The Romance Promise

Every book written begins with a promise. No matter if it is fiction or nonfiction, there is a promise of what the reader can expect to find in the book.

As a reader, how would you feel if you picked up a diet book expecting tips on losing weight along with recipes for healthy food only to find tips for making candy and recipes for delicious cakes and pies? As the reader, you would be disappointed because it wasn’t what was promised in the description.

The same is true for fiction. Every genre makes a specific promise.

Romance promises the reader a love story. Be it a historical, contemporary, secular, Christian, traditionally or independently published, when a reader buys a book in the romance category, they expect two people to fall in love.

Romance is a broad category in fiction and readers base their expectations of what the book is about on the back cover blurb and publisher. Knowing the market is critical in understanding the promise you are making to the reader.

As the reader begins the first page, she/he is ready to go on the journey with the two main characters. We root for the characters to overcome the obstacles standing in their way and enjoy watching their trust grow and turn to love. When all seems lost, we are eager to cheer for them when their love prevails, and the story ends with the expected happily ever after (HEA).

While attending a secular romance writers group meeting, I listened to some of those attending discuss how the HEA was outdated. Some seemed to think that it should be changed to “happily for now.” I can only speak for myself, but I’d be disappointed if the book I’d invested my time in ended with a “you’ll do until somebody better comes along.”

As a reader, if I’m looking for something clean or Christian, I’m not going to be happy if I stumble into a book with language that I find unacceptable or explicit sex scenes.

With traditionally published books, finding yourself in an unexpected genre isn’t as likely since editors and marketing are careful about the books they publish. Unfortunately, that isn’t necessarily true in independently published romances.

I talked to a local reading group member who told me about a book selection they’d made because the writer was a local Christian romance writer. She shared that she was shocked at some of the language used and the explicit sex scenes written among scripture verses. She said she would never buy a book by that author again. She went on to say she felt cheated.

It was a clear example of a writer having broken her promise to the reader.

Readers need to know they can trust us to deliver a satisfying love story within their chosen romance category. When we break that promise, we disappoint and probably lose a reader. As authors, we don’t want to give readers a reason not to buy our books. When you make the reader a promise, be sure you keep it.

Happy Writing!

Award-winning writer, Rose Gardner’s journey toward publication has come in two phases. During the early years, she was a finalist in thirteen contests and won her category in seven, was a 2007 RWA Golden Heart finalist in the Long Contemporary Category, and 2nd runner up in the 2008 Harlequin Super Romance Conflict of Interest Contest. After a break from writing, she returned to writing with a renewed focus on clean, contemporary heartwarming stories about love, hope, healing, and the power of forgiveness. She has won or placed in several contests for unpublished writers since 2017 as she works toward publication. You can find out more about Rose at her website mrosegardner.com or on social media at Facebook at MRoseGardner/, Twitter MaryGardner6, Instagram mrosegardner/