Like genres (and sub-genres), certain tropes in fiction literature go through cycles of rising and ebbing popularity. Because “my” genre is romance, I’ll focus on those plot devices which I find tired and in dire need of abandonment in that genre.

• Secret baby. Not only does this trope glamorize or glorify promiscuity, but it promotes irresponsibility. For whatever reason, the heroine–who usually gets pregnant from a one night stand–cannot believe she’s pregnant practically until the time the baby is being born. Then, of course, she assumes all the blame and does not inform the father that she’s pregnant. Reasons–none of them good–abound for this failure to let the baby daddy know he’s got a kid on the way. In some variations of this trope, the baby is a few years old and occasionally near adulthood. Whatever happened to not falling into bed with someone on the first date? Sex has consequences.
• “Broken” hero/heroine. This trope usually alludes to some trauma–emotional and/or physical–in the character’s background. Oftentimes, it’s as simple as a nasty breakup of a relationship that leads the character either to swearing off all future romantic interests and/or treating the opposite sex as disposable. The authors who write such plot contrivances have obviously never heard of therapy and use the past trauma to justify the character’s ongoing, reprehensible treatment of others.
• Antiheroes. I love an alpha male hero in romance, but not those who are dismissive, abusive, cruel, or overly controlling. This typifies most “dark” romances with antiheroes and usually incorporates elements (if not wholesale adoption) of BDSM. Abuse, rape, and other abhorrent behavior of the hero toward the heroine typifies “Omegaverse” and mafia romances and similar fiction. Regardless of any future power exchange, the male protagonists of such stories start off as repulsive jerks and remain repulsive jerks.
• TSTL heroines. Imbecilic female characters usually end up paired with the antiheroes described above. Authors who write these female protagonists tout their characters as intelligent and feisty despite all evidence to the contrary. They either have backbones the consistency of overcooked noodles and do great impressions of a doormat, or they suffer from terminal stupidity shown by harebrained decisions, overreaction, and an impressive inability to engage in critical thinking.
• Lost job and cheating boyfriend/fiancé. This is the scenario that launches thousands of romances. The heroine loses her (crappy) job and discovers her boyfriend (or fiancé) cheating on her the same day. This, of course, sends her spiraling into a series of bad decisions, usually aided and abetted by a sympathetic friend, a gallon of ice cream, and too much wine. Honestly, it’s not the indulgence in wine and ice cream that gets my ire, it’s the idiotic advice given by the best friend for the heroine to sleep with as many men as possible in an effort to “get back on the horse.” The lost job part just doesn’t result in the heroine taking the next reasonable step of looking for new employment, generally because she somehow falls into the arms of the uber-rich hero.
• Billionaires. Anyone who reads romance might be forgiven for getting the impression that there’s a single, handsome billionaire standing on every street corner. It’s the Cinderella theme all over again … and again … and again. Well-to-do just isn’t good enough; the hero must be able to buy and sell small countries. In that same vein, I take issue with the authors of historical (e.g., medieval, Georgian, Regency, and Edwardian) romances, who seem to entirely focus on dukes. A quick glance at Debrett’s Guide to the British peerage quickly confirms that, really, dukes are in extremely short supply and bachelor dukes even more so. Like billionaires, you won’t find one on every street corner or in every ballroom.
• Abduction/Stockholm Syndrome. Yeah, I’ve written these myself. However, abduction does not necessarily lead to being loved or cherished, especially when combined with nonconsensual sex. In fact, I have a lot of trouble envisioning how such a scenario redolent of physical/emotional/sexual abuse would actually lead to a loving relationship, but the heroines of far too many of these romances cannot think beyond their excited hormones. In fact, my one novella that dwells on this trope–The Barbary Lion–I make two strong points: 1) the hero always keeps his word and 2) the heroine plots, escapes, and eludes the jerk for a good long while, during which he realizes the error of his ways. That novella ends with the hero, Atlas Leonidus, negotiating with the heroine for her willing return to him. The reader knows he will keep his promises to her.

Author Susan Stoker does a great job of using several of these tropes in ways that don’t demean the heroines and that don’t relegate the heroes to what have become stock antihero characters. I always appreciate an author who can incorporate a standard plot device or trope without it feeling worn and tired and strive to do the same in my stories.

I field a lot of questions from new and aspiring writers who get the jitters when they finish their drafts and think it’s time to release their debut novels to the world. They stutter to a halt and wonder what to do next. Will people like their books?  How will people find their books? Their anxiety builds and they seek guidance. Candor more often than not serves their interests better than flattery, even if it’s not what they want to hear.

If you’re one of those authors, set your fear aside. Someone won’t like your book, probably lots of someones. So what? You can’t please everyone. Now …
Regarding traditional publishing:

1. Remember that no publisher is obligated to buy your manuscript. (Neither is any agent obligated to represent your manuscript.)
   
2. Some publishers don’t accept unagented manuscripts. Refer to the publisher’s author guidelines to make sure.
   
3. Target those publishers and/or agents who actually handle books like yours and are accepting submissions.
   
4. If you’ve edited your work to the best of your ability, then make sure to format your manuscript, synopsis, etc., per the publisher’s or agent’s submission requirements.
   

In other words, do your homework. (Just for the record, “doing your own homework” doesn’t mean pestering others to pick their brains.)

Because I’m not entirely heartless, I do have some references for you. The Writer’s Market and Literary Marketplace are both venerable and reliable sources of solid information about and guidance to the publishing industry. You’ll find a proliferation of other sources online, too. If you can’t afford to purchase a printed copy or online subscription, then hie thee to your local public library’s reference section for free access.

Once you’ve narrowed down the publisher and/or agents to whom you want to submit your work, head to their websites to determine whetherhie
​ they’re even accepting manuscripts. If so, find the person who handles your work–it’s always better to direct your submission to a specific person than to a department in general–and follow the submission guidelines.

I cannot stress that enough: follow the submission guidelines. Agents and publishers don’t want to work with authors who can’t follow direction.

Most submission guidelines will request manuscripts or the first 50 pages or first three chapters of a manuscript and an outline or  synopsis. The manuscript should be formatted in standard manuscript format. This is important. Again, you’ll find myriad sources online that provide instructions on how to write a proper synopsis and on this specific type of document formatting. I like the classic formatting explained by William Shunn. Standard manuscript formatting is a holdover from typewriter days when the standard format enabled an editor to quickly estimate with astonishing accuracy a manuscript’s word count. Editors continue to specify it.

Your submission to the agent or publisher will include a query letter. Again, Google and the aforementioned resources are your friends.
Regarding self-publishing:

1. Remember, if you’re publishing your own book, then you are responsible for all the work that a traditional publisher would do to produce a book that meets industry standards for professionalism. 
   
2. I strongly advise writers who publish their own work to hire professionals for editing, document formatting, cover design, and even marketing. (f you want to know what services I provide, go to my SERVICES page.)
   
3. No, no one will care about your book. With over 1 million titles published every year, the competition for readers is overwhelming. Don’t count on being a unicorn. You must invest time, effort, and probably money in marketing, advertising, and promotion to sell your book. You might consider hiring a marketing professional to assist with this, too.
   

Book publishing is a business and running a successful business takes money and reliance upon experts. Don’t expect people to invest in your work if you won’t.

Finally, if you self-publish your book, do not expect a traditional publisher to pick it up. Except for extremely rare circumstances, that never happens.

#henhousepublishing #publishing #business

Lockdowns, WFH, and other measures taken to isolate people and keep them from interacting with others (including job loss) afforded some folks the time to do what they said they always wanted to do: writing a book. In doing so, those people discovered two things:

1. Writing a book ain’t easy.
2. They don’t know what to do after they finish writing.

Now what?

The logical next step is publishing the book. That brings with it another set of problems encompassed by one word: ignorance. Ignorance can be cured. Many guidebooks exist to help newcomers find their way around this new realm, but many of these new writers don’t know which are good resources and which aren’t. They don’t realize that there’s a whole lot of work they must do before their books are ready for public consumption.

When I come across the “what now?” question, I direct these newcomers to two venerable standby resources: the Writer’s Market and Literary Marketplace. These two resources have been around for decades and remain relevant and helpful today. Other resources I recommend is Preditors and Editors (which has a web page, but moved to Facebook) and Proper Manuscript Format by William Shunn, both oldies-but-goodies. These resources are regularly updated to remain relevant as times, industry preferences, and technologies change.

The path to publishing begins on the same road with the same two milestones:

1. Write the book.
2. Edit and revise the book.

The second milestone proves a stumbling block for many newbies: they don’t know that their first draft sucks. Yes, it does. They don’t realize that a traditional publisher has no obligation to publish their book. There’s no guarantee that a publisher or literary agent–a whole other topic–will consider your submitted manuscript a good enough risk to publish, because publishing costs money and publishing is a business. Poor business decisions don’t generate profits.

I don’t care how good/smart/competent you are; that first draft is not ready for publishing. A professional understands that self-editing and revising is part of the extended process for publishing. Before anyone other than the writer lays eyes on the manuscript, the author serves his or her own best interests by reading through it, fixing errors, filling holes, cutting unnecessary verbiage, reorganizing scenes, checking facts, and otherwise improving the quality of the content. This may require multiple rounds of self-review and self-editing supplemented by editing software such as Grammarly, ProWritingAid, or AutoCrit. Spell-checking utilities included in most word processing programs do not suffice.

Software in general cannot take the place of human eyes, human comprehension, and human insight. It can’t understand nuance, irony, sarcasm, or slang. It won’t catch inconsistencies or detect plot holes. It won’t know the evolving standards of a particular genre, whether a word is used correctly, or reader expectations. That requires a human, an editor.

Only after the content is as good as you can get it will it then be ready for formatting. Formatting for a publisher follows certain standard rules. Many new writers don’t take the time or make the effort to learn standard manuscript formatting, although the aforementioned resources provide assistance with that. They don’t realize that a publisher doesn’t want to work with an author who can’t or won’t follow instructions. Instead they fiddle with cover art.

Don’t get me wrong: cover art is critical. But at this stage of the game, it’s not appropriate. 

If you decide to self-publish, then you assume all the responsibility for the tasks a traditional publisher performs. These include editing, formatting, cover design, and marketing. Editing comes first and is best accomplished by a professional. It’s not uncommon to request a sample edit; just be reasonable about it. A freelance editor’s time and skill are valuable and any request for a free sample should consider the value of that professional’s time and skill. In other words, keep it short. (I offer a free sample edit for up to 500 words.) Editing–competent editing by a professional editor–costs money, oftentimes a lot of money. Editing is not a one-shot deal; it involves multiple passes through the manuscript in a give-and-take process through which the editor makes corrections and offers suggestions for improvement and the writer then accepts them, rejects the, or acts in some other manner (e.g., revising or rewriting). The author has the responsibility to review all edits and suggestions.

When the manuscript reaches the “it’s ready” stage, then it’s time to format it. Cover design and formatting often occur simultaneously; however, formatting a full book cover (front, spine, and back) depends upon the interior format. The number of pages determines the width of the spine. Every genre has standards and trends regarding cover art; the trick is to comply with those standards while making your cover art distinct. That ain’t easy. Again, it’s best to hire a professional who understands the genre. That same professional may or may not also be adequate for formatting the interior pages, which should comply to publishing industry standards, too. Formatting is best done using the software professionals use, such as Adobe InDesign. Cover design and formatting, by the way, also benefit from professional assistance which–yes–costs money. Sometimes a lot of money.

When formatting and cover art are complete, the book is ready to be uploaded to your preferred publishing platform. This, too, involves a step-by-step process that differs with each self-publishing platform. The process will involve rights, keywords for SEO, pricing, etc. Some authors prefer to leave this in the hands of professionals who can accomplish this process with a minimum of fuss and charge for their time and expertise to perform that service. Others more tech-savvy do it themselves.

Marketing oftentimes begins before the book is published to build excitement. Publishing platforms offer pre-release orders to launch the new publication. Marketing continues long after the publication date. This often involves paid advertisements, personal appearances at events, and more. Yes, this costs money, too. Oftentimes a lot of money.

Self-publishing doesn’t mean you pay to publish the book; it means you pay the professionals who help you refine, design, and publish your book.