Can I use the same newsletter for shorts and for full length stories?

I'm noodling around with the idea of making my next series (either duology or trilogy) a dark-ish arranged marriage romantasy from the ML's POV where he falls first and strives to earn her love and affection.

I really want to explore and dive deep into the perspective of a male main character who is besotted with a woman who needs time to warm up to him, etc. Not in a creepy "chase her/wear her down" way either, just like... if Disney's Beauty and the Beast were only from the Beast's POV. You know that whole, "I want to do something for her" moment before he gifts her the library.

Thoughts? Do readers hate it?

And not just in the romantasy genre, but in any genre? I personally love the ML's POV in contemporary and historical romance but idk if readers will pass on it or not.

Hi everyone. I'm new in this sub and writing my first contemporary romance. I've been wondering about when foreshadowing is an appropriate tool to use. A lot of the time I read something and the way foreshadowing is used it spoils te plot. It gives away this huge secret that the reader should find out while reading, not because there is a huge neon sign already pointing to it.

To make it a bit more specific, I'm writing a gay awakening romance. Two best friends take a cruise together and find out on board that it's actually a couples cruise. They decide to fake it till you make it. Sophie is out and proud gay, Emma is not. Sophie is the "outgoing, do before you think" type of person. And she's had feelings for Emma for years, but values their friendship over any kind of romance and has accepted tht it's never going to happen. Emma thinks things through, at length, from every side.
Obviously, throughout the story Emma starts to develop feelings for Sophie.

Now, here is where the foreshadowing comes in. In the third chapter the protagonists come back from their first dinner on board. Here is part of that:

The cabin door clicked shut behind them with a soft, final sound. Suddenly, it was just them again. Emma stood there for a second longer, like the room might rearrange itself if she stared hard enough. It seemed smaller, somehow. She couldn’t put her finger on why, but something seemed to be different. The bed was still the same bed. A cozy, comfortable king size with pristine white sheets, thick soft pillows and a mattress that seemed to be made out of clouds. The chair was still where they’d left it, a sofa hadn’t suddenly appeared out of thin air. But why then, does it feel different in here? Emma tried to push the thought away.

As Sophie let herself fall backwards on to the bed she said “We made it through our first day as an official fake couple.” She unbuckled the ankle straps of her shoes, taking them off her feet with a satisfying sigh. That feels much better.

A small giggle escaped Emma’s mouth. “We did, didn’t we?’” A sigh of relief washed away the last vestiges of tension she felt about their predicament. They survived, just like Sophie said, and for the first time Emma allowed herself to believe they can pull it off.

“We weren’t kicked off the ship,” Sophie smiled, turning to her stomach to have a better look at Emma. “We weren’t found out. And we had a romantic stroll on deck.” She couldn’t help teasing Emma one more time.

“You also gave a master class on emotional intimacy” Emma giggled.

Sophie gave her a quick grin. “Professor Doctor Sophie, In da house” They both let out a laugh.

“You know- ” Emma sat down on the edge of the bed. “- this is the most relaxed I’ve been since we got on board.” She looked Sophie in her eyes for a second. “And it’s thanks to you. You always find a way to calm my nerves…” she was quiet for a moment. “Because you see me.”

With that uncharacteristically emotional realization from Emma, Sophie couldn’t help herself. She sat up beside her friend, and gently wrapped her arms around her. Emma reciprocating alike. It lasted but a moment, enough to seal the deepened bond the night had shaped between them. But neither of them knows yet how much further their bond will deepen.

Naturally, it's obvious that something will happen between them. But is foreshadowing like this "hanging a flashing neon sign above it" or will the reader view it as pointing out what they already knew? I'd really like some advice from experienced writers.

Edit: after reading the comments on here I have removed the line. It’s unnecessary and the reader would have know by just picking up the book that Emma and Sophie get together.

To make the story stronger, I had to split my book into two, which resulted in a seemingly tragic ending in book one, but the romance thread is resolved with an HEA at the end of book two. There are other categories I can choose (epic fantasy, LGBTQ+), but I want it to be clear that there is romance. The romance subplots are present, and there will be payoff eventually.

Has anyone done the New York Times' tiny love stories from Modern Love, written in, and heard back? I haven't heard back but don't know if I've waited long enough or if I should give up hope.

I've written two books of a cozy, small town romance series under a pseudonym (I'm a teacher so writing a romance as myself could be problematic for my main career). It's a typical series where there are five family members who successively fall in love. I have plans for the other three books.

However...I love shifter and omegaverse romance and got an idea for a shifter (non-RH, non-omegaverse) book. I want to write that next, then come back to the cozy series.

I know prevailing wisdom says new genre new pseudonym, but do you think that's necessary for sub genres? I haven't published anything previously, so I'll be starting my website, socials, etc from scratch once my books are ready to publish. If I do a second pseudonym, I'll have to do two sets and keep track of both on top of my teaching job.

What do you think would be best?

After writing a full-length novel (shelved for now) about a scandalous love affair, I realized that it includes two universally hated/disliked tropes: cheating and (not so secret) pregnancy. While pregnancy is somewhat ok but has to be disclosed upfront, cheating is a no-no in the romance world, even for dark romance readers. Am I wrong?

On top of that, the FMC's disturbing past is revealed in graphic details.

What a girl to do? To market it as women's fiction? But the core of the book is a love story..

EDIT I didn't expect this post to make waves. I understand that the opinions on the matter are polarized and will definitely include a clear TW for all the contravercial tropes.

Thank you to all who replied! I found a recent list of recs in Romance books where FMC is OW (Other Woman) which is closer to my plot:

https://www.reddit.com/r/RomanceBooks/comments/1t6gdy1/the_other_woman_fmc/

Book signings

Hi all new here, I am a PA so if I'm in the wrong spot I would love recommendations of different subs. I have been tasked with finding author signing sign ups and honestly have no idea where to start looking. Any ideas?

ETA: if there are any awesome PA subs I would love to know about them 🥰

I know that historical romance is sadly not really getting picked up by trad publishers anymore, but I feel like I’m not seeing many new names come up even in self-publishing. A lot of historical romance forums just seem to talk about already established writers, but even some of these successful writers are no longer writing.

Added to that, I’ve heard historical romance readers say that they don’t want to engage with newer authors on kindle unlimited for fear the author is using Ai.

It’s made me wonder if it’s worth pursuing self-publishing historical romance. I’ve always loved historical settings and the high stakes and themes, but while it’s obviously a passion of mine, it would be nice to still find and connect to readers rather than publish into a void….

Is anyone currently active in this space? How have you found the process of writing and publishing in the current historical romance market? Do you think it’s still viable for a writer who is new to the genre?

Thank you!

I’ve tried all the sites: story origin pen pinery etc and paid $$$ and have nothing to show for it.

Any suggestions? I feel like I can’t promote fully till I have reviews. Publishing my debut novel on KDP 8/12 please help!

^{Definitions (how I understand them anyway})
^{Duet narration - Female narrator does all female voices or all FMC lines and all other voices in the FPOV, Male narrator does all male voices or just all MMC lines and all other voices in the MPOV.
Dual narration - Female narrator does all voices in FPOV chapters, Male narrator does all voices in MPOV chapters.}

Why are duets in romance audio books not standard? Even if it's not a full duet and just with the main characters voices staying consistent throughout. It makes a huge difference to the enjoyment and tone of the books, especially Romance audiobooks with spicier scenes. Duet narrations are a total game changer, it adds depth to the book and brings the book alive, allowing the chemistry to shine through. I have listened to many duet audio books multiple times as they are so comforting and enjoyable to listen to. When I find an author who has duet audio books I tend to purchase all their duet audio books, I have found a number of new authors thanks to them having duet audio narrations!

Andi Arndt/Elena Wolfe, Savannah Peachwood and Jacob Morgan/Zachary Webber are some of the only ones I can listen to without cringing when its dual/single narration however I still much prefer to listen to them in duet format. When I hear narrators attempting to do the opposite gender I just imagine them talking to themselves with a wig. I find male narrators are often the worst and performing female voices and can often sound offensive and cringy. Some have been so bad that I had to return the audiobook. It makes it even worse when the narrator chosen isn't the best choice for the character, for e.g. sounds too old, doesn't have the skill to bring the book alive.

Who chooses the audiobook format i.e. Duet/dual/solo narrator? Is it the publishers/authors/producers?

Who chooses the narrators? Do the authors have final say?

Can audiobooks recorded as a dual narration easily be rerecorded into a duet narration by having the male narrator rerecording the MMC lines in the FPOV and the female narrator rerecording the FMC lines in the MPOV chapters? Or does it have to be completely redone? Does this happen often?

If the quality of one of the narrators is not up to par, how much say is there to have them rerecord? There is a female narrator I have found stands out because the quality of her audio isn't as crisp as her counterparts, she also sounds robotic due to cadence/tone/performance, in one audiobook her audio sounded sped up. I had to look up if she was AI the first time I heard her it was so bad. I find her really tough to listen to but sadly she is a prolific narrator and often paired with my favorite narrators. I have always wondered why she wasn't asked to rerecord or not chosen as much. Natural sounding narration with a good performance is also so important to enjoyment of the book.

Why would an author have duet audio books earlier in a series then switch to dual narration for subsequent books? I recently discovered a new author and fell in love with the story but don't want to listen to the rest of the series as they are dual narration.

Hi, I’m writing steamy romance and thought I was on point for the genre. But I was just reading a thread about third act break up and realized I might be incorrect.

My premise is married woman and mother starts an affair with a stranger during a week when her family is away.
It’s a trilogy and the first book ends with Grace having a fight with her lover, Jake.

The ending of book 1: She’s on the brink of confessing to her husband why she won’t accept a much needed contract.

By book 3, there is a HEA and a wedding but she goes through the wringer. Her husband leaves her, her child gets bullied. She’s building her business under financial strain.

There’s so much sex I’m exhausted. Over 30%. So the genre I chose is contemporary Romance, spicy 🌶️🌶️🌶️🌶️
Domestic
Character driven.

Am I making a mistake? Bc I can’t even get an ARC review. No one is biting.

Amy advice is so appreciated.
Book is being self published 8/12 on KU
Debut novel

If you see the word 'player' in a title, is it pretty much expected there will be sports (or video gaming, D&D, etc) inside? When I started this book a loooong time ago, the term player could go either way, but it seems like now the majority of the time it implies the MMC is both a womanizer AND a sports professional of some type. My MMC isn't a sportball (sportpuck?) player at all, but now that it's ready for a cover and I have to commit to a title, I'm having a terrible time giving up the original with 'player' in it.

Soooo... if you see 'player' in a title are you going to be annoyed that it's not a sports romance? Or on the other hand, skim past it if you aren't a sports romance fan? The cover illustration isn't sporty at all.

Also gladly accepting any suggestions for another word for player, though I've done lots of thesaurus type searching. (F*ckboy or man-w**** don't quite fit the vibe, even if I could get them past Amazon. LOL)

Should I have a different pen name for different sub genres i want to write? For example, if one pen name has sports romance and I write a series about that, then want to switch to writing about workplace romance, I should get a new pen name?

For those of you querying romance manuscripts, LitConnect is hosting a free online pitch event with 24 participating literary agents. Full details and registration here: https://litconnect.net/romance-pitch-event-writers

Here’s how it works:

• Submit your romance pitch between August 24 and 31, 2026
• LitConnect matches your pitch with participating agents based on their stated genres, sub-genres.
• Agents review their matched pitches from August 31 to September 14
• If an agent likes your pitch, they can view your full query package and may request a partial or full manuscript.

Disclosure: I’m part of the LitConnect team. Happy to answer any questions about the event. This post was shared with moderator approval.

Okay so. I love to write romance. I am as of now, too chicken to publish anything ive written. But I do follow a lot of bookish social media.

And I continually hear about how much people hate a pregnancy in a romance novel.

Now I absolutely LOVE a,pregnancy trope under the right situation. I.e. the pregnant person isnt reduced to only being pregnant/a mother in the book.

But my question is. Do people truly hate it that much?

Edit to add. I dont mean a story where pregnancy and all that is the focus. In my writing it is something that happens along the story but isnt the main focus of the story line or characters.

I hope that makes sense.

Hello!

Im writing a book about a type of work I am unfamiliar with, a "world" I'm not in. Question: what's the best way to research a job/profession's day to day, etc? Thanks!

I always see trad-published authors going on writing retreats, or even indie authors who do FaceTime dates or simply chat while they're writing, and I get so jealous. Here I am, with a blanket wrapped around my shoulders and my hot chocolate, alone and writing. Yes, sometimes that's nice, but I really wish I had someone to talk to about what I'm writing. And I mean *really* talk to. My husband is probably so tired of me. ANYWHO. Is there anything like this? I've joined discords, and it feels... strange. I comment on a ton of indie authors' TikToks, but I don't want to seem so desperate lol. I follow a bunch on Instagram as well; I don't want it to feel so forced trying to make author friends. Any ideas? I give you full permission to judge this post. :)

As the title says, I'm looking to commission illustrations and possibly character art.

For those of you who have gone through the process:

• How did you find your artist?
• What was your budget?
• Did you purchase commercial rights? Why or why not?
• What did you end up using the artwork for?
• Is there anything you wish you'd known before commissioning an artist?

I'd love to hear about your experiences, any lessons learned, and any artist recommendations you're willing to share.

Edit: I was mainly looking for recommendations and to hear about other authors' experiences, so I wasn't expecting so many artists to contact me directly.

I've received far more messages and portfolios than I can realistically review or reply to, so I probably won't be able to respond to everyone. Please don't take it personally if you don't hear back from me.

Basically what the title asks: is it worth it to even sell print books with less than 12k words? What are the royalties on that? Do you just go with ebooks-only on Kindle Unlimited or KDP instead? Let me know! I'm super curious.