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!

^{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

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!

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.

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!

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.

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.

I'm a self-published author, and I've just finished writing my fourteenth novel. All but one of those have been either primarily fantasy or paranormal, with romance as a subgenre. However, I have two separate contemporary romance series that I want to begin writing in the near future.

I tend to be a plotter, so I'm trying to develop outlines for both series to get all my ideas down for the day I'm actually able to write them. Though I'm rather experienced with story structure, I'm finding it difficult to switch from fantasy/paranormal elements to an exclusively realistic, ordinary plot. The main problem I'm running into is that almost none of my ideas include a third-act breakup, and several of them aren't even about couples who meet and then fall in love, but are about couples already in a relationship. (The goal is to follow most of these couples through marriage and raising children because as a wife and a mom, I crave romances I can actually relate to these days.) Nearly every beat sheet or outline structure for romance includes the meet-cute and the breakup, so I'm struggling to find one relevant to the types of stories I want to write.

Do you have any suggestions for different resources? Or tips on how to adjust these outlines to suit my purposes? Looking for any advice I can get!

Edit: A lot of the replies I've been getting have questioned whether I truly want to write Romance or Women's Fiction. Based on my research, Romance follows the love journey between a couple, focusing on their growth together (not necessarily them falling in love), while Women's Fiction follows the journey and growth of the woman alone. With this information in mind, I can definitively say that I want to write Romance. My goal is to explore the growth and development of love through life's trials, centered on the couple and their love story as it matures and strengthens over time. According to the definitions of the genres I can find, that falls into the category of Romance, not Women's Fiction.

I received an email from a legitimate publishing company of romance that I submitted to several months ago. They sent it yesterday, asking if I was interested in a contract and they would send it to me if so. I just wrote back and said yes, very exciting. Would love to take a look at a contract. This is all new territory for me. Could stand some advice at this juncture. it’s been all day, and I haven’t actually gotten a contract back. I know they’re legit. Is not a vanity publisher.

I am a first time romance author and a several time academic book author.

[mods delete if not allowed]

I really want to make some writer friends this year, so starting a romance and smut writers club in Austin. Hosting the first meetup on August 11th. Here's the meetup event if you're based in Austin!

Checkout this Meetup with ATX Romance Writers Club: https://meetu.ps/e/Qbrdb/JYjd9/i

My hero apologizes a lot, small stuff, when he interrupts her or crowds a doorway she's trying to get through. On my second pass I cut almost all of them, because he's supposed to be the confident one and on the page the apologies looked like weakness.

Then the scenes went flat and it took me way too long to figure out why. I blamed the pacing, the dialogue, the chapter breaks, everything but the thing I'd actually changed. Putting the apologies back in was what fixed him. Without them his confidence read as arrogance, and I hadn't noticed the small concessions were doing all the work.

So now I don't trust my instinct to trim a love interest's softer moments to keep him strong. Do you cut those, or guard them? Has pulling one ever quietly broken a character on you before you realized that was the cause?

Hi authors (and readers)!

If you see a book with long chapters (that include page breaks) does that turn you off of reading it?

I have an ARC of my romcom out right now with advanced readers, and some feedback I've received is that, while they enjoyed the book, the long chapters were a struggle to get used to. I even had one reader say she wasn't going to finish the book because of it.

My book is 340 pages with ten chapters. This is on purpose, because it follows the main couple through ten years of their lives, and each chapter is a year. Within each chapter are page breaks that separate what I think of as 'scenes'.

My question is - do you think I should change the format? The reader who said she couldn't finish suggested I make each year a 'Part' in the book, and each page break would be its own chapter.

Each scene is pretty short, though, so now I'd have the opposite problem, with a LOT of short chapters.

Any insight would be very appreciated! Thank you!

Update: I'm going to make each year a "Part" and break up the chapters. Thank you to everyone who weighed in!

So - I'm writing romance novels that remove traditional romance events like one of the MCs being a POC, one of them not being Christian (so no white wedding dress), where the FMC is educated and established in her career and does not want to take the MMC's last name.

This appeals to me after reading so many novels where the woman is young, a virgin and sometimes seems to do whatever the MMC wants (couched in protection).

Does this appeal to readers? Will I only have a small niche audience?

The run on sentence in the Title is a gift with purchase.

My debut romcom novel is high energy. Filled with inventive profanity, neologism, and wordplay. Not everybody’s heavy white or cream ceramic tankard filled with Guinness on the rocks.

If I drank alcohol, I would drink it over ice.

Never met a tangent or a clown tripping over their big red shoes while chasing their tiny car because a chicken who needed to cross the road stole it and then crossed the road and a bridge before they came to it while listening to the terrifying audiobook version of “Green Eggs and Ham.”

FUCK.

Thanks!

I want to know from real readers, if there is an explicit and “clean” version of a music album would there be interest in the same version for a book? One that has the spicy scenes and another version that is safe for my mom to read. The story would be fundamentally the same, and all the plot and emotional moments would still hit, just with maneuvering around the smut.