RWA Chapter Meeting

Today I went to my local chapter meeting of Romance Writers of America. It was a fantastic meeting with two speakers. The morning speaker discussed writing under the subgenre of Romantic Suspense. She went over the popular tropes and what works and what doesn’t within the genre. I found myself thinking that a lot of it was common sense. That could be due to the fact that I am incredibly familiar with the type of books, though. Still, she was so engaging that her information seemed fresh and exciting. She left me wanting to written Romantic Suspense book. I’ve dabbled with a story or two in the past but I’m pretty sure I’m going to be re-visiting the subgenre sometime this year.

The afternoon speaker was all about selling books on Amazon. While she also had a lot of great information and was a great speaker – I felt a little disheartened at the end of her presentation. At the end of the day I was seriously wondering why I am even trying to get a traditional publishing contract. Apparently Amazon has a stronghold on the book market through its Kindle e-books. Anyone can self-publish. ANYONE. Maybe that is the direction I should take. I just don’t know and that has me feeling a little unsure about how to proceed. I’m not opposed to self-publishing and have, in fact, thought about it quite a bit. I’m just wondering if it is the way I should go right now and not worry about a traditional publishing house.

I do know that I am going to continue writing. There is a definite business side to this creative act of writing. However, without the story there’s nothing to publish – traditionally or electronically. So for now, I will continue with my revisions. I will even submit my book to the Agents and Editor that asked for it because I want to follow through with what I said I would do. After that, well, I guess I’ll see what I think with the next book.