First, the obligatory eclipse photo as we were one of the very few spots at first landfall on the Oregon Coast where there was a rip in the bank of sea fog to let us see it.
More here!
Yes, the dogs barked at the unexpected darkness and the birds sang the return of the light. Very magical!
A SURVEY
A few months back, I did a survey of my newsletter subscribers (and over 1,000 responded). I asked two simple questions:
- Would they be interested in a "sweet version" of my romances in addition to, shall we call it, the standard "lively version?"
- Why?
Of the 1,000 who responded in the 24 hours the survey was open, 49% said "Yes, Please!" This surprised me immensely, until I read the answers to the second question. Of the 3-400 comments, well over 90% said:
- "I want to give your books as gifts to my..." daughter, mother, church friend, etc.
Ah! Now it makes perfect sense.
Of course, I'm reminded of a friend's story. Her grandmother was bedridden for a time and asked for some romances to read. My friend, an erotica writer, spent a great deal of time vetting books to make sure they were "clean and wholesome" enough for her. Her grandmother finally asked in disgust, "When did they take all the good sex out of romances?" My guess is that what we're happy to read, so would our relations be. But still, my fans asked for sweet, so I decided to give it to them.
Of course, I'm reminded of a friend's story. Her grandmother was bedridden for a time and asked for some romances to read. My friend, an erotica writer, spent a great deal of time vetting books to make sure they were "clean and wholesome" enough for her. Her grandmother finally asked in disgust, "When did they take all the good sex out of romances?" My guess is that what we're happy to read, so would our relations be. But still, my fans asked for sweet, so I decided to give it to them.
WHAT WE DID
We went through every single one of my contemporary romance titles—of which there are 19 across 4 series so far! (I hadn't realized there were so many when we started this project.)
- We removed: curse words, religion-based exclamations, and we moved any se—um, lovemaking scenes tastefully behind closed doors.
- We focused on keeping the emotional heat and tension, only turning down any on-screen physicality.
- We added "(the sweet version)" to the covers as well as an internal page with this explanation on it (which was also on the back cover of the print editions):
- These “Sweet Versions” are the exact same stories as the original, with no foul language and the bedroom door—even when there isn’t one—tastefully closed.
- Then, and this turned out to be the real beast, we loaded the e- and print-versions wide over a single weekend. That's: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, iBooks, D2D, Google Play, Kobo, my website... Let's just saying, doing all that times 19 titles (plus 2 "The Complete" collections for the finished series) was a beast of a task.
THE FUTURE
In addition to making my titles more comfortable to gift, I'm hoping to, over time, open the door to a whole new set of fans who prefer "Clean and Wholesome" tales. All of my contemporary romances will still be written and released in their more lively versions, but a sweet version will accompany each one.
Will my military romantic suspense go through a similar expansion? Not at this time, for a couple of reasons:
More information is available at: http://www.mlbuchman.com/sweet-books/
In addition to making my titles more comfortable to gift, I'm hoping to, over time, open the door to a whole new set of fans who prefer "Clean and Wholesome" tales. All of my contemporary romances will still be written and released in their more lively versions, but a sweet version will accompany each one.
Will my military romantic suspense go through a similar expansion? Not at this time, for a couple of reasons:
- It was a big effort and I want to see how the contemporary titles do. Especially big as I have twice as many military romances as I do contemporary ones.
- I like the "rougher" language and attitudes for my military characters.
- And a major factor is that my traditional publisher still holds the rights to the first titles in all three of my major military romance series to date: The Night Stalkers, Firehawks, and Delta Force. It would be awkward to be able to transition some titles and not others for the readers.
WHAT DOES IT LOOK LIKE?
EAGLE COVE
Eagle Cove lies hidden in the heart of the Oregon Coast. It’s the land of seagulls and sand pipers, of microbrewers and music, of judges who run diners and women who rebuild classic airplanes. Living alone deep in the woods here barely counts as being eccentric. Come enjoy the charm and romance—in a place like no other.
(This series is now complete!)
HENDERSON'S RANCH
Majors Mark Henderson and Emily Beale flew for the U.S. Army Night Stalkers and later for the heli-aviation wildland firefighters in Firehawks. Now come to Mark’s family ranch under Montana’s Big Sky and visit a land of romance, of new beginnings, and of some of the most beautiful country in the world.
LOVE ABROAD B&B
Harry Potter had the Room of Requirement. Little known to most travelers, there also occurs a “B&B of Requirement.” It can only be found where least expected and when the heart most needs it.
WHERE DREAMS
Come to “Angelo’s Hearth Tuscan Ristorante in the heart of Seattle’s Pike Place Market. The food is glorious and the women are stunning (at times literally)—a place where dreams always come true.(This series is now complete!)
More information is available at: http://www.mlbuchman.com/sweet-books/
M. L.
Buchman: 50+ novels, 3x Booklist "Top 10 Romance of the Year", NPR and
B&N "Top 5 Romance of the Year."
M. L.
writes: Military romantic suspense, contemporary romance, F&SF, thrillers, even more short
stories than novels.
M. L.
has: bicycled solo around the world, designed and built houses, worked too many
years as a corporate project manager, rebuilt and solo-sailed a fifty-foot
sailboat, flown and jumped out of airplanes.
M. L.
also: quilts!?!
Find
out more at www.mlbuchman.com.
7 comments:
Thanks for the update, M.L.! I'll be interested in how your sweet version sells. I'm not a fan of cussing or gratuitous "lively" sex or even the extended over many pages love scenes. I've never put a book down because of the sex although I do skim past. I've written a couple of characters who have rougher language - it fits them. Rather like your military romance characters.
I hope your Sweet versions do well, Matt! Please keep us posted.
I do think it will be a great test...now, I just hope that it's a great success.
That's a lot of work! It looks like you kept the same covers, which means your non-sweet versions weren't all about the sex in the first place. I am really interested to hear how this does in terms of sales. Of course, you'll need to market them in a sweet market. It may be a good lesson for many of us.
Hi Maggie,
Yes, my contemporaries are a flame rating of about 2 of 5 and I never go truly graphic, so sweetening them wasn't too hard. Just adding "(the sweet version)" to each cover seemed sufficient. And yes, now I'm starting to market to the "clean and wholesome" market to see if they can win new readers.
I have been passing on sweet romances to my now 92 year-old mom. One day she said - these are getting boring. Have anything a bit spicier? It's not something you want to hear from you mother, just like my own children don't like to hear me talking about the books I write :-) But I do k now many who love the sweet versions. So good for you for answering "the call."
Wow, what an undertaking, Matt! I am curious to see how they do. I bet they do great!
Post a Comment