See posting just beneath this to learn who won the latest contest
and what’s up for grabs with the brand new contest! ~DD

Branding and Sub-genres in the Romance World

I’m fairly new to this writing business, and I’ve been treating the entire thing as a game. But it’s a game that I take seriously, and one that I’d like to win. My playfulness has made me eager to experiment with different genres and sub-genres, but my desire for victory has kept me conscious of the importance of developing an author ‘brand’. The two approaches initially seemed like they were in conflict with each other, but I’ve lately been thinking (and hoping) that maybe they aren’t.

In writing terms, ‘branding’ means that a reader should know what to expect from an author. We are taught to develop name recognition by giving the reader a recognizable product in each book. Superstars like Stephen King or JK Rowling may try branching out from their original genre, but for most authors, it’s expected that we will be more consistent.

For romance writers, it’s often not considered enough that we limit ourselves to romance; we’re frequently expected to stick to a specific sub-genre as well. When I feel like a good contemporary with interesting characters and a touch of humour, I look for Dani Alexander; if I want something a bit more dramatic, maybe I look for Sue Brown. Fantasy romance? Emily Veinglory. M/M Mystery? Rick Reed. Most of these authors write other sub-genres as well (except for Dani, who needs to stop making silly covers and WRITE FASTER), but they’re considered to have a specialty. And beginning authors are encouraged to develop their own specialties so readers can start to develop ‘brand loyalty.’

I started out strong on that front. Contemporary m/m, or m/m/m. Often with horses. Often set in Canada. I don’t want to toot my own horn, but if you’re looking for a contemporary m/m romance set on a Canadian horse farm – I’m your girl!

But then something happened. I wrote m/f. Shining Armor has my favorite strong, handsome, and vaguely confused male character, but this time, he’s falling in love with a woman! And there’s another anomaly coming out this fall when Carina publishes Shadow Valley. Joe Cody would have been HOT as a gay guy, but, no, he had to be straight. And he’s pretty hot that way, too.

And then I wrote science fiction! The Shift is “Gay Alternate Worlds” according to Samhain. I say, it’s SUPER HEROES! Yippeeeee! Fun! Don’t even get me started on the YA novel that’s coming out under a different pen name. Writing… once you start, it’s hard to stop!

So, I’m destroying my brand, and I don’t seem to care. I’m hoping readers won’t, either. So far, I’ve gotten an encouraging review for The Shift that acknowledged that it was a departure but said, “I think it is awesome when an author tries new plots and new characters instead of repeating the same thing in every book.” (Reviews by Jesse Wave) I’m hoping that most readers feel this way. I’m pretty sure that I do. If Emily Veinglory can make me believe in the romance of a fantasy setting and I see her name on a historical, I think I’m going to trust her to make me believe in the romance there, too.

Hopefully, people will take a chance on me, too. I like to think that I’m creating a brand, but it’s not tightly linked to sub-genre. Instead, I hope that my writing will appeal to people who want realistic characters – sometimes self-absorbed, self-pitying, or otherwise annoying, but realistic. I hope that my writing always has drama, and always has humour. And whether they’re part of the central romance or not, I absolutely insist that my stories always have strong female characters who would be absolutely capable of carrying their own stories, if they so chose!

How do you guys feel? Do your favorite authors mix it up, or stick to one sub-genre? Would you follow them if they branched out? What is it that makes you keep coming back for more?

Kate Sherwood
www.katesherwoodbooks.com
http://kate-sherwood.dreamwidth.org/

Out with the Old (Winner, that is!)

The winner of the Two Book “Two-fer” Contest is…Tabitha Parrish! Tabitha, congratulations! Be sure to send me an email with your snail mail address so I can deliver your prizes!

In with the New–Dragon Cup Contest

What can you win?
The delicate, lovely coffee cup below.

How can you win it? Post a comment on any blog posting until the contest ends. Each entry counts as another chance to win!

This contest ends June 5th!!

I haven’t forgotten about the contest announcement. I overbooked friends on this blog, so I’ll post the name of the winner and details about the next contest tonight! ~DD

Re-Releasing and a Character Interview

I’ve recently come into rights for a few of my very first releases. Upon receiving the rights back I’ve mulled over what I wanted to do. Of course I want them available for purchase…but as my own? Or released with another publisher?

Therein lay a conundrum.

I won’t pretend that I’ve been around long enough to say I’m ready to self publish. The idea was tempting at first but I have more learning to do and continual growth to plot. Not that I haven’t been learning the past few years. Meeting authors and taking classes has been both a joy and a great continual educational experience.

I come from a degree in Respiratory Therapy where continued education is a state requirement. Finding low cost or free classes weren’t hard at all. There are a multitude of loops and sites that offer core classes on craft honing. When I learned this I jumped on the bandwagon and gobbled up as much as I could. Some classes didn’t lead me more into my voice but in totality all of the classes combined helped me find my voice. My point is…

Because of those classes, when I re-read my first works, I found myself repositioning passages and phrases in my head, looked at how the plotting was put together and like a new puzzle I was eager to jump in and re-create the characters I’d come to love so much.

I wrote Briar’s Champion a sweet revenge love short, when my sister was at St. Luke’s Hospital having a quadruple by-pass. I needed some way to expel the worry and stress on what could happen. My faith was a bit shaken although I prayed every day. My adoptive sister Shannan and I stayed every night at the hospital for a week and then every other night after the surgery for another week.

Briar Thompson has it all, the perfect boyfriend, and the future that promises to bear fruit, until betrayal emerges and she’s forced to face reality. When all hope is gone, what chances are there of having the happily ever after?

Sloan Gutiérrez is a strong man who appreciates all women. After buying the professional baseball team called The Devils, he arrives in town to set up his home. In his lifestyle the ‘real thing’ is elusive and gold digging women are on the prowl. The last thing he expects is to fall for the first woman he meets.

Releasing from Secretcravings Publishing 06/18

Come Meet Sloan, he’s been kind enough to stop in for a chat and tell us some about himself.

We decide to settle on my deck where the sun is shining and there’s a nice breeze. Sloan’s made himself as comfortable in my house as he is in my head, and hands me a nice glass of tea…decaffeinated since he knows all too well I can’t have any stimulants and he sports a cool bottle of Miller Light. I’m sure he’ll tear into me later for not having what he considers the God of all beers in my fridge.

He’s charming with his dark brown eyes and lanky form, wearing a pair of jeans and a V-neck tee.

“So let’s get this party started.” He says while taking a swig out of the bottle. I notice how he brushes off the condensation  from the sweaty bottle.

“All right. Can you tell the readers what you do for a living?”

“You should know better than to start a question like that…what if I said no.” Sloan chuckles and drops down into a patio char next to me, winks and takes a second swig. “I own a Baseball team.”

I decide to change my tactics. “So…would you consider yourself a hands on owner, or the cash cow?” Okay so he looks a bit offended. I grin. Read the rest of this entry »

10 Things Guys Would NOT Say to Each Other

Here are my top 10 phrases which I doubt two guys would say to each other (or maybe I’m wrong).

1. Did you catch Dr. Phil today?

2. I’m tired of beer and wings, let’s make some Cosmopolitans and cut up some veggies.

3. No, yours is way bigger than mine.

4. Do you want all my tools?

5. Let’s go to the mall.

6. It’s nippy out there, come on in and I’ll make us some tea.

7. I wish those Victoria Secret models would cover up more, they’re not leaving anything to the imagination.

8. Not into shoot em’ up movies, let’s see if there’s a good flick on Lifetime.

9. Let’s take that quiz online and see which character we are. My friends think I’mCharlotte, but I think I’m more like Carrie.

10. Do these jeans make my ass look too big?

Please feel free to add your thoughts and what you think is taboo in man-speak land.

Speaking of men, it’s that time of year again…Spring—When a Bachelor’s fancy turns to…Cheesy Pick-up Lines

I don’t believe guys really use pick up lines any longer, but I thought it would be fun to list 10 cheesy lines that some bachelor in an alternate universe may be using. However, I do think us gals have been the recipient of a cheesy line at one time or another in our lives, some of them were funny, hey, some may even have worked for a few of you perhaps?

My Top 10 Cheesy Pick-up Lines:

1. Do you want to have breakfast? Should I call you or nudge you?

2. Are those space pants? Because your ass is out of this world.

3. Love the color of your dress; it would look great on my floor.

4. There’s something wrong with my cell phone. It doesn’t have your phone number in it.

5. You’re so damn hot; I’d marry your brother just to get in your family.

6. If this bar is a meat market, then I’d have to say you must be the prime rib.

7. Stop, drop, and roll, baby, because you are on fire.

8. Is there an airport nearby or is that just my heart taking off?

9. Your daddy must have been a baker, because you’ve got a nice set of buns.

10. I’m new in town. Could you give me directions to your place?

Gals, please feel free to share any lines you may have heard.

Guys, if you delivered a line, please feel free to share as well. We promise we won’t judge….much.

About Selena Robins:

Selena Robins writes genre-defying romances, with a sprinkle of mystery, suspense, heavy on the comedy, plenty of snap on the dialogue and heavy on the steam for the sexy. A chocolate guru, Selena loves to dance with her dog, sing into her hairbrush and write in her PJ’s. In love with her family, friends, books, laughter, hockey, debating and red wine (sometimes all at the same time). Selena loves writing sassy heroines and hot heroes (the ones your mama warned you about, but secretly wished she’d dated a few in her life.

To learn more about Selena Robins and her books, you can visit her website at: https://selenarobins.com/ or stop by and chat with her on her blog: http://selenarobinsmusings.com/

The Two Book “Two-fer” Contest

Don’t forget! This contest ends on Tuesday. For details of what you have to do to win and which prizes are up for grabs, go to my Contest page!

Sunday Report Card

If you’ve stopped by recently, you know I have a very full work agenda through January 2, 2013. Every time I count, I remember something else I committed to doing, so the list expands. I began this surge on May 1st. I thought it was 12 projects which made me nervous enough, but it’s actually 18. Luckily enough, I’ve stuck to my plan. 4 projects are already complete.

The current list looks like this:

4 full-length novels (2 paranormal suspense, 2 BDSM)
3 2 novellas (1 Delta Heat, 1 Lone Star Lover, 1 TBD) — Delta Heat: Fournicopia, done!
3 2 short stories — Red Dawn, done!
2 anthologies I have to edit (Wild at Heart, Smokin’ Hot Firemen)
4 novels to extensively edit & expand (it’s a secret!)
1 novella to extensively edit and publish — Dragon’s Desire, done!
1 short story anthology to edit and publish — Licks, done!

I’m making progress at last on the paranormal novel for Montlake. Starting Monday, I’ll begin work on the next Western for Samhain. It won’t be part of the Lone Star Lovers series, will be longer, category length, I think, and not menage, but it will still be plenty sexy with a suspenseful damsel-in-distress plot with a small-town Texas sheriff that will keep you turning the pages. I’ll be reading through more Wild at Heart submissions, too. So if you see me playing around online, be stern with me. Tell my I better have my pages done for the day FIRST!

Y’all have a great week!

I have one of those mini-books you find in the book store by the counters. It’s tiny, maybe 3″ by 3″. I don’t know why I bought it. It must have been my Writers’ ADHD (WADD–if it’s not an actual affliction, it ought to be!). I hate waiting in lines, and my eyes are always going to the racks of things they place strategically close to the counters for impulse buys. It has a sparkly cover, so I was sunk. This little treasure is entitled, The Woman’s Book of Simple Delights.

So, I’m going to open the book at random and pick out a “simple delight”. I need something to take my mind off what’s coming. Today’s going to be stressful. My mother decided to host the local art guild Plein Air event—it’s an outdoor event where painters set up their easels and paint the day away. It’s kind of like a writers’ “write-in” only writers are smarter. We meet at a coffee shop with AC running. These poor artists will be trying to find shade in 90 degree weather to paint their masterpieces. Okay, I’m not being snide. I think it’s really nice. I just can’t imagine taking my laptop outside on a day like today, but to each his or her own.

Let’s see, a simple delight… Okay, here’s one. Practice writing your name repeatedly with a fountain pen. Huh? I collect fountain pens, so that part’s nice. But what delight do I get from writing my name? Maybe when I was ten years old and dotting my I’s with hearts!

Can you think of some better simple delights? Maybe we should collect our own favorite secret delights and publish them ourselves!

I decided to go a little out there, and I’ve started a “hotwifing” series. Most of you are probably asking what hotwifing is!  I had to ask the same question when a friend of mine told me that several of my Courtesans stories were about hotwifing. And here’s the explanation: it’s where the woman in the relationship steps out with other men, but her husband (or boyfriend) doesn’t have other women. Nope, it’s all one-sided in the woman’s favor. Often she’ll come home to tell hubby all about it. They’ll most likely have some really hot sex reliving her experience. Of course, the couple has to have rules, things they can and can’t do, etc. If you want a much better explanation than I’ve just given, you can read my friend’s book: Hotwifing by Cody Alston. She does a much better job of it than I just did.

I found the concept very interesting. I fell into it by accident. I was writing the Courtesans Tales (specifically Triple Play in Yours for the Night) and since the heroines in those stories are paid courtesans, I figured they were going to have to do far more kinky things than I’d written so far. But for some reason, I just couldn’t let the hero in my story have sex with another woman. See, my heroine was supposed to be his total focus, and it diminished her if he actually wanted someone else. So I decided that he enjoyed watching her with other men. Sometimes he participated, but sometimes he simply got off on her pleasure. Then they had fabulous sex afterward. Even when she was with other men, she did it for him, to give him pleasure, always thinking about what would make him hot. I had a lot of fun writing that story, and others with the same theme: the woman has more than one partner, but the man doesn’t. In a way, it could be any woman’s dream, she gets all the pleasure, but she doesn’t have to share her man. I just don’t think women are built to share, but some men are.

So now I’ve started the West Coast Hotwifing series. It’s set in the business world because I was an accountant in manufacturing for years, so that’s what I know. And boy, are there are a lot of naughty things going on at this little company I’ve created. The first story up in the series is Revenge Sex. Here, we’ve got a hotwife who can’t follow the rules. And we’ve got another woman who’d love to take her place. Who’s going to get the man in the end?! I’ve also completed the second book, Submitting to the Boss. This one’s got hotwifing and a bit of BDSM! You can read more about Revenge Sex at http://amzn.to/tQ6E4g and Submitting to the Boss at http://amzn.to/H0Cpco.

Be sure to drop by my blog, www.jasminehaynes.blogspot.com, for more excerpts. I’m also joining a new blog with a bunch of lovely slutty ladies. Starting today, May 18^th, we’re going to have two weeks of great giveaways, so I hope you’ll stop by http://69shadesofsmut.wordpress.com/ to learn all about us!