Bernie N. (Bernie) reviewed on 6/27/2006

Romance Writer's Sourcebook is a thorough reference to a nearly billion-dollar industry that accounts for almost half of the mass market fiction books sold--177 million books annually. Articles by writers, editors, and agents discuss genre trends (paranormal romance, time-travel romance, romantic suspense), the craft and technique of writing romance, and marketing romance novels. Successful romance writers share the stories of how their first books came to fruition and publication. The final section divulges information on online services, conferences and workshops, Romance Writers of America chapters, and the like. You learn, from top editors in the field's many imprints, that they've been seeing "way too many replicas of The Bridges of Madison County," that one should "read many books in the line to which you plan on submitting.... twenty or more, not one or two," and that one ought to "avoid heroes or heroines who are artists (musicians, painters, actors).... There's a built-in perception, right or wrong, that artsy people are dull and unromantic."

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