Romance Readers and Writers

Ebooks have been around for awhile, but they have been a small segment of the market for years.  This year has seen the rise of both the Sony eBook reader and Amazon’s Kindle.  Apparently, the neat design and functionality of these two devices has given the ebook a shot in the arm.  Add the increasing popularity of smart phones like the iPhone and the Palm Centro, and it seems like we have a perfect storm that will push ebooks into the mainstream.

Many large NY presses, like Penguin, have started issuing ebooks along with traditional print titles.  Penguin recently reported that sales of ebooks through April of this year were greater than the sales for all of last year.  But it’s not just NY that is reaping the benefits of the resurgent interest in ebooks.  Romance, particularly erotic romance, has always embraced the electronic format.  Many well-established e-presses like Ellora’s Cave, Samhain, Liquid Silver and Phaze stand to benefit.  Do you read ebooks?  Do you have a dedicated ebook reader or do you use another device?

When I was cutting my romantic teeth on Harlequins and Lavyrle Spencer, there weren’t many paranormal romances.  There were a few books that may have had a vampire or werewolf as a main character, but by and large, most of the romances were real-world stories that took place in exotic locales.

Of course, now there are tons of paranormals available, with all types of creatures from  fairies to shapeshifters.  Do you like paranormals?  What type of character do you most like to read about?  I tend to be a fan of magical beings likethe fae.  “Tempted by Two,” by Anya Bast is a favorite of mine. Vampires never did a lot for me, although one of my favorite newer releases, “The Rememdiu,” features vampires.

What’s your favorite paranormal character.  Have you read any good paranormals lately?

A new Indiana law would require any bookstore that sells sexually explicit or “adult” material to register or pay a fine. The Secretary of State would determine what material is deemed “adult.” The law is meant to regulate retailers that sell pornography, but the law is written to be very broad. Since many romance novels are becoming more explicit in their sexual descriptions, many authors fear that this could impact major book retailers like Barnes and Noble.  If booksellers must register in order to sell the Harlequin Spice line, writers fear that the stores just won’t stock the books.  With books sales dropping, every sale counts. If you are a fan of romance novels and live in Indiana, write to your local representative and express your opposition to this law.

Some of the most popular novels today, at least from a sales standpoint, are shorter novella-length ebooks and series romances like Harlequins.  I guess its a product of our fast paced up society that more people are digesting their fiction in short, bite sized portions.  Romances that are huge and span multiple decades seem to be a thing of the past.  That’s a shame.

Two of my favorite books from my late teens and early 20s were sprawling, massive books by Leona Blair.  One was called Privilege and the other, my favorite, was called A World of Difference. They both dealt with  characters that started out poor and downtrodden, only to rise up and become wealthy and powerful beyond all reckoning.  they had wounded hearts and had been kept from the one they truly loved, not by their own fault, but because of the manipulations of people close to them.  They were over-the-top and meloldramatic, but I loved them any way. Romance novels are supposed to be a little OTT anyway.

Is there a particular style of romance novel that has fallen out of favor, but that you still adore?  For me, it’s the epic, but I know people that still love a good Regency or gothic novel.  What’s your favorite?

In my last post I brought up fan fiction as it relates to movie and tv show tie-ins.  Fan fiction is an odd beast.  Some writers, like Anne Rice, hate it.  Rice has forbidden fans from appropriating her characters and has even started legal proceedings against some who would ignore her wishes.  At the opposite end of the spectrum is J.K. Rowling, who not only puts up with fan fiction, she actively encourages it, going so far as to read some of the fics. Whether a writer likes fan fiction or not, it has always been around.  When I was in junior high, fan fiction was furiously scribbled in spiral notebooks and passed around the halls between classes. Today, fan fiction is published for a potential world-wide audience on the Internet.  If there is a TV sow, book, movie or celebrity, you can bet someone, somewhere, is writing fiction. Fan fic writers can develop fan bases and many use fan fic and the things they learn to move on to professional original fiction.

If you are a published writer, how would you feel if a fan took your characters and wrote a new story featuring them.  Would you be flattered or would you feel violated?

If you write fan fiction, why?  Would you ever want to write original fiction?

One area of fiction that thrives, especially in the science fiction department, is that of movie and tv show tie ins.  There are whole libraries or books based on “Star Wars” and “Star Trek.” The events in both of these book series become part of the official “canon.” Youth-oriented movies like “High School Musical” have also gotten the tie-in series treatment.

This trend hasn’t crossed over into the romance market, even though there are tv shows and movies that almost beg to be novelized.  You only need to delve into the world of fan fiction to see that popular soaps could be translated to the printed page with very little effort. The popularity of fan fiction should be enough to convince TPTB that money could be made by releasing authorized tie-in fiction.

One show that I would love to see serialized is the vampire drama “Moonlight.”  It was recently canceled by CBS, but there is a chance that it could live on the CW network.  Even if CW doesn’t pick up the show, its legions of devoted fans (the majority of whom are women) would likely flock to the continuing adventures of Mick St. John if the story were handed off to a great romance writer.

What do you think?  Is there a show you would like to see turned into a book?  Would you like to write such a book yourself?

I think all romance fans remember their first novel- I know I remember mine, even if I can’t remember the name.  For the life of me, I can’t even remember the heroine’s name  I do remember it was a Harlequin.  The cover was green and the heroine (Fiona!  I just remembered!) had red hair.  She was 19 and the hero was in his 30s.  She was a nature photographer and he was some sort of independently wealthy gentleman who didn’t mind seducing the help. It was a traditional, set in Ireland, young heroine, older Alpha Male hero series romance.  I was 12 and thought it was the hottest thing I had ever read. I quickly moved on to other romances, some of which were way more explicit.  I remember one called “Morning Glory,” which was not the same book as the very lovely novel by Lavyrle Spencer.  I’ve moved back ad forth between sweet romances and explicit stuff that would make Emma Holly blush.  I’ve devoured them all.  I never get tired of reading romances.

What was your first romance novel?  Do you remember?

Does a cover really influence you to buy (or not buy) a book?  There is a lot of discussion of book covers in the romance novels.  Some publishers are known for great covers (Loose ID and Liquid Silver both come to mind), while others are much maligned for their cover art. What makes a great romance cover?  I like covers that fit with the theme of the book.  If its an erotic, sexy book, cartoonish characters don’t make sense, although I did see one like that. I like dark covers for dark books and sexy covers for sexy books.  I hate couples that are wrapped around each other, no matter what type of book it is. Here are a few of my favorite covers:

And now for a “What were they thinking?” cover:

There is no denying that we are living in an increasingly visual world. Music is marketed on TV and now writers and publishing houses have taken the concept of the trailer from Hollywood and adapted it to sell books. Book trailers vary in length and quality based on the size of the publisher and the budget for the clip. Trailers can pique interest in certain titles, but do they really make a difference in sales? If you are a writer who has used a trailer, has it made a difference in your sales? If you are a reader, would a slick trailer influence your decision to buy (or not buy) a title? Here is a book trailer for “The Healer’s Garden,” by Nina Pierce. Would this make you buy the book in a way that a blurb wouldn’t, or do you think it’s just a way for writers to reach new potential readers?

For all of the misconception about the sameness of some romance novels, the writing process varies a great deal from writer to writer. Some writers or readers like absolute silence, while some can read or write in the middle of a hurricane.  I fall somewhere in the middle.  I particularly like to write to music.  Sometimes I like to listen to classical music, sometimes to old R & B like Marvin Gaye. One writer friend likes to write to James Blunt.  What type of music do you like to listen to when you read or write?  If you are a writer, does the type of music you listen to impact the development of the scene?  Are they more romantic if you are listening to Michael Buble instead of Metallica?