For those of you who don’t follow me on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram you may have missed all of my crazy posts last week. Kathy Palm and I were roomies at RT Vegas!!! Yes, I understand that RT stands for Romantic Times and that we are a horror blog. But I have a confession…I am a closet romance reader. Alright, this isn’t necessarily true. What I do enjoy is romance with a side of horror, which it turns out—I write. Kathy has lovingly deemed this genre “romantic horror”.
So many amazing authors joined in talks about pushing boundaries in YA and crossover fantasy and science fiction.
This notion was completely unrepresented at the RT 2016 Book Lover Convention. Why did two horror writers attend a romance convention? Not only were there panels and parties that focused on cover models and BSMD, but there were fantastic panels meant to better ANY writer. The workshops I attended included leading self-published, traditionally published, and hybrid authors, agents, editors, attorneys, and book sellers. So what did I learn?
Marketing:
I suck at this, but it’s a necessary evil. Using newsletters and Instagram is the way to go to get the most attention and reach the most followers. Plus, unless you can afford a marketing team, it’s all on you. You have to be smart and it doesn’t have to break the bank.
Amazon:
Yeah. Some of this stuff was completely over my head, but I know that I’m not into the whole Kindle Unlimited deal. The market isn’t wide enough and it pigeonholes your sales.
Editing:
Do your research. Find someone who will give you notes on the entire story and not just send you line edits. You also don’t want someone who wants to change your story because they don’t like something. It is always your tale to tell and an editor that you hire should be pointing out missing pieces.
Writing:
Before anything, you first need to WRITE YOUR STORY. Whether you are a plotter or pantster doesn’t matter. What does is that you finish an entire piece and make it the best it can be. And how do you get the words on paper? Sit and write. None of the writers that attended the conference agreed on the whole how to write, but they did all say the same thing. Just do it. Find what works for you and go for it. Write the story you’re meant to tell, not what’s popular now.
Every year I attend BEA, but with it moving to Chicago this year, I took a stab—get it? Stab, lol! I crack myself up—at RT. What do you all think about romance in horror? Is it a good thing? Something in the plot you look for? Or are you just in it for the blond running topless through the woods before she’s killed?
Let us know in the comments.
xoxo,
Amy