Cynthia Sax's Blog, page 162
December 31, 2017
Happy New Year!
Wishing you a 2018 filled with love, laughter and great books!
(tackle hugs)
***
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Alien Alphas: Twenty-Three Naughty Sci-Fi Romance Novellas
Fierce warriors. Savage barbarians. Powerful warlords.
All ready to claim their mates.
Alien Alphas is a collection of panty-melting sci-fi romances featuring dominant alien heroes, penned by New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling authors. This decadently naughty box set includes twenty-three ALL-NEW, stand-alone novellas full of hot alien alpha males, breathless passion, and reluctant surrender. Take an exhilarating trip beyond the stars with this limited time only bundle that’s sure to leave you turning the pages late into the night.
Featured authors: Cari Silverwood, Cynthia Sax, Renee Rose, Lee Savino, Addison Cain, Kallista Dane, Maren Smith, Ava Sinclair, Sue Lyndon, Emily Tilton, Ashe Barker, Korey Mae Johnson, Grace Goodwin, Ivy Barrett, Jane Henry, Jaye Peaches, Katie Douglas, Lili Zander, Loki Renard, Maria Monroe, Megan Michaels, Myra Danvers, Sara Fields, and Sophie Kisker
Publisher’s Note: The stories featured in this collection involve MF and MFM pairings. They include spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don’t buy this box set.
Pre-order Now:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0785FQ2BH/
Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/alien-alphas-grace-goodwin/1127581629
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/alien-alphas
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=wURBDwAAQBAJ
December 27, 2017
Add A Name To Your Gift List
I’m talking about the one name you should add to your gift list at LASR today.
Here’s a snippet…
“If you’re reading this, you’ve survived all of the challenges this year flung at you and, if your year has been anything like mine, there have been quite a few of these. You’re a little bit older, a little bit smarter, a little bit stronger. You might have done things and tackled situations you never thought you could. You might not have handled everything perfectly. You ARE human. But you handled it and that’s the important part.
After doing all of that, you deserve a present, a gift from you to you, a thank you for being so freakin’ awesome. This present doesn’t have to be huge. It could be your favorite hot chocolate topped with those tiny marshmallows or an hour on Saturday morning for yourself or a Wonder Woman ornament for the tree. The important thing is you show yourself the love and caring you show others.
“
Read the full post here:
http://www.longandshortreviews.com/
***
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Alien Alphas: Twenty-Three Naughty Sci-Fi Romance Novellas
Fierce warriors. Savage barbarians. Powerful warlords.
All ready to claim their mates.
Alien Alphas is a collection of panty-melting sci-fi romances featuring dominant alien heroes, penned by New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling authors. This decadently naughty box set includes twenty-three ALL-NEW, stand-alone novellas full of hot alien alpha males, breathless passion, and reluctant surrender. Take an exhilarating trip beyond the stars with this limited time only bundle that’s sure to leave you turning the pages late into the night.
Featured authors: Cari Silverwood, Cynthia Sax, Renee Rose, Lee Savino, Addison Cain, Kallista Dane, Maren Smith, Ava Sinclair, Sue Lyndon, Emily Tilton, Ashe Barker, Korey Mae Johnson, Grace Goodwin, Ivy Barrett, Jane Henry, Jaye Peaches, Katie Douglas, Lili Zander, Loki Renard, Maria Monroe, Megan Michaels, Myra Danvers, Sara Fields, and Sophie Kisker
Publisher’s Note: The stories featured in this collection involve MF and MFM pairings. They include spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don’t buy this box set.
Pre-order Now:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0785FQ2BH/
Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/alien-alphas-grace-goodwin/1127581629
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/alien-alphas
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=wURBDwAAQBAJ
December 24, 2017
Merry Christmas
Merry Christmas to everyone who celebrates.
Have a happy day with friends and family to…well…everyone!
(tackle hugs)
***
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Alien Alphas: Twenty-Three Naughty Sci-Fi Romance Novellas
Fierce warriors. Savage barbarians. Powerful warlords.
All ready to claim their mates.
Alien Alphas is a collection of panty-melting sci-fi romances featuring dominant alien heroes, penned by New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling authors. This decadently naughty box set includes twenty-three ALL-NEW, stand-alone novellas full of hot alien alpha males, breathless passion, and reluctant surrender. Take an exhilarating trip beyond the stars with this limited time only bundle that’s sure to leave you turning the pages late into the night.
Featured authors: Cari Silverwood, Cynthia Sax, Renee Rose, Lee Savino, Addison Cain, Kallista Dane, Maren Smith, Ava Sinclair, Sue Lyndon, Emily Tilton, Ashe Barker, Korey Mae Johnson, Grace Goodwin, Ivy Barrett, Jane Henry, Jaye Peaches, Katie Douglas, Lili Zander, Loki Renard, Maria Monroe, Megan Michaels, Myra Danvers, Sara Fields, and Sophie Kisker
Publisher’s Note: The stories featured in this collection involve MF and MFM pairings. They include spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don’t buy this box set.
Pre-order Now:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0785FQ2BH/
Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/alien-alphas-grace-goodwin/1127581629
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/alien-alphas
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=wURBDwAAQBAJ
Talking Great Female Vs Male Movie Fight Scenes With Delilah Devlin
I’m talking about Alien Alphas and three of my favorite female vs male fight scenes in movies at Delilah Devlin’s online home today.
Here’s a snippet…
“The T-850 vs T-X battle in Terminator 3 was awesome. They were breaking down walls, setting off sprinklers, trying to set faces on fire. I knew they were enemies and more machine than human but I really wanted them to have sexy times.”
Read the full post here:
https://www.delilahdevlin.com/blog/
***
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Alien Alphas: Twenty-Three Naughty Sci-Fi Romance Novellas
Fierce warriors. Savage barbarians. Powerful warlords.
All ready to claim their mates.
Alien Alphas is a collection of panty-melting sci-fi romances featuring dominant alien heroes, penned by New York Times, USA Today, and international bestselling authors. This decadently naughty box set includes twenty-three ALL-NEW, stand-alone novellas full of hot alien alpha males, breathless passion, and reluctant surrender. Take an exhilarating trip beyond the stars with this limited time only bundle that’s sure to leave you turning the pages late into the night.
Featured authors: Cari Silverwood, Cynthia Sax, Renee Rose, Lee Savino, Addison Cain, Kallista Dane, Maren Smith, Ava Sinclair, Sue Lyndon, Emily Tilton, Ashe Barker, Korey Mae Johnson, Grace Goodwin, Ivy Barrett, Jane Henry, Jaye Peaches, Katie Douglas, Lili Zander, Loki Renard, Maria Monroe, Megan Michaels, Myra Danvers, Sara Fields, and Sophie Kisker
Publisher’s Note: The stories featured in this collection involve MF and MFM pairings. They include spankings and sexual scenes. If such material offends you, please don’t buy this box set.
Pre-order Now:
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0785FQ2BH/
Nook: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/alien-alphas-grace-goodwin/1127581629
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/alien-alphas
Google Play: https://play.google.com/store/books/details?id=wURBDwAAQBAJ
August 29, 2017
The Success File For Writers
This wonderful career can be challenging. I published my stories for years without breaking even financially. Some stories I spent months crafting were enjoyed by less than 10 readers. There are rejections at every stage of writing and this doesn’t stop after finding ‘success.’ Big names still get rejections and bad reviews and nasty messages.
This is why I believe it is VERY important to celebrate our successes.
Celebrate Everything
Finished a chapter? Celebrate that! Finished a first draft? Celebrate! Finished edits? DEFINITELY a reason for celebration (and heavy drinking). Sold a book? Celebrate! Every step is worthy of celebration. It is bringing us closer to our goals (whatever those goals are).
I like to post my ‘successes’ on Facebook. Writing it down makes it feel more real for me. Many of my friends have stood by my side for years. They know how important these benchmarks are and they’re happy for me.
Sure, sometimes someone will post something grumpy. I tend to respond with, “You’re my friend. I know you’re happy for me.” (This immediately makes ME feel better about the grumpy comment.) True friends will feel happy for us. We might be also envious of your success but that envy is about us, not about you and your success. We’re thrilled for you.
Seeing other writers’ successes pushes me to reach my own benchmarks. I always write faster when I hear someone else has had a great writing day. So these posts don’t just benefit you. They benefit others.
Create A Success File
I also have a success file or a kudos file or whatever you wish to call it. Every time I receive positive feedback or an awesome review or anything that makes me feel great about my stories and my writing, I copy the information and put it in a Word file.
When the dark days full of doubt come (and they WILL come), this file is what keeps me writing. I peruse it and I get that passion back. This file is what pushed me forward when I was losing money year after year. If it weren’t for this file, I wouldn’t have made it through that disastrous fifth year, the year everything that could possibly go wrong did.
Think you don’t have anything to celebrate? Well, you made it to the end of this blog post, didn’t you? That means today you read a post about writing. You have one more tool in your toolbox. Congrats! That’s worthy of a celebration!
Enjoy this wonderful career as much as possible. Celebrate and revisit your successes!
***
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Dark Flight
His mission. His challenge. His forever.
Orol, the Refuge’s second-in-command, has been given what he believes is a simple mission—escort two human females to the settlement. The winged warrior arrives at the meeting site to find one of the females missing and the other aiming a gun at his head. To rescue the first, he must capture the second. Once he has Rhea in his talons, however, he realizes he never wants to let her go.
Her enemy. Her captor. Her everything.
Rhea doesn’t trust anyone. She certainly doesn’t follow commands issued by a gorgeous flying male with glittering eyes, a beautiful face, and a seductive touch. Orol is dominant, edged with darkness, and determined to find her sister. Rhea will do anything to prevent that, even if it means playing sensual games of submission with her powerful enemy, seducing him into forgetting everything except her.
Dark Flight is a STAND-ALONE SciFi Romance set in a gritty, dark world.
Buy Now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Flight-Refuge-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07124941B/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Flight-Refuge-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07124941B/
Apple/iBooks/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dark-flight/id1242494643
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-flight-cynthia-sax/1126484675
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dark-flight-3
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/727350
August 20, 2017
Talking Cyborgs With Shelley Munro
The always awesome Shelley Munro has interviewed me!
Here’s a snippet…
“Shelley Munro – If a reader visits your Facebook page they soon learn you have a great sense of humor and a sense of fun (plus an awesome hubby!) yet your writing is quite dark. How do you explain that and what attracts you over to the dark side?
Cynthia Sax – I am fascinated with military history (if we don’t learn from history, we tend to repeat it) and I really wanted to tell the story of the cyborgs starting when they rebelled against their manufacturers. The cyborgs were created to fight wars. Any rebellion would happen during wartime and be quite violent. To make this series light in tone wouldn’t be true to the setting and would diminish what today’s warriors are experiencing.
But there IS humor and, of course, happy endings (for main characters and for past couples – everyone else is at risk). Humor is a survival tactic we see employed even during our darkest times. It is one of our great strengths.”
Read the full interview here: https://shelleymunro.com/blog/2017/08/19/interview-with-cynthia-sax-scifi-cyborgs-cynthiasax/
***
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Dark Flight
His mission. His challenge. His forever.
Orol, the Refuge’s second-in-command, has been given what he believes is a simple mission—escort two human females to the settlement. The winged warrior arrives at the meeting site to find one of the females missing and the other aiming a gun at his head. To rescue the first, he must capture the second. Once he has Rhea in his talons, however, he realizes he never wants to let her go.
Her enemy. Her captor. Her everything.
Rhea doesn’t trust anyone. She certainly doesn’t follow commands issued by a gorgeous flying male with glittering eyes, a beautiful face, and a seductive touch. Orol is dominant, edged with darkness, and determined to find her sister. Rhea will do anything to prevent that, even if it means playing sensual games of submission with her powerful enemy, seducing him into forgetting everything except her.
Dark Flight is a STAND-ALONE SciFi Romance set in a gritty, dark world.
Buy Now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Flight-Refuge-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07124941B/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Flight-Refuge-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07124941B/
Apple/iBooks/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dark-flight/id1242494643
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-flight-cynthia-sax/1126484675
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dark-flight-3
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/727350
August 19, 2017
Collateral Beauty And Money As Motivation
Note: There will be spoilers of this wonderful movie in this post. Please don’t read it if you haven’t watched Collateral Beauty.
The wealthy hero and the struggling heroine trope has dipped in popularity recently but it will never disappear. These stories have been told long before Pride And Prejudice was published and will outlast all of us, even the cyborgs.
The key to writing this trope well is the motivation for the struggling heroine. That appears easy. It’s money, right?
Nope. It’s not money.
In one of the first stories I wrote, the heroine and hero went on a treasure hunt. The prize was… well… treasure—gold coins. I entered that story in a writing contest ( http://torontoromancewriters.com/enter/contest/ ) and I received, in return, a brilliant piece of writing (and life) advice well worth the entry fee.
Money isn’t ever the true motivation for our characters. Their motivation is what they believe the money will bring them.
I rewrote the story with the prize being a house both of the characters considered to be theirs and the story was MUCH stronger. Two people were competing for the same home.
The Dear Wonderful Hubby and I watched Collateral Beauty last night. This was a beautiful, emotional movie. I cried hard and was thoroughly (and surprisingly) entertained. I loved it.
One of the things this movie did wonderfully well was give each character strong motivation for their actions.
At first, the three business partners appeared to be taking extreme action because they wanted cash. I rolled my eyes at this. The greedy business man or woman is such a cliché. It is lazy writing, the characters cardboard and predictable.
But then the characters revealed they had three very different, very strong, very emotional reasons for wanting that money.
One partner’s ex-wife is dating a wealthy new boyfriend. This boyfriend is showering the partner’s daughter with expensive gifts. The partner thinks his relationship with his daughter is strained because he can’t match these gifts. He believes money will fix their problems.
Another partner wants a baby. She doesn’t have a love interest and would be having this baby on her own. That requires money—money for the medical procedures and money to allow her to take the time off work.
The third partner is dying. He has a wife he loves and a family he wants to take care of. The money will be his last and hopefully a lasting gift to them, a not-so-little thing this otherwise powerless character can do for the people he loves.
Bam! These are three powerful motivations for wanting money. The characters went from being cold and flat to being living, breathing people we can care about and cheer for.
Do this in a wealthy hero and struggling heroine romance and I’d happily read this trope over and over again. I’d love it.
Money isn’t ever the true motivation behind an action. Delve deeper.
***
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Dark Flight
His mission. His challenge. His forever.
Orol, the Refuge’s second-in-command, has been given what he believes is a simple mission—escort two human females to the settlement. The winged warrior arrives at the meeting site to find one of the females missing and the other aiming a gun at his head. To rescue the first, he must capture the second. Once he has Rhea in his talons, however, he realizes he never wants to let her go.
Her enemy. Her captor. Her everything.
Rhea doesn’t trust anyone. She certainly doesn’t follow commands issued by a gorgeous flying male with glittering eyes, a beautiful face, and a seductive touch. Orol is dominant, edged with darkness, and determined to find her sister. Rhea will do anything to prevent that, even if it means playing sensual games of submission with her powerful enemy, seducing him into forgetting everything except her.
Dark Flight is a STAND-ALONE SciFi Romance set in a gritty, dark world.
Buy Now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Flight-Refuge-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07124941B/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Flight-Refuge-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07124941B/
Apple/iBooks/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dark-flight/id1242494643
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-flight-cynthia-sax/1126484675
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dark-flight-3
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/727350
August 16, 2017
What Happened To A And B Model Cyborgs?
A reading buddy (tackle hugs Lisa) asked me, “What happened to all the A & B models? Have they all been destroyed…?”
When the Humanoid Alliance started manufacturing cyborgs, they viewed them as merely war machines. What these cyborgs looked like was low on the priority list. There was also fear in the general public that these cyborgs would infiltrate human populations and gradually take over.
So the Humanoid Alliance designed them to be clearly cyborg. The first mass produced units (A Models) were big and bulky, more robotic than human. Their eyes resembled lights. Their skin was grey.
There weren’t many A Models produced. The Humanoid Alliance wanted to test the warriors before manufacturing vast quantities of them. The A Models were also huge so more room was needed on space-scarce ships to store them.
B Models were a little bit smaller but, again, storage was an issue. Being early Models, their processors were slow and their fine motor skills were weak.
What happened to them?
They were replaced by the smaller, faster, more adept C Models. As far as I currently know, the A and B Model warriors who weren’t killed in battle were decommissioned to free space on ships for the C Models.
I suspect, however, there might be one or two of them on more primitive non-Humanoid Alliance worlds.
***
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Dark Flight
His mission. His challenge. His forever.
Orol, the Refuge’s second-in-command, has been given what he believes is a simple mission—escort two human females to the settlement. The winged warrior arrives at the meeting site to find one of the females missing and the other aiming a gun at his head. To rescue the first, he must capture the second. Once he has Rhea in his talons, however, he realizes he never wants to let her go.
Her enemy. Her captor. Her everything.
Rhea doesn’t trust anyone. She certainly doesn’t follow commands issued by a gorgeous flying male with glittering eyes, a beautiful face, and a seductive touch. Orol is dominant, edged with darkness, and determined to find her sister. Rhea will do anything to prevent that, even if it means playing sensual games of submission with her powerful enemy, seducing him into forgetting everything except her.
Dark Flight is a STAND-ALONE SciFi Romance set in a gritty, dark world.
Buy Now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Flight-Refuge-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07124941B/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Flight-Refuge-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07124941B/
Apple/iBooks/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dark-flight/id1242494643
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-flight-cynthia-sax/1126484675
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dark-flight-3
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/727350
August 15, 2017
Leave A Magical Moment Alone
Yes, I’m singing Billy Joel’s ‘Leave A Tender Moment Alone.’ (laughs)
I recently received the second round of edits for Seeking Vector, my October release, from my awesome editor ELF ( https://musingsbyelf.wordpress.com/ ). ELF loved the epilogue, told me it made her cry (which is a rare thing for editors). I immediately skipped to that chapter and re-read it. The temptation to tweak it was strong but I resisted that impulse.
Why did I stop myself from ‘improving’ the epilogue?
Because magical moments in our books are rare. They’re special, fragile, damn easy to destroy. One changed word can make them disappear. One added comma can throw off the pacing (and pacing is key for emotion).
I will correct spelling but, if a scene is magical, I’m very cautious about making other changes.
What is a magical scene?
I consider a magical scene to be one that makes the reader feel deeply in the way I intended them to feel. Clearly a reader laughing where she should be crying isn’t a great thing. I’ve done that. (sheepish grin) But if she laughs where I want her to laugh and cries where I want her to cry, THAT is wonderful.
That is also difficult to accomplish, which is why I leave those scenes alone.
That leads me to the next point.
You CAN over revise a story.
You know your routine better than anyone else and every writer is different but it IS possible to revise the magic right out of a story. I’ve added words and smoothed out sentences until all of the emotion was gone. Those stories are currently hidden under my bed and will never see the light of day.
This is why advice about the ‘right’ number of books to write in a year is so dangerous. If I wrote a story in two months and then spent ten more months revising it, that story would suck great hairy donkey balls. It might be perfect craft-wise but it would be emotionally flat.
That routine might work for another writer. It doesn’t work for me. It also doesn’t signify quality. Sometimes a scene is magical in the first hastily written draft. Sometimes a scene is magical after six rounds of editing. This is writing and there are no rules (and there is no logic to it either – grins).
If you’ve created a magical moment in your story, celebrate.
And leave that freakin’ scene alone.
***
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Dark Flight
His mission. His challenge. His forever.
Orol, the Refuge’s second-in-command, has been given what he believes is a simple mission—escort two human females to the settlement. The winged warrior arrives at the meeting site to find one of the females missing and the other aiming a gun at his head. To rescue the first, he must capture the second. Once he has Rhea in his talons, however, he realizes he never wants to let her go.
Her enemy. Her captor. Her everything.
Rhea doesn’t trust anyone. She certainly doesn’t follow commands issued by a gorgeous flying male with glittering eyes, a beautiful face, and a seductive touch. Orol is dominant, edged with darkness, and determined to find her sister. Rhea will do anything to prevent that, even if it means playing sensual games of submission with her powerful enemy, seducing him into forgetting everything except her.
Dark Flight is a STAND-ALONE SciFi Romance set in a gritty, dark world.
Buy Now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Flight-Refuge-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07124941B/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Flight-Refuge-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07124941B/
Apple/iBooks/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dark-flight/id1242494643
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-flight-cynthia-sax/1126484675
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dark-flight-3
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/727350
August 10, 2017
Is There A Market For This Book?
I’ve seen quite a few posts lately from writers deep in the depths of despair because they want to write a certain type of story but have been told there is no market (i.e. readership) for it.
I want to set a romance in Thailand but I was told there’s no market for it.
I want to write a romance with an Irish heroine and a Chinese hero but I was told there’s no market for it.
I want to write a romance with a heroine who competes in marathons but I was told there’s no market for it.
I agree that having a market for a story is important. Very few of us want to spend months or years working on a story and have that story read by only three people. We want as many readers as possible for our beloved stories.
But our stories are more than the setting or the characters’ racial background or the characters’ jobs. We have our choice of what to focus on while marketing our stories.
Let’s look at our imaginary romance set in Thailand.
He’s a Navy SEAL, battered and scarred in a past mission, looking for redemption. She’s a virgin with a secret. (I’d say secret baby but she’s a virgin so…). There’s danger and an awesome baddie and hot scorching sex.
Why would we focus on the Thailand setting when promoting the story (to publishers or to reading buddies)? A romance with a Navy SEAL hero has a much bigger market. So does a romance with a virgin heroine. Sure, setting the story in Thailand makes the story special but hit folks with the things they already know they like first, and THEN mention the unique setting.
But-But-But my story doesn’t have any other marketable elements, you say.
Dig deeper because I suspect it does.
You wrote a romance. Is it love at first sight? A reunion love? Friends to lovers? Enemies to lovers? A workplace romance? Wrong bed (i.e mistaken identity)? A rebound relationship?
EVERY type of romantic hook up has a market. Almost every hero personality type has a market also (manwhore hero, geek hero, virgin hero, beast hero, iceman hero, etc). Tone has a market (comedy, sweet, sexy, dark, etc). If you study your story, you will likely find dozens of markets.
Note that I haven’t said ‘Rewrite your story.’ Whenever the topic of finding a market comes up, some writers push back and say their creativity can’t be constricted to a market. They don’t want to write generic cookie-cutter books.
Okay. Generic cookie-cutter books don’t sell. They’re boring and I don’t know any writer who writes these. And we’re talking marketing/promotion, not about the actual story. Write your non-traditional romance but consider marketing it first to readers who love non-traditional romances and second to readers who like heroines with gluten-free diets.
Which market should you focus on?
I look first and foremost at whether or not my story will make readers in my chosen markets happy. Does the story meet the readers’ expectations? Maybe my hero isn’t beastly enough to make the beast hero readers happy. But hey, he’s very much a virgin. He’ll make those readers ecstatic.
Then I look at the size of the market. Bigger doesn’t always mean better. If the market is too big, my story might get lost in it. On the other hand, if the market consists of two people, then I should directly contact those two people and forget the marketing. (grins) I like a happy medium.
I also consider the reading buddies I already know and love. Will this angle interest them? Clearly, if it is a cyborg romance, I will mention that first. Many of my reading buddies love cyborg romances.
This last point meshes with writer branding. If I want to be known as a writer of virgin heroines, for example, (whispers – I don’t) I will mention virgin heroines early in my marketing.
Having the right market for our stories doesn’t guarantee they will sell but it certainly does increase the odds. And hey, in this business, we need the best odds possible. (grins)
***
Subscribe To My Monthly Newsletter: http://tasteofcyn.com/2014/05/28/newsletter/
Dark Flight
His mission. His challenge. His forever.
Orol, the Refuge’s second-in-command, has been given what he believes is a simple mission—escort two human females to the settlement. The winged warrior arrives at the meeting site to find one of the females missing and the other aiming a gun at his head. To rescue the first, he must capture the second. Once he has Rhea in his talons, however, he realizes he never wants to let her go.
Her enemy. Her captor. Her everything.
Rhea doesn’t trust anyone. She certainly doesn’t follow commands issued by a gorgeous flying male with glittering eyes, a beautiful face, and a seductive touch. Orol is dominant, edged with darkness, and determined to find her sister. Rhea will do anything to prevent that, even if it means playing sensual games of submission with her powerful enemy, seducing him into forgetting everything except her.
Dark Flight is a STAND-ALONE SciFi Romance set in a gritty, dark world.
Buy Now:
Amazon US: https://www.amazon.com/Dark-Flight-Refuge-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07124941B/
Amazon UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Dark-Flight-Refuge-Book-2-ebook/dp/B07124941B/
Apple/iBooks/iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/dark-flight/id1242494643
B&N: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dark-flight-cynthia-sax/1126484675
Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/dark-flight-3
Smashwords: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/727350
