What can you, as a new writer expect to earn? You can earn anywhere from $1,500 to $10,000 and more as an advance on the sale of your first romance novel depending on what kind it is, who publishes it and the number of copies printed. Royalties are from 6 to 8% of the cover price. More if you self publish.

It doesn’t take forever to write a romance novel. You could write one in six months or less, depending on the time you wish to spend each day. I know writers who use their computers to write one novel each month. You say you don’t know anything about writing a romance novel. Edward R. Murrow, the late American radio and television journalist encouraged me with my journalism when he told me that “journalist are made not born.” I might add the same thing about Romance Writers. When you learn to write saleable romance fiction, you learn to write sensuously, creating vivid word pictures. You will learn to build solid plots, learn to understand motivation, so that your characters take on depth and dimension. And, you will learn to be fresh and original. You will also learn discipline.

You don’t need to have a Ph. D., to write romance fiction. The editor is interested in how you put words together that takes the reader away from an everyday humdrum life into a lovely world of romance where dreams always come true. In other words you become a “dream maker.” If you have ever been in love, you have the background you need, and with help, you develop your own romantic style but if you’re like me, a romantic at heart, all you need is a little encouragement. For that encouragement, I would like to thank my writing guru, Dr. Ruth Kanin, of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. I also live in Quebec.

There are no geographical requirements to writing a romance novel. You don’t need to travel to the far ends of the earth. Careful research can take care of that if you prefer far off places. But any place can be made romantic. And if you are lucky enough to be living in what I sincerely believe is North America’s most romantic city, Montreal, Quebec, Canada, then you have it made.

There are no sex or age requirements either. Although romance writing seems be more suited to women writers, I personally know several men romance writers and others who write with a friend or wife. I don’t know if you have ever heard of Jennifer Wilde: the late Tom Huff. Patricia and Clayton Matthews have sold over one million copies of their books. Everyone knows of the late Princess Diana’s late step-grandmother, Barbara Cartland, who died at the age of 97. She wrote romance novels for young people until a few years before her death!

Best of all, you have a guaranteed readership. The various categories sell each month to the same readers. Romances are selling so fast now that publishers find it difficult to keep up with the demand and with the Far East opening up, the sky’s the limit. When I was in the Far East recently – Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Hong Kong, etc., it was interesting to see the Harlequin and other familiar logos above Chinese characters and other oriental languages! Also, there’s Eastern Europe, South America, Australia, New Zealand and all of Africa: Portuguese, French and English.

Having said that, you see that there is a tremendous market for romance fiction. Silhouette, now a division of Harlequin got there first. In their first year, 21 million Silhouette Romances were sold, and that was before they began publishing ethnic romances. They were so impressed with their own success, they published their SPECIAL EDITION in 1982, featuring more sensuality than ever before. Three months later, SILHOUETTE DESIRE became their hottest line. After doing extensive reader research, SILHOUETTE INTIMATE MOMENTS arrived. With its longer format and increased adventure angle, the love scenes took a greater portion of the story.

Other publishers have developed new romance lines. The original publishers of my novel, Whispers in the Sand, is GENESIS PRESS, Inc., who first published it in hardback form in November 1996, then in conjunction with Ballantine’s One World line, it was re-issued in pocket book form (mass market) in 1998. Now GENESIS PRESS, Inc. has issued it’s own mass market version as of 1 February 2008. It should be found everywhere pocket books are sold. All three versions are selling on the Internet through Amazon.com and Barnesandnoble.com, to name two who still have it in stock. It can also be ordered directly from the publisher through their website. Genesis Press also publishes Hispanic and Oriental themed romances. They are always looking for new and interesting manuscripts.

Do you remember Dell Publishing’s Candlelight Ecstasy Supreme? The Berkely Publishing Group came out with Second Chance at Love and Bantam did Loveswept. Harlequin Romances are in on this trend with Temptation and Superromance, Harlequin Intrigue, plus their ethnic lines Kimani, just to name a very few of their extensive lines. Now imagine for a moment: if you wrote for Harlequin where your books would go. Harlequin books are published in Toronto, New York, London, Amsterdam, Paris, Sydney, Hamburg, Stockholm, Athens, Tokyo, Milan, Madrid, Warsaw, Budapest, Auckland and, of course, distributed even more widely, now that there is Internet and their television division.

What does all of this mean to you? You ask. It means that it’s a world-wide market, easily accessible because the readers have voracious appetites for new approaches to the same old love story.

Two of the most important changes romances have undergone are probably: One, the baby boomers growing into middle age, and, Two, the advent of the belated interest in ethnic romances. Publishing houses are trying to reach today’s reader with contemporary settings and heroines. The heroine in most of today’s romances is not a nineteen-year old blonde virgin. She is older, wiser, more experienced. She is any race, and, she has a good job. She cares about something other than getting married. Although, when she meets the hero, this comes to mind. He is, of course, the one she’s been waiting for and who is much more suitable for her than the one she left behind.

Although the hero is magnetic, he doesn’t have to be perfect. In fact, most publishing houses like a flaw or two, both in physical make-up and in his personality. All flaws are done away with before the book ends though. The hero is gentle, always a perfect lover and an expert in his career, very successful on all levels. And, of course, he is madly in love with the heroine.

Contemporary romance fiction, sometimes known as category fiction, is much easier for the new writer and they have erotic scenes. They are written with a formula, if you like. One reader has written, “I took a dozen of them, folded the corners down on the hot pages and found they occurred at a similar frequency and were of similar duration in the various novels of each lone.” But don’t forget that each line is different, so you’ll have to do some homework before you set to work. You can also write to the publisher whose line you are interested in writing for asking for a”Tip Sheet,” with your Self Addressed Stamped Envelope. A “Tip Sheet” is the publisher’s guidelines. These are also now on the Internet. So, consult the publisher’s website and guidelines.

Berkeley and Harlequin’s Superromance tips sheets state that it’s OK for the hero and heroine to make love before they get married, and that you can describe each scene sensuously. Make it poetic and exciting. They also ask for a steady build-up in sexual tension throughout the book.

Publisher’s tip sheets or guidelines are often so meticulously detailed that they almost write the story for you. If you can write a story at all, you should be able to make a play for this very lucrative market. But if you are queasy about writing erotica, you might want to gingerly ease yourself into it by reading “Writing Romance Fiction for Love and Money” by Helene Barnhart. It has a chapter devoted to sensuality and how to achieve it on the page. In some romance novels, the romance comes first, then the characters, the story, and finally the sex. Others are character driven.

In romance writing you will need a whole new list of sensual adjectives because these scenes call for some clever avoidance of clinical terminology. Each publishing house has a different degree of evasiveness, and the writers within those lines also differ in their approach. Some are so vague it’s difficult to tell if the writer is talking about the ocean or the heroine when he or she writes of, for instance: “waves cresting.”

Keep in mind that the heroine is always thinking about the hero in a sexual way, even when she’s trying not to. But she requires seduction because romance heroines are still “good girls.” They don’t have sex in between loves, like normal people do. They wait until they fall in love with Mr. Right.

Passion takes a whole different course, because we have over two hundred pages to follow it, our heroine takes her time with each tender moment.

How to write about sex without mentioning it? How about luminous with desire, mind-drugging kisses, languorous strokes or frenzy of need? You get the idea.

Above the waist, it’s all right for men to have nipples and women to have breasts, but when you get lower than the navel, the women have depths of passion and the men have hidden fires or surges of passion. However, some lines are more explicit.

Keep in mind though, that in a romance novel each person has to respect the other or the deal’s off.

How to get in the mood to write a good sex scene? Wear a sexy nightgown, or if you’re a man, wear a pair of satin pajamas. Light scented candles. Move your computer in front of the fireplace or pour a glass of champagne and sip it slowly. Whatever works for you. What will visitors think of your wearing a nightgown or satin pajamas in the middle of the afternoon? What if your partner gets ideas? “Frankly, all you need to be able to write a good love scene is to enjoy making love yourself. Any good romance writer is a romantic and knows that’s one of the best things in life. It should come pretty automatically,” Joyce Thies, a romance author says. Who am I go argue?

HOW do I learn? You ask.

Begin by looking at the Title Page of romance novels that interest you. Write the title, the author, publisher, date of publication, name of the specific romance line, type of romance it is. When you read romances the first time you probably won’t pay too much attention to structure. You read because they interested you. Go back and ask yourself these questions: Did they hold my attention? Or did they drag in places? What part of each novel interested you the most? Was it background? Characters? Plot? The style of writing? Did you find anything outstanding about the author’s works? Sensuous style? Exotic background? What abut the dialogue? What will you remember about these novels? Did they evoke an emotional response from you? Did they make you cry? Laugh? Get angry? Did you like the main characters? Maybe you fell in love with the heroes. Or, if you’re a man, maybe you fell in love with the heroines? Did the authors arouse sensual reactions in you? How would you grade these novels on a scale of one to ten, and, more important of all, would you read these authors again? Characterization is extremely important in romance fiction: in chapter one of the books you’re analyzing write the heroine’s name, her age, her profession, her position in that profession, her dominant character traits, and a brief physical description. Write a paragraph describing everything you know about her background, her family, her education and any special experiences she may have had.

Write a paragraph about what you know about her psychologically and emotionally. Do the same for your hero. Allow less space for your secondary characters, perhaps a paragraph each.

Now for the Plot: Write out what happens in the first chapter of each novel and each subsequent chapters. Record all physical action in chapter one. What did they do? What did they say? Did they give each other certain information about themselves? Write out the events as they happen. Now, return to the same chapter one. What happened to their emotions? How did they feel about each other as chapter one opens? What about conflict and complications?

In romance fiction there is always strong feelings of ambivalence when the two leading characters meet. They are physically attracted to each other but have strong doubts about each other. There is misunderstanding, often on both sides. This is further compounded when the leading characters are of different cultures and/or nationalities.

Uncertainty between them is a must in the plot of every romance novel. It is the misunderstanding in the beginning that gives rise to complications after complication as the story unfolds. Each further misunderstanding helps to heighten emotional conflict between them. Based on what you know about the books you are analyzing: What things happen to keep the lovers apart and cause their misunderstanding? List the external complications. These complications can evolve from differences of opinions on issues important to each character. Next, list the inner conflicts that keep them apart. To get a better understanding of the heroine’s inner conflict, go back to your novels. Underline in red every phrase that shows the heroine’s

physical and emotional attraction to the hero. Underline in another color, each phrase that shows her negative feelings toward the hero, whether it’s doubt, suspicion, fear or anger.

That is what makes a romance novel work: the heroine’s push and pull click click feelings.

Now to the Setting. Describe the setting. How does it add to the sensuality of the story? Was it accurate? Was it romantic by nature? How did the authors accomplish this? Try to imagine what sources the authors used to gather information about the setting. Your own sources, by the way, can be travel agents, chambers of commerce, librarians, magazines, pals, videos or the Internet. (There’s Google World).

What are the heroes attitudes toward the heroines professions, if any? And vice versa? More and more, and especially in love scenes, we have both points of view. If there was a change in points of view, what were the authors reasons? Were the books you are analyzing written in multiple points of view? Were the stories told through the thoughts of several characters? Did they confuse you?

How sensuous were these novels? Did the authors make use of all five senses? Were the authors vocabulary rich enough in words to make you feel sensuous? Go back and circle the words that created the sensual moods of the stories. Make a list of the words and phrases, then make a list of words you would have used. By doing this list you will increase your awareness of sense imagery. For example, how would you describe a potential heroine’s beautiful hair? Now to the sex scenes in these novels: How explicit were they? How early did they touch? How soon did they kiss? Were the sexual acts consummated? How many times? How many pages were allotted to each sex or love scene? How were they? Tender? Gentle? Passionate? Somewhat explicit? Very explicit? Did you enjoy them or did they turn you off? Were they in good taste?

As briefly as you can, write the plot of the novels you have analyzed. In a synopsis you tell how the novel begins, describe the major problem that keep the lovers apart and what exactly happened to resole the problem. Then tell how the novel ends. You will find that writing a short, informative synopsis very useful when you write your own romance novel.

Once you have the category you wish to write for, study it carefully by reading several novels and analyzing them. The best thing you can do for yourself is to know your market.

I write contemporary romance, romantic intrigue, historical and multi-generational sagas.

Good luck with your career as a romance fiction writer.