I’m writing this blog late this month because I wanted to include my reflections on A Romantic Rendezvous 2026, Sydney, 22 March. I’m glad I delayed because the event lifted my spirits which were rather bruised before that.
I get some lovely feedback from reviewers on my work:
- excels at creating characters who feel real—flawed, vulnerable, and endearingly human
- smart dialogue, compelling secondary characters, and irresistible sexual attraction
- known for the natural, clever rhythm of her narrative.
I’ve won or placed in romance writing award ceremonies in Australia, New Zealand and the US.
I absolutely love those moments when I’m lost in the story, the initial idea, the crafting of plot, seeing pieces come together and the final sensation of feeling I’ve got a story that works.
None of this counts against the juggernaut of marketing.
In this day and age that means the constant demand for new content on social media platforms, the people offering reviews to enlarge your social media audience for a fee, the requests for free books, the AI crafted special emails offering to take my book to just the right market also for a fee, plus the scams, and it goes on. Apparently I could be HUGE HUGE HUGE if I just paid lots of money or provided my books for free to a great many people.
I’m not alone in feeling battered by this process. I lack the skills and the will and the time to devote to many of those tasks. I don’t want my face to appear everywhere. The reward for producing a creative work of fiction should not be constant requests for freebies.
I called in at the new Books Ever After bookshop in Eveleigh recently. It specialises in Special Editions. It’s lovely to see specialist romance book shops thriving. And to thrive, you need to sell to the market. Some authors can adjust their story or style to the current market, others write what they want to read, and a lot of excellent authors are still waiting for their sub-genre of romance to have its moment in the limelight.
The biggest sections at Books Ever After were devoted to romantasy and dark romance, two huge sub-genres of romance at the moment. In the contemporary romance area, where I write, small town romances and sports romances are the go, although there are hints that hockey romance might be on the wane. The shop assistant told me regular contemporary romance might make a comeback. Not terribly encouraging.
Then on 22 March, I joined a host of other romance authors and vendors at the annual Sydney Australian Romance Readers Association author and reader event A Romantic Rendezvous. The day involved panels and a book signing event. And lots of laughter.
The panels were terrific, each having 4 authors with one acting as the lead. The first was about romantasy, with S.E. Zell leading the conversation with Keri Arthur, Susan Hayes and Donna Maree Hanson. Questions ranged from:
- What comes first-romance or world building? One answer – a map, then the question, who lives here?
- People assume the spice we write is the spice we want—with a bite back from Susan Hayes “no pumpkin, I don’t do that”
- Favourite world—Keri Arthur wants to be a dragon rider in a medieval world with a proper toilet and to have telepathic contact with her dragon
- Which trope would you rather? This question was addressed to the room and produced much hilarity and occasional consensus.
- Fated mates or forced proximity?
- Arranged marriages or forbidden love?
- Monster or alien?
- Humanoid or creature?
- Love triangle or wide shoes? Now, I was completely blown away—what on earth does “wide shoes” mean? I expressed ignorance. S. E Zell, who posed this question later thought my ignorance was sweet, until it turned out that I, and others, had heard “wide shoes” when she actually said Why choose? I’d decided it was something kinky related to US President Trump’s obsession with giving members of his team Florsheim shoes that don’t fit, but must be worn (hint: search Marco Rubio and Trump’s shoes), when it was just Zell’s US accent.
Vicki Hilton led the second panel on contemporary romance. It included Sarina Bowen; Cathryn Hein and Tilly Tait. Sarina and Cathryn were the special guests for the day and had lots of followers in the audience. The questions for this panel were different:
- Inspiration?—Cathryn Hein entertained us with stories of her mother being indifferent to what she read so long as she read. Reading was the goal so bodice rippers at a young age were fine.
- Do you draw on real life? Yes, although as Tilly observed, never write a character who is a real person
- What is the easiest part of a book to write? Every book presents a unique and terrifying prospect. Ain’t that the truth.
- And a question from the floor to Sarina Bowen—Why write MM hockey? Sarina referred to a video (6 mins) she saw during mid time in a hockey game. It was called You Can Play about respect and acceptance in sport. The core message was that no one should be afraid to walk into their own locker room. She said it was powerful and galvanised her to write her first MM hockey romance, which I’m pretty sure is The Understatement of the Year book 3 in the Ivy league Series. Him, which she wrote with Elle Kennedy, was published in 2015.
The third panel was about heat levels in romance and whether books should carry warnings for readers. It was led by Jenny Rae and included C. E. De Gzell, Carrie Clarke and Alannah Roberts. The authors read extracts from their books, then asked the audience for heat ratings.
They also asked if authors should apply something like the Australian advisory ratings used for movies and computer games?
- General classifications eg. G – general, PG, parental guidance recommended or M for mature audiences
- Restricted ratings eg. MA-15+ mature accompanied and Restricted R 18+
- Restricted rating for adult films – X18+ These films are legally restricted to adults 18 years and over. They contain sexually explicit activity including actual sexual intercourse or other sexual activity between consenting adults.
The audience was undecided on the basis that my definition of spicy is your definition of mild. Interpretations also vary across countries. eg. some parts of the US regard consensual sex between adults as more offensive/confronting to readers than extreme violence.
Carrie Clarke marked some of her books NSFW—not safe for work. That’s one way to advertise a spice level and a new acronym for me. Alannah teased us with “bits touch consensually or bits touch pre-maritally”. A tricky question.
I sold a few books, fewer than I hoped for, more than I feared and some readers said they’d go online to pick up titles. Balancing attendance at more book signings against the costs of participating against the possibility of low sales is challenging.
I also need to balance the joy I get in writing, in making a story come together with the niggling doubt that this is a vanity project for me, in the sense that I’m spending more than I’m making. That’s disheartening and not really sustainable. On Sunday, I reclaimed some of the joy.
Find me on:
- Instagram https://www.instagram.com/romanceauthorjen/
- Facebook – https://www.facebook.com/jenniferrainesauthor
- Goodreads—https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/22577889.Jennifer_Raines
- Bookbub – https://www.bookbub.com/authors/jennifer-raines
- Diana Kathryn Penn’s Indie Reads Aloud podcast has recordings of me reading the opening 20 mins of my books:
- Betrayal—Choosing Family Book 3 (episode 212)
- Quinn, by design—Choosing Family Book 2 (episode 208)
- Masquerade—Choosing Family Book 1 (episode 188)
- Lela’s Choice (episode 143)
- Planting Hope (episode 101)
- The Anderson Sisters (episode 54 Taylor’s Law and 80 Grace Under Fire) http://www.dkpwriter.com/indie-reads-aloud-podcast.html
You can also contact me directly via the contact page on my website if you have any other questions.
Jennifer Raines 