self-publish

As I’ve said in other blog posts, I’m a recent fan of romance novels after spending a good many years disparaging the genre. As I’ve read many, many romance novels over the last couple of years I have been fascinated by the genre not just as a reader but as a writer. Here five reasons why the romance genre is quite possibly the most bad-ass of them all.

Romance Novels teach us a little bit about how to love and how to live
The same day I started reading the first romance novel that I would actually finish, I heard Virginia Kantra say that romance novels are feminist. Her words surprised me at the time, because I’d long thought the exact opposite. After having read many romance novels, I have to agree with her. Romance novels not only show women what to expect from a relationship, but I think it could be fairly argued that they teach women to be brave, to stand up for what they want and to say no to what they don’t, to know they are loveable no matter their body type or quirks, and to be bold and confident in their sexuality. There are a few bad apples out there, romance novels that suggest that controlling, possessive guys are the boyfriend goal, but they are few and far between.
Romance novels are actually really hard to write
My writer friends and I used to joke that if we couldn’t get our work published, we’d just write a romance, because how hard could it be? The truth is that the very formula that makes romance novels appear so easy to write is what makes them so difficult. Romance novels are all essentially about the same thing and have the same ultimate result, which means your characters and their story have to be well-crafted and intriguing enough to keep the reader from getting bored. You can’t just throw in an alien invasion or a murder when the story gets slow. It is ALL about the characters and their interactions. And there are millions of romance novels already out there, so you have to dream up a way to make the story new and exciting.
Romance novels give you all the good feels
One of the first things that fascinated me about the romance genre was how an ordinary story could give me butterflies and make my heart flip in that way that only crushes and romantic moments do in real life. I set out to study romances and figure out how my favorite authors did it. Two romances can have the exact same story, the same formula, but give you completely different feelings and it all comes down to nuance and solid, well-thought out writing.
You can write a romance novel before you’ve found your voice as a writer, but it’s probably going to suck
There is no fall-back crutch in writing romance, a good plot twist is only going to get you so far. When you write a romance, your writing voice is going to shine through, in what your characters are like, in how much slang you use, in how purple or simple your prose is, and in how graphic your sex scenes are. If you gain a following, your readers are probably going to expect those things not to change. Even Penny Reid, who’s every book is different, has a distinctly humorous and recognizable writer’s voice.
Romance is fun
One of the many reasons I write genre fiction and have no desire to write literature, even if I had a such a story in me, is because I love the way genre fiction can transport you so completely out of the moment in which you live. Some may find that literature can do the same for them and I say good for you, but even though I love literature, it has always been genre fiction that is my true escape. In a waiting room waiting to hear news about a loved one? Genre fiction can make you forget where you are. Having a bad day? Genre fiction, especially happy fiction, will make it better. I’ve always loved urban fantasy because reading about kick-ass women makes me feel more kick-ass. The romance genre is a world where happy endings reign and true love conquers all, it’s a pretty awesome place to live.

The decision to self-publish was not an easy one for me. I grew up with the belief that true talent didn’t count until it was recognized by someone who had the power to publish my work. I spent a lot of years trying to write the perfect short story. I studied what I read in different literary magazines and I tried to write a story that would make the editors publish me, because I believed that to attention of an agent I had to have a list of publications to present. It didn’t matter that I didn’t particularly enjoy writing short stories or that it wasn’t the medium in which I excelled, I did it because I believed that’s what I had to do. Even believing that good work would get discovered and published no matter what, I still believed I had to have a list of publications and, eventually, attend conferences and meet an agent and editor to get another foot in the door. Seems nonsensical now that I believed all of that, but I did and I had a hard time letting go of that mentality.

My first inspiration to self-publish came from my husband. He’s a self-starter, the kind of person who doesn’t believe in paying someone to do anything you can do yourself. It didn’t make sense to him that I would spend years honing my craft and then give a percentage of my profits to an agent and to a publishing house.

The second inspiration was my grandmother. She’s an artist, who is well-known in her hometown and has had her work shown in galleries throughout Virginia. She told me that after she’d graduated from art school, she sold her paintings in a shack on the side of the interstate. She didn’t wait for someone to accept her or twist herself to create the art she thought others would want. She painted what she wanted to paint and she got out there and sold it. She made a name for herself.

My third inspiration came from the unlikeliest source of all. In Donald Maas’ book, The Career Novelist, he says: “Today, fewer editors are editing more books . . .[authors] also have to prove themselves mostly on their own, since advertising and promotion money is as scarce as it has ever been” (p. 19). So, basically, there’s no guarantee my book would be edited well, or at all, and I would likely be responsible for marketing the book myself. It just didn’t make sense to me that I would be doing all the work and getting 25% of the profits (which is what the typical traditionally published author gets).

I’ve loved the experience of self-publishing, particularly that every decision made about my books has been my own. If a book doesn’t do well, I just have myself to blame and I am entirely comfortable with that. On the flip side, every new fan I get, every little bit of praise, is even better to me than approval from an agent or an editor. The readers are the only ones I care about impressing.

In Defense of the Romance Novel

Why I Self-Publish

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