You know you're an avid romance reader if...

Today I thought I would pay homage to all the wonderful romance readers who have followed my tour and who have written such wonderful comments to me. Of course, each person’s mileage may vary, as we are all unique individuals, but I believe I have listed the general characteristics of many romance readers.


You know you’re an avid romance reader if…

Walking into a room covered in flowers and candles makes you weak in your knees.

You have sex more often with your partner (I can’t recall the percentage, but it’s been documented that women who read romances have more encounters than those who don’t.)

The sight of the New Romance Releases shelf in the bookstore makes your heart pitter-patter.

Your library card is frayed about the edges, worn in the middle, and frequently needs to be replaced.

You have a tender heart (you wouldn’t be reading romances otherwise).

You start to write your own books. (There can never be too many.)

You start a blog where you share your love of romance books, because you are too excited to keep your thoughts on the books you’ve read only limited to just close family and friends.

You recoil at the phrase, ‘bodice-rippers’, because romances have evolved so beyond that archaic term, that whoever uses it obviously hasn’t read any.

Even if you haven’t read all the classics yet, you recognize the names: Austen, Heyer, Bronte…and you’re itching to add to this list.

Moonlight is for stolen kisses, a quiet pond is for a boat for two, a rainstorm is for taking shelter in a gazebo, a tree-lined path is for walking hand-in-hand, satin sheets are for…well you know.

You love animals. Not sure why this is a general trait…I think it has something to do with the tender heart.

You firmly believe that without love, life isn’t worth living.

Chocolate is high on your list of favorite foods.

As long as they have a good heart, you remain fond of men, even when they are behaving badly.

You are kind to authors, and other romance readers, because you know that they share your passion.


Of course, the only reason I could put this list together is because I’m an avid romance reader myself. It takes one to know one. :}

Wishing my Fellow Romance Readers all of my Best!

FOR WRITERS: Pitch your book to my editor!

Today my editor at Sourcebooks Publishing, Deb Werksman, is taking pitches of your book, and offering a free critique at: http://casablancaauthors.blogspot.com/ Here are the details:

PRACTICE YOUR PITCHING!

Back by popular demand!! Another pitch session with me!

This time, I'm asking for ONLY the pitch for your HOOK.

Pitches should look like this :[Subgenre] Example: historical/paranormal romance trilogy [2-4 sentence hook]

Example: Regency England is the glittering backdrop for the noble and the undead, where the gentlemen vampires are high sticklers. They would never bite a young lady to whom they had not been properly introduced! The first book features battle-born Scottish witch Blaire whose fearsome powers don't help her at all when she falls in love with charming vampire Lord James Kettering, until the pair discover the power of love to re-awaken even the deadest of hearts...

[author history] Example: Lydia Dare is a bestselling writing team with 4 paranormal historical romances being published.Another example: X is a debut author with 5 unpublished manuscripts written.Another example: Y is a multi-published author of 9 books and 3 novellas with top e-book publishers.

Private pitches (to my email address deb.werksman@sourcebooks.com) will only get a "yea" or "nay" response--only public pitches will get any form of critique.

All critiques will be done by Friday, September 3.

BRING THEM ON!!! I CAN'T WAIT TO SEE WHAT Y'ALL ARE UP TO!

PS You may also send full submissions to me directly at deb.werksman@sourcebooks.com

Please send full synopsis and full manuscript.
I am looking for: *single title romance in all subgenres *about 90,000 words *series and trilogies: please give me a paragraph or two on each of the next few books

Editorial criteria: *a heroine the reader can relate to *a hero she can fall in love with *a world gets created *a hook I can sell with in 2-3 sentences *the author has a career arc (in other words, if the readers love this book, what do we sell them next, and next, and next?)

THE FIRE LORD'S LOVER appears in the newspapers

It's always exciting to see your book in the papers, and it was even more so to receive such a lovely review. When I posted this I realized that you couldn't really read the article, so here's a bit of what the reviewer said:

"Kathryne's story is richly woven, its characters strongly drawn and quick to engender feelings for them, whether good, or, in the case of Mor'ded, ill."~Claudia Sherrill, Today Staff

THE FIRE LORD'S LOVER hits a bestseller list

http://stockmarketsreview.com/pressrelease/2010/07/27/the-latest-bestselling-ebooks-and-audio-books-from-booksonboard/

A big THANK YOU to all the readers who made it happen!

You Are What You Love: http://casablancaauthors.blogspot.com/

Today I'm at my publisher's group blog talking about school and how it relates to your career:
Casablanca Authors - http://casablancaauthors.blogspot.com/
As always, I love to hear from friends & readers!

Eloisa James and...MY UNFAIR LADY!

http://bnreview.barnesandnoble.com/t5/Reading-Romance/Twice-Told-Tales/ba-p/3049;jsessionid=4A756624658D0AE6DB1B3EB83CEDB842

I'm thrilled that the fabulously talented author, Eloisa James, included My Unfair Lady in the article she wrote above for Barnes & Noble's Review column titled Twice-Told Tales. Eloisa introduces her wonderful Cinderella re-telling, A Kiss at Midnight, and also talks about other new twists on old classics, such as Lisa Kleypas's Love in the Afternoon and Sherri Browning Erwin's mash-up of Jane Eyre, Jane Slayre. I'm flattered to be in such fine company, and by Eloisa's very kind words about My Unfair Lady.

Wickedly Romantic...and Pirates! http://wickedlyromantic.blogspot.com/ http://romancewritersrevenge.com/2010/08/04/the-fire-lords-lover/

I've got two blog posts up today! Join me for an interview at: http://romancewritersrevenge.com/2010/08/04/the-fire-lords-lover/
(Although I won't be giving away a copy of The Fire Lord's Lover, the pirate who interviewed me is providing a copy to one lucky commenter. So if you stop by, be sure to leave a comment!

And I've posted the Top Seven Wickedly Romantic Elements in The Fire Lord's Lover: http://wickedlyromantic.blogspot.com/
Let me know if you agree, or want to add your own!

Book Video for THE FIRE LORD'S LOVER

I've just recently posted this to my website, and thought I would share it here. I enjoy doing book videos. It's a way for me to put my creativity into something visual, and although it's hard to find eighteenth century pictures, it's even harder to find those combining the fantasy element. So I took a bit of each, and alternated them for the video.

I think I should call this a teaser, because unlike most of my videos, it does not go into the detail of the plot, because I had to intro the series as well. But I wanted it short, as close to sixty seconds as I could get, but with enough information to provide a good idea of the book. So for a quick break into fantasy, here is The Fire Lord's Lover: