The Allure of the Contemporary Novel

By: Marcia King-Gamble
www.lovemarcia.com


I grew up reading  mostly historicals and loved them. Most were set in the UK and featured dukes, duchesses, and nobility on the whole, usually in exotic settings. Meaning - castles, ballrooms, highlands. These characters were people who hobnobbed with the "Ton," Through reading, I entered a world I didn't know existed and learned some fancy words.

For someone  like me, born on a tiny Caribbean island,  theses books were 'Calgon Take me Away' moments, or "Lounge in the tub with Aromatherapy" moments. Makes you wonder how in the world  I made the shift to contemporary romance reading and writing.

Well, I also read Mills and Boon, Harlequin, and Silhouette romances, and this was way before sex came into play in any of these books. Hero and heroine usually exchanged a few dry mouthed kisses and the readers imagination went wild.  These stories dealt with fantasy and strayed far from reality. Overall,  they were feel good books with satisfying endings. We all drooled over the brooding hero, and applauded the besotted heroine, often poorer than the proverbial church mouse. Falling in love with the rich, powerful hero was her way out. He was her savior, and despite all odds, they got together because love conquered all.

I was a true believer. I wanted that great love. I wanted someone who would make my limbs quiver and my mouth go dry, and so apparently did the rest of the world which is why romances are still around, albeit in a different form.

Over the years,  reality crept more and more into these stories, and flawed characters emerged. Today we have heroines that suffered from bulimia and incarcerated heroes given a second chance to redeem themselves. We have powerful white collar women falling for blue collar men making far less then them.  We read about people like you and me. People we can relate to in everyday settings. Most aren't even rich.

What remains constant are the happy endings and  readers wanting to be swept away. They want to believe in forever love.  Despite what the divorce statistics  are telling them, they want relatable characters placed in impossible situations who fell in love. They want to root for these characters when adversity hits. They want to believe their prince and princess will come along. Wasn't that evidenced by the number of people up at an ungodly hour this spring  as the Duke of Sussex married a commoner; and  a woman of color at that. Talk about reality hitting home, and mirroring the real world. It was and is a contemporary dream.

So when did my contemporary  bug bite?  The seed was planted years ago when I had the good fortune to be hired as a freelance reader for Harlequin/Silhouette. What that means is you get sent submissions from the slush pile; meaning unsolicited manuscripts to evaluate. Thousands of these manuscripts come in from unpublished authors hoping to realize their dream. In order to keep up with the volume, the publisher  is forced to hire laypeople like me. After you were done reading, you returned your two page questionnaire with an overall summary of the book, and that was the last you heard, until the next batch of manuscripts arrived.

I read diligently for seven years, and evaluated thousands of submissions, then one day the light bulb came on.  I could do this. Contemporary was what I enjoyed. Fortunately,  a brand new  line was opening up with characters who looked like me. People of color had been for years spending a small fortune on books, and someone realized the untapped revenue stream. Presto, Kensington's Arabesque Line was launched.

One rejection later I was published.

My first book,  Remembrance, later renamed,  Truly Mine is still a reader favorite. To my mind it has flaws, but it was an endeavor written from the heart, and there was that happily ever after as the woman finally got her guy.  The storyline was that of a college reunion set on a cruise ship. There the heroine bumps into the man who has always had her heart.  The sequel, A Reason to love,  later retitled, Mine Forever, followed.

Twenty years, and forty plus books later, I am still writing about love in the contemporary world. All my books still have  happy or at least promising endings. And somewhere along the way I got pigeon-holed as a writer of multi-cultural books; a euphemism for stories written about people of color for people of color. Nothing is further from the truth.  I write for readers of every color and I've written about characters that look like me, and some that don't, but isn't that the real world?  A good story is a good story. Now to convince the publishers to market these books like others, and  not in the "African American Interest" section of the stores.

Still, isn't it nice to know that in a world of depressing media stories, one can still pick up a contemporary novel and escape to a world  where true love is still possible, and happily after endings abound.

About Marcia King-Gamble

Romance writer, Marcia King-Gamble originally hails from a sunny Caribbean island where the sky and ocean are the same mesmerizing shade of blue. This former travel industry executive and current world traveler has spent most of life in the United States. A National Bestselling author, Marcia has penned over 34 books and 8 novellas. Her free time is spent at the gym, traveling to exotic locales, and caring for her animal family.

Visit Marcia at www.lovemarcia.com or “friend” her on Facebook: http://bit.ly/1MlnrIS

Reinvent! Celebrate the New You!

By: Marcia King-Gamble

www.lovemarcia.com

Happy, happy anniversary my fellow Generistas, and a huge shout out to our Blog Queens with the mostest; Judith Ashley and Sarah Raplee! You and our international readership have kept this blog going.  It’s been six impressive years. You’ve changed direction on a dime, keeping topics fresh and relevant. 

Join us on Tuesdays in the month of May at 9.00m PM EST to hear how the following authors and publisher reinvented themselves:

May 9th  Author Michelle Monkou
May 16    Vice President Editorial, Dianne Moggy Harper Collins
May 23 Historical Author Alyssa Maxwell
May 30  Author ML Buchman

  

Congratulations and Happy Birthday to us!  

In keeping with this month’s theme of “Reinvention”, and in celebration of writers everywhere – those published and those on their way to publication, I say, don’t be afraid to reinvent yourself and go off in a completely different direction. That’s called change.

The only thing writers must fear is fear itself!  

Let me share with you my own reinvention story.

My writing journey began in the eighties as a freelance reader for Silhouette Books. For those of you unfamiliar with Silhouette, it is currently a Harlequin imprint. It’s the place some of the more popular authors like Nora Roberts, Linda Howard and Sharon Sala had their home.

 I read for the imprint for seven years, while changing residences and states. I had a busy corporate life, and publication was not a top priority for me.  But one year as fate would have it, I attended a conference, and met the lovely, inspiring, and now late editor, Monica Harris. Monica was at the time acquiring historicals for Kensington Publishing.  I don’t write historicals, but I enjoyed meeting Monica and we had a very nice rapport.

 

Six months later, she was named Senior Editor at Kensington and charged with acquiring for Kensington’s Arabesque line. This was a fledgling line targeted at a multi-cultural audience. Most said it would never succeed. Back then, it was not believed that people of color were huge readers with immense buying power.

Monica proved the naysayers wrong. She knew that 33% of the romance market were readers of color. Under her leadership, the line flourished.  My first manuscript was diplomatically turned down, but she encouraged me to submit any other work I had.  My second submission was accepted, and a request for a two-book contract followed.  Naturally I was over the moon!   

The Arabesque line was a ground breaker in so many ways, and Monica Harris, an insightful pioneer.  Writers were expected to be socially conscious and were expected to represent our heroes and heroines of color in a positive, responsible light.  Back then there was a huge HIV epidemic, and any sexual encounter required the use of condoms, at least in our books. 

The line was launched in July 1994 by two of my favorite authors; the late, Francis Ray and Sandra Kitt. The titles were Forever Yours and Serenade respectively.  These books were so well received that the imprint quickly increased from 2 releases to 4 books a month; usually each month introduced a debut author.

My first book, Remembrance was released in April of 1998 and Eden’s Dream followed that same year.

Between contracts with Kensington, I wrote a couple of novellas for St. Martin’s Press; Island Magic and Island Bliss.

 In the year 2000, the Arabesque line was sold to the television station BET, and they did a heavy promotion of both books and authors. Authors were not only expected to write, but were expected to promote the line at BET’s events.  Overnight we became television personalities. If you tuned in on Sundays we were often featured on Buy that Book. We were flown to various national events, and I even represented the line at a swimsuit shoot, featuring the then Miss Black America. Sadly, I never quite made the cover of Sports Illustrated or got paid. 

Exciting times lay ahead. The Sepia line; a mainstream (bigger book) imprint followed. I was fortunate to make the leap from category romance to mainstream books. Under the Sepia imprint I published Jade, Shattered Images, This Way Home and Hook, line and Single.



Then Viacom acquired BET and there were even more changes. In 2005, BET Books and its authors were sold  to Harlequin Enterprises and so Harlequin's Kimani Line was born. By then a lot of "street lit" had had hit the market, and to quote the then publisher, Linda Gill, readers of color were looking for more sexy, sophisticated stories mirroring their lives.  Mavis Allen, my editor instilled in us the need to have the series include “rich, realistic, and emotional romances that featured innovative plots and appealing characters who have 'professionally made it', and yet are still seeking love."

 I was fortunate enough to launch the line with my series book, Flamingo Place.  Through all these changes, authors were expected to be flexible and to stay prolific and adapt.  By the time the tablet became an option, there was uncertainty in the air. Advances were being cut, mid-list authors contracts weren’t being renewed, and many houses were merging.

What Amazon did do, was give writers an opportunity to become business owners, and take charge of their lives.  Barnes and Noble quickly followed.  Authors quickly caught on that the percentages being paid directly to the writer by retailers, were far higher than the publishing houses paid. There was a mass exodus, and soon even those who pooh-poohed self-publishing, labeling it as sub-standard, and for those who couldn’t get published traditionally, came on board.

Thus, was my transition into the Indie world.  Now we’ve  come full-circle. Writers have figured out that for more exposure, a hybrid author is the way to go. By hybrid, I mean writing for the traditional publishing world while still maintaining your Indie status.  Yes, you can do both.

In today’s tough market, writers need to be adaptable and open to change. It’s not about selling out. It’s about ensuring you don’t become a dinosaur in an ever changing publishing world.

Be brave fellow writers. You have a lot to celebrate. Go forth!  Shake, rattle and roll!   

About Marcia King-Gamble

Romance writer, Marcia King-Gamble originally hails from a sunny Caribbean island where the sky and ocean are the same mesmerizing shade of blue. This former travel industry executive and current world traveler has spent most of life in the United States. A National Bestselling author, Marcia has penned over 34 books and 8 novellas. Her free time is spent at the gym, traveling to exotic locales, and caring for her animal family.

Visit Marcia at www.lovemarcia.com or “friend” her on Facebook: http://bit.ly/1MlnrIS