Shay Bohannon’s journey to House of Bohannon CEO

From radio personality to romance publishing powerhouse, Shay Bohannon shares her inspiring path and vision for the future of diverse romance literature

By Munson Steed
Feb 20, 2025
11:04 am

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 background did you bring to the publishing industry?

I brought my education because I have a major in journalism and communication, and so I’ve always been a writer, and I’ve always loved writing, always loved authors. When I started the House of Bohannon, it started as a public relations firm, and it went on to literary management, and then from there, I was like, I understand the industry, I understand the publishing world, I think I can give this a try, and so we tested it out. One of the authors, USA Today’s bestselling author, Iris Bollin, she was like, “Hey, listen, I’m gonna write you a little short story, see what you can do”. I got the distribution, and my narrators was wonderful, and we put it out there, and it worked, and now I was like, hey, we’re a publishing company, easy, breezy.

What are publishers looking for in romance novels?

We’re a boutique publishing agency, I’m a publishing company, so let’s just be clear on that one, and I only publish romance. So with romance, you have to know the form of romance, it’s a happy ending. A lot of people say they write romance, and then it’s a cliffhanger, no, that’s a love story. Romance always end with a happy ending, you have to know the formula. Now, everyone I deal with, they know the formula, they’re bestseller authors, and I love it. My niche with the romance publishing only, it works for me.

How important is having a niche in publishing?

It’s very important, because romance is a billion dollar industry. The romance writers and romance books are what keep the lights on, people always trip about, “Oh, it’s romance, you’re reading that smut!” No, no, no, no! When I go to get funding, or to go after another publisher or editor or whatnot to attract them to the House of Bohannon, that is what I use. I give them the formula that the people write about. It’s a happy ending, it’s a good time place to be, it’s wonderful, you get to read and House of Bohannon is just a nice easy spot. You feel like you’re in romance land, like all year round, it’s always Christmas in July at the House of Bohannon, and so, having a niche, it really helps. It helps with your goals as well.

Who are some of your favorite romance authors?

Brenda Jackson, New York Times, USA Today’s best author, Brenda Jackson. She is like the Queen of Romance of African American romance, because Nora Roberts is the queen of romance on the other side, if that makes sense, so she’s leaning into me. I love her storytelling, I love her books, she is absolutely wonderful, and she understands the vision. She understands that we are a small boutique agency publishing companies, and so she wants to, I guess, give back to the community. We would be considered an Indie publishing company because we’re not a part of the Big 5 or whatnot or not an imprint of the big publishing companies, so she gets it, she understands it. She even wrote a book for us.

Vivian Stevens is considered the godmother of contemporary romance, Harlequin would not be Harlequin if it wasn’t for Vivian Stevens, and she calls me her granddaughter. She has lean into me, she teaches me everything. So from her, I know a lot about the publishing company. I understand the genre of romance because she started this genre, basically, and she believes in me, and she’s like, “Yo, go out there and do it. You’re a small company, you have a niche which is awesome. Stick to romance, and you take it from there”.

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?

I’m looking for mature romance, I’m looking for romance with characters above 50, because sometimes, when I am reading a book, and I read other like in a lot of the indie authors are writing wonderful books, but some of them their characters are like 22-23, which is cute. I’m looking for a man of a particular age, so I really have dreams about, and so I’m looking for someone who’s writing mature characters, that makes sense.

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.

What’s your advice for young CEOs choosing an industry?

You have to choose an industry that you’re passionate about, and for the ones who call themselves bosses for me, I had to be mentored by a boss. I found someone that I want to kind of, I don’t want to say pattern my life after, but I want to do what he’s doing, so let me find a way to get to him or her, and let them mentor me, so for me, I started in radio and I wanted to be in the radio. I knew that’s what I wanted to do, I wanted to talk for a living, I got my master’s in communication like this is what I want, and I was fortunate to be brought up with SiMan Baby. He was a popular radio personality there in Atlanta area, and that’s how I got the name, they used to call me Shay Baby because I was on with him, and I wanted to sit at this table and just figure out like, how can I be better? This is what I’m trying to do, this is my niche, and so, I got up on him, and he taught me everything I know which actually perlated to me being okay to walk into boardrooms, me being okay to interview authors and to talk to publishing companies and all that good stuff. So I would say, you gotta find your mentor and get your passion, don’t do what mom or daddy want to do, find out what exactly you want to do, and then make sure you’re good at it.