Yes, I’ve been writing for a number of years, and I have seen the world of writing change drastically, from the collapse of brick-n-mortar bookstores, to Kindle Unlimited, to Amazon accepting books given for free, and to the closure of many publishing houses because of all of the changes.

 

As a writer, it is hard to compete with free. Most readers are willing to tolerate poorly written books with no substance because they can easily move to the next free book. It has certainly put a strain on authors trying to make a living at writing. It has turned the focus of writing well-written books to becoming a professional promotion artist instead. If you don’t keep up on how to market your books and keep current, you might as well give up the ship.

 

Many excellent authors have given up writing all together. After all, their love was writing, not promotion. I know for me; I have continued writing and have not known what has been happening behind the scenes (facepalm) until I took a class on the subject. Boy, were my eyes opened wide. I wasn’t doing anything correctly. In fact, I wasn’t doing anything at all. I put my books out there but had no idea the world of writing would continue to change and morph.

 

When I chose my tagline years ago, I never dreamed the market would change and come to mean something different. My tag-line was: Sweet Romantic Suspense, with Humor…and Dogs! Here’s a look at a few things that have changed while I have been busy living life:

The sub-category of romance known as romantic suspense has become more about heroes in high positions (FBI, Navy SEALS, CIA) rescuing heroines. Really! When I started writing, romance had given up the concept of heroes saving damsels in distress. Heroines had to be capable and competent to save themselves, or the two had to work together to save themselves. I still prefer to think of my heroines as competent and capable. Also, I have always written heroes who are common, every day men who are heroes. They didn’t have to hold some title. Where have I been?So, I started researching what new category my books now fit in.  I found a new category called action/adventure romance. The simple definition is: a story that has a quest, a search for some important object/person/thing, that gives the story its adventure feel.But, that wasn’t all I learned while out exploring the changes to romance writing. Apparently, the term “sweet” romance has been taken over by erotica writers to mean their male heroes are not alpha-males. What?A new category of romance has come to fruition called bully romance. In these books, the hero dominates the heroine and treats her badly. You may be saying, “Well, that’s called a dark romance.” No, dark romance has also changed. It has become even darker and can include no consent from the heroine, rape, torture, slavery etc. There often times is no redeeming qualities in the hero, and they don’t turn around like in the old dark romances.Bully romance is now when the hero treats the heroine poorly but she still falls in love with him. There is no guarantee that by the end of the book that he will have changed his ways. In these two types of romance, the hero is called an alpha-male. That’s why erotica romance writers have taken over the term “sweet” to mean there are no alpha-male heroes in their book. As I said, categories and terminology have changed over the years.Sweet used to mean there were no sex scenes and no offensive language. Obviously, you may now run across an erotic romance touting that it is sweet. It is definitely something to be aware of since there is no rating system on books. I have changed by category to clean and wholesome romance; more specifically, clean and wholesome action/adventure romance.Another thing that has changed in the romance writing world is book covers. Who knew? Covers are more simplistic with bold, large titles and author names. It has required me to have all my covers recreated. This part of the journey, I enjoyed. Working with my cover artist, Dawne Dominique was wonderful. I’m sure you know that writing and art are equally satisfying to me. Dawne did a fantastic job recreating my covers. Her company name is: www.dusktildawndesigns.com. I gave a hand to some of my novella covers too. I learned a great deal watching Youtube videos. I’ve spent the last two months on all of these changes as well as restructuring categories, finding keywords, email automation, editing metadata and book descriptions, finding reviews, calculating giveaways, offering free books and updating my website, blog, etc. What I haven’t done is write a new book. I have also successfully helped three family members through COVID-19 during this time. A feat in itself. Time marches on, and I know the market will continue to change. For now, I want to escape through my characters and find a happy place while all of the turmoil continues on in this world.

 

Happy Reading,

 

Cindy A. Christiansen

Clean & Wholesome Action/Adventure Romance with Humor…and Dogs!

http://www.dragonflyromance.com

 

 

 

Cindy A. Christiansen
Sweet (clean) Romance Author