Popular romance tropes

Popular romance tropes

It’s said there are only a finite number of story plots or archetypes, so there’s nothing really new under the sun when it comes to literature. In genre fiction like romance, readers find the same themes or tropes repeated ad nauseum. A good writer can...

The responsibilities of self-publishing

The decision whether to pursue traditional publishing or to self-publish is personal. Traditional publishing holds greater clout and respectability than self-publishing. The proliferation of low quality, AI-generated books further degrades what respect self-publishing...

Marketing begins before the book is published

Marketing is a crucial part of author success, at least on a commercial basis. When aspiring authors inquire about the publishing process, marketing is often the last thing on their minds. They’re too focused on actually producing a book. I understand that,...

The business of romance

Lust in the City 2023 was held Saturday, November 4, at the Comstock Inn & Conference Center in Owosso, Michigan. This second iteration of the event first held last year in East Lansing showed great improvement over the 2022 event, although it wasn’t without...

Great expectations

I received a message over the weekend—you know, those two days during which most folks do not focus on career-related work—from someone who asked to hire me to edit his manuscript then market the book. How flattering! I declined the opportunity. First, the potential...