The Romance Industry

The Power of Reader Communities: How Goodreads Choice Awards Influence Romance Literature

Contests, Reading, The Romance Industry, Writing Awards / / , , / 4 minutes of reading

Let’s talk about something we all know and love: the romance reader community. If you’ve ever swooned over a hero or squealed over a perfectly written grand gesture, chances are you’ve shared that excitement somewhere—with friends, book clubs, or, more likely these days, online. And one of the biggest platforms for romance fans to connect is Goodreads. It’s where we track our endless TBRs, leave reviews, and, every year, collectively lose our minds over the Goodreads Choice Awards.

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Why Don’t Romance Cover Characters Look Like Their Descriptions in the Book?

Intriguing Heroes, The Romance Industry / / , / 4 minutes of reading

If you’ve ever picked up a romance novel and thought, “Wait, that’s supposed to be the hero? Didn’t the author say he has a scar, dark curls, and a brooding stare? Why is this guy blond and smirking like a toothpaste model?”—you’re not alone. Romance readers have been puzzling over this for decades. Let’s unravel

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Why Best-Seller Lists Are the Worst Way to Find the Best Romances

Reading, The Romance Industry / / , / 4 minutes of reading

Of course, you’re on the hunt for the best romances out there. Nobody picks up a book thinking, “I hope this is mediocre.” But here’s the thing: using best-seller lists, “top author” rankings, “Best of” compilations, or any similar lists to find great romances? That’s one of the worst ways to discover the truly amazing

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Romance and Feminism…This could change how you think of the genre!

16 Comments / The Romance Industry / / , / 1 minute of reading

The romance genre often gets a bad rap–usually by men, but also by pretty much everyone in traditional publishing, and a large group of industry professionals who look down their noses at the “women’s genre”. Which is sometimes hard to take, because I’m sure that many of the people disparaging romance have never read a

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Why Reviews Are Important–for readers AND authors.

Indie Publishing, The Romance Industry / / , / 1 minute of reading

If you’ve ever not left a review for a book you’ve loved (or hated!) because, well, who cares what you think?–then you should have a read through Kristen Lamb’s post “Book Reviews: Why They Matter SO Much“. It’s a really good overview of why reviews matter for both authors and readers. Even if you never

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Some Pretty Big Changes Coming Up

Reader Resources, The Romance Industry, Upcoming Events / / / 6 minutes of reading

Some Pretty Big Changes Coming Up Several weeks ago, I sent this to my reader’s list: Among the writing community I have a bit of a reputation for championing “wide” publishing. Let me explain that. As a reader, I’m sure you’re familiar with Kindle Unlimited, a subscription service that Amazon provides which, for a low

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…*made* it! (And why it isn’t “phew!”)

Historical Romance, Indie Publishing, New Release, The Romance Industry / / , / 7 minutes of reading

One of the benefits that the new world of indie publishing gives to you, as a reader, is not exactly obvious on the surface. You have to know a bit about the publishing world to realize how awesome and amazing indie publishing really is. So let me give you the nickel tour of one of

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Dumb Drugs

The Romance Industry / / , / 2 minutes of reading

Last Monday I woke up with a pain in the side of my back, that stabbed sharply when I breathed heavily. It hurt to raise my arm. As I had woken with it, I figured I’d slept funny, stressed a muscle or tendon, and that the pain would go away after a while. It got

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Are Print Publishers Really Doomed?

The Romance Industry / / , , , , , / 2 minutes of reading

This is a series I wrote and released on this day seven years ago. As it turns out, I was prophetic.  Just about everything I spoke about in this series is more or less the state of the industry right now…or heading there.   For that reason, I’m bringing it forward again, so it doesn’t get

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