By:
Nicole Severn
Romance
is a billion dollar a year industry, making up about fifty-five percent of
worldwide book sales according to Romance Writer’s of America (Bowkley). So it
stands to reason, romance is also the most written.
There
is no “one formula fits all” or word count requirement for romance, but whether
you write suspense, contemporary, paranormal, historical, or erotic, the same
five rules apply across all sub-genres to make your readers fall in love with
your book and your characters.
Rule
#1: Focus on the Romance
No
matter what sub-genre you write, romance is the central theme.
Suspense and thrills keep readers turning the pages and historical and
paranormal details are fascinating, but that’s not what you’re writing about.
Not really.
You’re
writing about characters twisting and stumbling their way toward love.
According
to the 2012 Romance Book Consumer survey, the top reason for readers to buy
your romance is the story (Bowker). Those ups and downs your characters experience
in their relationship are the reason that reader picked up or downloaded your
book. So no matter how many action scenes you have, what your character does
for a day job or how big a part your hero’s pet plays in the plot, romance is
the only thing that matters.
Homework:
Go through your manuscript and highlight themes not dedicated to the growing
romance between your characters (anything plot related, backstory, antagonist
point of view if applicable). From there, determine a general percentage of how
much of your manuscript veers away from the romance then reduce the percentage
without compromising the story as a whole.
Rule
#2: Get H & H Together ASAP
.
. .
Read the full
article HERE!
~*~
If
you missed my writing & marketing tweets and retweets yesterday, here they
are again:
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