Fiona Holden – Sweet Treats, 2nd place What book or author was your gateway into romance?This one is a bit of a hard one for me, as it was more like a series than a particular book that dragged me down the inescapable spiral of being a romance reader. As a teenager, I was a sucker for the ‘Sweet Dreams’ series and if the title or cover included a cowboy or a horse, it was a definite read. As an older teenager on the school bus a group of us sat on a small group of chairs reading out loud the …
Beating ‘The Drum’ of Discrimination
RWAus media statement – 24 August 2023 Romance writers have grown a thick skin against the titters in the room or raised eyebrows when we say what we write. We’re used to being asked questions about ‘inspiration’ and ‘research’, and an unhealthy curiosity about our paychecks even though romance is the highest-earning genre of fiction with an average over $1.44 billion USD in revenue world-wide each year. What we won’t accept is the ableism and discrimination we witnessed in The Drum’s segment that went to air on Thursday 17 August 2023. The segment featured Steffanie Holmes, a successful entrepreneur, and …
Romantic Book of the Year 2023
One again it’s time for the RWA awards and on Saturday 12th of August we can celebrate our nominees at our Gala Dinner at the Wentworth Sofitel. Kudos to our contest team, reader judges, organising committee and contest co-ordinator Sarma Burdeu! You can read along with the #RubyReadalong for 2023 on social media, where you mention one of the books in any category on social media, and tag it with #RubyReadalong. Please put your hands together for the Romance Writers of Australia Romantic Book of the Year finalists for 2023! Congratulations everyone, what an amazing effort! And the finalists are… …
Kiss and Tell with Karina May
One of the very best things a book can do is make me laugh a lot, swoon a little, set my tummy rumbling and fan the flames of wanderlust, all from the comfort of my lounge room, and I’m delighted to say, the gorgeous new release Duck á l’Orange for Breakfast did all these things and more! This novel is the print debut for Sydney author Karina May, and I’ve been seeing window displays and social media posts all over the place since its release with Pan Macmillan last month. Readers will have a ball with the quirky main character …
3 reasons why romance writers should send regular newsletters to readers.
You hear other authors, publishers, and book agents telling you that you need an author newsletter, but sometimes they don’t say why? What’s in it for you? Well, here are 3 top reasons why romance writers should send regular newsletters to readers. #1. Your author newsletter doesn’t have to fight with any social media algorithms Whenever you sign into social media, you are subject to their terms and conditions. In other words, it’s borrowed land and you’re just a guest at their online global cocktail party. What you post just gets lost among the other 300 million photos that get …
The Power of Backstory Revelance
With Author Sandy Vaile Creating compelling backstory is essential for developing rich well-rounded characters that capture the interests of readers. But it needs to be relevant to the story you are writing to be effective. The wrong backstory can turn into an information dump or irrelevant information, which slows a story’s pace to a yawn and disengages readers. Backstory is there to support the main plot and add dimension to characters; therefore, it needs to be relevant to the entire story, as well as what’s going on when it’s delivered. Make Backstory Relevant to the Character When thinking about your …
Should a romance writer invest in a website?
Should a romance writer invest in a website? Yes. But not just any website. You want a website that’ll grow with you and your author career, making it one of the most important assets as part of your author platform. Here’s why… The top 3 reasons for a romance writer to invest in a website: 1. Basically, your author website is a marketing tool that shows you off to the masses in a noisy digital world. 2. It gives you credibility by showing the world you mean business! Especially when it comes to attracting publishers, book agents, and the media …
DO ROMANCE WRITERS NEED AN AUTHOR BRAND?
Most think of February as the month for romance, proposals, flowers, chocolates, Hallmark Cards, and overworked cupids. For weeks we’re blinded by flashes of red hearts and roses, as lovers get high on the possibility of romance – especially romance readers. But if you think about how well branded Valentine’s Day is, romance writers prepare months in advance just for this annual event, ensuring they fit the brand of V-day. Branding. It’s a thang. And when it’s done well, readers don’t realise they’re following a brand – like 80% of the people on social media do. Do you think romance …
Want to set some author goals for 2023?
It’s that time of the year when authors reflect over the past year and start focusing on their future, making it the best time to start planning your author goals. WHAT ARE AUTHOR GOALS? Author goals list out your desires, helping you to work out the steps you’ll need to take towards achieving them. It’s where you map out a way to turn your dreams into realities. And it’s not that hard. DID YOU KNOW THAT THERE ARE THREE TYPES OF AUTHOR GOALS? According to some goal-setting geniuses, there are three types of goals. For an author we have: To achieve …
Creating A Monthly To-Do List For Romance Writers
Have you ever thought about creating a monthly To-Do list as a romance writer? I asked around and came up with the following 10 quick tips to help you with the month ahead… 1/- Ask yourself, what matters most to you as an author? Take five to ask yourself the above, and then what can you achieve this month? It’s all about knowing your author goals. While you’re thinking of the answers… From the book Your Author Goals >> 2/- Let’s begin with the worst first, by cleaning up your writing space. If you’re anything like me you’ll have paper, notes, …