CEO of House of Bohannon Literary, PR and Publishing, she has carved out a distinctive niche in romance literature, bringing fresh perspectives and diverse voices to the billion-dollar industry. In this exclusive interview, Bohannon shares her remarkable transition from media personality to publishing powerhouse, offering invaluable insights into the world of romance publishing and entrepreneurship.

What are the key elements of a romance novel?

The formula, it has to have a conflict too, because you want a happy ending, but something got to happen. It’s just like a real situation, a real relationship, something has to happen. It always starts out with boy meets girl, we have different things called tropes and tropes can be a forced proximity, where you’re stuck in a cabin, there’s nowhere for you to go. You might be mad at him, but what you gonna do you can’t go nowhere, he mad at you, but now you got to face each other, so you got to go over whatever the conflict was that made you guys not be together, or whatever, and you always gotta have a resolution and a happy ending. So it’s always that dark moment in a romance book, that kind of gets it over the hump. Let’s just be honest, you have some that have their real feel good.

When did you first start reading romance?

I was a good 15 years old, bothering my brothers, and one of my brother’s girlfriends was like, “Girl here”, I was like what? And I started reading it, and the first book she gave me was Undeniable by Francis Ray. She’s gone on to glory now, but her storytelling is so wonderful, so compelling. It makes you feel like that you’re inside the area that the character is in. It took place in Albuquerque, New Mexico, I wanted to move to Albuquerque, New Mexico, I wanted to live in New Mexico, I want to be a part of Ray Sullivan and his family like I just want to be a part of it. She was a wonderful storyteller, and I started with her, I read all her books, and then I called someone I was like, “Listen, I need to read somebody who’s as prolific as a storyteller as Francis Ray. Who do we have?”

I reached out to Francis Ray’s daughter because Francis had passed away, I called her daughter. I’m like, “listen. I need help. I’m hooked. I’m a romance freak now. I need to know about someone who writes along your mom’s style, because that’s just so captivating. It was so relatable, it felt so real.” I mean, I would go to sleep and dream about these characters, and she was like, “Well, have you ever heard of Brenda Jackson?”

What makes Brenda Jackson’s romance tropes endure through multiple books?

It’s so many tropes, you have so many, it’s about a good 70 tropes, and you can spin them different kind of ways, like. She has one book in another series that you have a person who had amnesia, and then you have, of course, the secret baby. Then you got the secret son, and then you have the forced proximity, then you have second chance romance, second chance romance is my absolute favorite. So it’s so many tropes, and there’s so many different ways and twists and turns you can tell a story that’s just lovable and just romantic.

What kind of stories are you currently looking for?

Why are holiday romances so popular?

Think about it, you just you’re sitting there, it’s Christmas, snowing outside, your eggnog. The scene is set, it’s so romantic, I mean, that’s just like the best, you get the warms and fuzzy on the inside. It’s all about love, and it’s the perfect setting for a romance novel, just the scenery itself. And it’s all about love giving and being with loved ones, so why not? That’s the best holiday ever for romance, but it’s better. Christmas romance book is better than a Valentine’s romance book, because you get to incorporate the family, I love second characters, too, and it’s just wonderful.

How do you approach gifting books during holidays?

They get hard copies of my favorite romance novel, because you just have to read it, it takes you away, and then, some of the kids, I might bless them with a young adult book, like little budding romance , high school love going into college, something like that.