The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Your Romance Published - Softcover

Beard, Julie

Softcover

ISBN 10: 002863196X ISBN 13: 9780028631967

Publisher: Alpha, 2000

Synopsis

If you are an aspiring writer, The Complete Idiot's Guide To Getting Your Romance Published, written by a successful romance novelist, will teach you everything you need to know about this popular, highly successful genre. Including everything from plotting to characterization to approaching agents and editors, the book gives you a head start toward publishing your own novels.

About this title

Review:

Romances account for more than half of all mass-market paperback fiction sold. Two thousand romances are published each year. Ah, a land of opportunity, the writer is prone to think. Not so fast, Swifty. If you aren't already a reader of romances, chances are you'll never write a convincing one yourself. But if you genuinely love happy endings, Julie Beard (My Fair Lord) is here to help you become the next, well, Julie Beard. Embedded within chapters about writing and publishing and promoting your romance are all kinds of juicy tidbits about the romance biz. Beard discusses each romance subgenre in detail, disclosing typical story lines, the appropriate tone to use, and authors whose work is worth checking out. She talks about current trends (the biggest one at publication is the "cowboy-rancher-baby-bride" romance) and how to spot future ones (hint: keep your eye on popular culture). She knows what to include in your book--irresistible heroes and heroines, for starters--and what to avoid: nontraditional locales, rape scenes, sadomasochism, infidelity. She defines such terms as black moment, regency, and clinch ("the passionate embrace that typifies the traditional romance cover"). And yes, Beard says, even men can get their romances published--though it may be the one field in which they can succeed only if they are willing to take on a pseudonym of the feminine variety. --Jane Steinberg

About the Author:

Julie Beard is a best-selling, award-winning author of five historical novels. She is a former television journalist who has a Master's degree from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University. She lives with her family in the Midwest.

About this edition

• Publisher: Alpha
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 002863196X
• ISBN 13: 9780028631967
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 352