Linked In Lion Meets Harlequin Princess

As promised a few posts ago, I agreed to profile the person who pushed me over the top in making me a LinkedIn Lion (#500 on my professional connections list)…

And the winner was... Tamara Paton, Director, New Business Development and Strategy, Harlequin Enterprises. Some might dispute whether this is winning.

Beyond some interesting degrees of separation (both of us married at a boutique winery in Niagara on the Lake, both of us hold down demanding positions and yet still blog like mad and both of us are running the Chicago Marathon), it was also gratifying to see an intellectually-curious type occupying what many people conceive as the traditional media executive suite.

While spending a late afternoon on a sunny uptown Toronto patio, I was taken into the world of publishing – from escapist chick lit to cyber romance to discreet “faux cover” erotica. I feel like was groomed in Femme Publishing 101 without the painful powerpoint slide. 

My outsider thoughts for what I believed were a great marriage of new media and “lust and love” lit were politely dismissed as potential career-limiting blunders:

- Visually arresting, e-book reader copies – women still like theatre of the mind and physical print

- Choose Your Own Romance Adventure – women like their romance plot dictated for them  

- Wiki novels: Collective Intelligence – good – Creative Collaboration a muddled lit soup

- The original Battlestar Galactica Romance Novels – nobody cares about Lorne Greene’s Lt. Adama’s love life

Insight of the conversation – the further south you get in North America, the more escapist the tendencies of female readers become (yes, women in

Texas

like MWM and MWMWMWM).

Beyond the entry into Harlequin’s sphere, conversation was comfortable and I benefited from the wide-ranging dialogue:

 - how to manage a legacy portfolio

 - the worth of consultants

 - the future of brand organizations

 - the place for word of mouth in the publishing world

 - the role of virtual worlds and Second Life

 - the interplay between social media (blogs and podcasts) and publishing

 - our shared love of collectable card books

 Not to mistake Tamara for a mere Mckinsey-ite-turned corporate policy wonk, she also has two very “woman of the people” blogs:

tamarapaton.blogspot.com – a stream of consciousness about her profession
theblogleadsthebody.blogspot.com – a autobiography on her passion for running

My two hour free flow discussion once again proves random social networking provides great dividends. Thanks again, Tamara - Harlequin Princess and Linked In Lionnette.

Next up connection LinkedIn #1,000.