Comments on: Extra Steamy and Don’t Forget the Happy Ending!

By: If you haven’t seen this : The Good, The Bad and The Unread

If you haven’t seen this : The Good, The Bad and The Unread — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 15:37:51 +0000

[...] read it [...]

By: Sarah McCarty

Sarah McCarty — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 17:21:28 +0000

I’m really late coming to this discussion, but I’m looking forward to many of the books in this line as a reader and as an author. Spice bought my Hell’s Eight Series (erotic western histroical) (Thanks Alison for pointing that out) and just like with my Promise series, these books are third person and with a very strong, definite HEA. Being a mainstream imprint versus a line, Spice has a lot of latitude to showcase different voices and styles, and therefore, I think will have something for everyone.

Sarah

By: Monica Burns

Monica Burns — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 14:28:05 +0000

The one thing I should have added in my earlier quote is that any reader who doesn’t like something about the way a particular publisher does business. Email or write them about your dissatisfaction. They’re like any other company who recieves complaints. If you get enough complaints or bad sales because of customer dissatisfaction, then they will change.

Case in point, for years Burlington Coat factory refused to give people money refunds on returned merchandise. Enough people complained that they finally relented. Customer protests DO work.

Contact the publishers and tell them what you want.

By: holly

holly — Thu, 21 Sep 2006 08:41:20 +0000

WHAT!!!! no happy endings!!! are they NUTS????!!!!! why waste the time out our very busy lives- and waste the money- if there are no happy endings?? too many real life situations have no happy endings. why would we want to re-inforce the sadness by reading those kind of books? i read for an uplifting feeling as well as for the entertainment. when i pick up a paperback or buy an e-book, i want to know that a good ending is guaranteed. also, how do you know what level of heat or what kind of endings you are getting if you buy paperbacks? at least the e-books have some sort of ratings system and usually content descriptions (ie, BDSM, paranormal, shapeshifter, etc ) so you know what you are getting and you can avoid content that you find distasteful. and book covers…. please! do the companies even know the content of the books when they plop ridiculous covers that have no bearing what-so-ever on the book content? the book companies better listen to the dedicated bibliophiles and get themselves back on track or their business will go to the e-book publisher’s. i know most of my purchases have been e-books for quite a while.

By: Ruth

Ruth — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 21:29:32 +0000

I was SHOCKED, to find out that NY publishers don’t think a happy ending is required. Are they crazy, I read romance to escape… it is FANTASY !!!! What I wish would happen, and I don’t know any woman who doesn’t want a happy ending.

I absolutely love romantica because it is simply that romance with an edge. Definitely not cookie cutter, no limits, it allows me to be completely and absolutely involved in the story. However the most important thing is the ROMANCE, the story, the plot. If all I wanted was sex there are plenty of things out there to read. I feel like those kind of books leave me empty, kind of like a meal you ate just because you were hungry as opposed to relished. And if I’m bringing out my pocket book, I want the whole experience the romance, the plot, the edgey sex and DEFINTELY the HEA. Even when I read about Menages, I want them to end up all together.

Another thing that bothers me is the covers, I really wish that they would respect the reader. I want to be able to carry my books out it public without people looking at me funny. I don’t like graphic images, computer generated images, bubble gum images…. come on now. I think that the cover of JR Ward’s vamp series, are beautiful and tasteful. I wish more were done along those lines.

I think that if NY publisher would just respect the readers, and realize that we are women who are intelligent, wise and successful… with money to spend on a couple of hours of an indulgent, romantic, erotic fantasy… that leaves you sighing and sometimes with a tear or two in your eyes.

By: Rosie

Rosie — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 20:52:12 +0000

Yes, don’t make it so hard on readers who are standing in the store, money in hand ready to buy…wanting to buy, but juggling three different books undecided whether to buy one, two, or all three. I was so wishy washy I left without making a purchase. That was last week.

Of course, I’ll probably be stopping by Barnes & Noble after I pick my son up from school today to see if there are any new releases I can’t live without. I’m ever hopeful.

By: Jane

Jane — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 20:18:22 +0000

This might sound silly, but how do readers know if it is a romance or not? If you read the teaser/blurb for Suzanne Forster’s Tease, it reads like a romance but there is no committment at the end of that story. I would have probably bought Megan Hart’s first book given the fact that I really liked the novella I read by her “Playing the Game” but hers are clearly not a romance.

It’s so hard and that just isn’t good marketing. Don’t make it hard on us readers!

By: Charlene

Charlene — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 20:06:02 +0000

I’m one of the people who’d love to see erotic romances in mass market paperback! I’d buy more of them, and I’m sure sell more, too. The expense of a trade paperback makes it much harder to take a chance on somebody new.

I’ve been watching the results of the NY erotica/erotic romance lines and have to say I am very pleased that St. Martin’s places a lot of importance on the happy ending and having a satisfying romance; they truly are publishing erotic ROMANCE.

And knowing Berkley Heat doesn’t require an HEA, I’ll be buying by author and taking few chances. I know Jaci Burton’s upcoming Heat book is a romance!

By: Chris R

Chris R — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 18:17:33 +0000

NY does not know what readers want. If they want to find their niche, then they should come out with their stories in paperback (not trade), with a happy ending and a good storyline. While I love many of the electronic publishers stuff (Changeling, Loose Id, Venus Press to name a few) it can be very expensive to buy a trade size book.

I have to decide if the trade is worth going without 2 other books and if I don’t like the trade after I have spent the money on it. I very rarely will make the decision to try another book from that line.

By: Janine B

Janine B — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 15:25:22 +0000

Because it costs more to pub a print book as compared to an ebook, I would think the NY pubs would do more research. It looks to me like some are… but others are trying to get a piece of the market without knowing and understanding their audience…those ones will fail.