Why Young Adult and New Adult Romance? Blast from the Past by Lynn Lovegreen

(This Blast from the Past was first published in 2016.)

We’re celebrating New and Young Adult romance this month! I am honored to be asked to write an extra post for this theme. (My usual gig is the second Thursday of the month.) These age categories are my favorites, and I’ll explain why.

Young adult (YA) is usually defined as the teen years, when most kids are in secondary school and figuring out who they are. New adult (NA) is often defined as the period right after that, when young people are holding their first jobs, going to college, and learning to be on their own in the world. Both ages are full of drama and possibilities, especially in fiction. Add a little romance, and you have the perfect ingredients for a novel.

Depending on who I’m talking to, I often just say I write YA. But if my audience knows about NA, I will say YA/NA. In my Gold Rush books, there is a combination of YA and NA characters. Because of the time period, most of my teenaged characters are taking on adult roles earlier in life. Plus, there is not an obvious border between the two age groups then, so teens are spending time with what we might call new adults. In Quicksilver to Gold, for example, set back in 1900, Jeannie has never set foot in a school building, but today she’d probably be a senior in high school. The object of her affection, Clint, would have graduated high school already since he’s a little older. When they meet at their mining claims outside Nome, Alaska, they are both seen as adults. But when you see Jeannie’s emotional reactions to things, there is no doubt she is a teenager.

I write YA and NA because I remember my teen and college years vividly. I knew even then that it was a dramatic stage of life; I recall thinking that if I ever wrote a book, it would be set during that time. (No, none of my books are that close to autobiography, but you never know what I might write in the future!) For most of us, those years are an emotional roller coaster. Everything is important, and so much feels earthshaking. That’s built-in drama for a novelist.

While adults also enjoy reading YA and NA, I hope teens can use my characters as examples of what they might do with their own lives. If Jeannie can strike it rich with her mining skills or Charlotte can help create Denali National Park, why can’t our readers achieve their own dreams? I hope they will.

For more on why I write YA, see my video at https://youtu.be/rJDWwrSnXuMhttps://youtu.be/rJDWwrSnXuM.

Lynn Lovegreen grew up in Alaska, and still lives there. Her young adult/new adult historical romances are set in the Alaska Gold Rush, a great time for drama, romance, and independent characters. See her website at www.lynnlovegreen.com.

A Cinderella Wedding Romance with a Twist

by Madelle Morgan

New Adult romantic comedy Caught on Camera is the first in my “Upstairs-Downstairs” romance series. The premise – “Hollywood in cottage country” – is that Hollywood A-listers fall in love with local service providers in Muskoka, a beautiful lake district.

Caught on Camera, Book 1, has a Cinderella theme. However in this wedding romance it’s the stand-in bridesmaid who gets the make-over.

Backcover Blurb

To achieve her dream of working on Hollywood film sets, star struck chambermaid Rachel Lehmann needs $35,000 for film school tuition by the end of the summer. When she’s asked to fill in for a missing bridesmaid at a movie star’s wedding, it’s her big chance to take candid photos of celebrities and sell them to the entertainment gossip magazines. Then groomsman Mickey McNichol, agent to the stars, sweeps her off her feet.

Mickey’s bitter experience is that everyone in show business fakes emotions. When he falls for the stand-in bridesmaid, he thinks he’s finally met a beautiful woman he can trust. But if Rachel betrays his friends’ privacy, Mickey will ensure she never works in Hollywood.

Excerpt

Rachel bit her bottom lip as she regarded her reflection in the Bridal Suite’s floor-length mirror. An awed part of her brain struggled to accept the extraordinary image of herself barefoot and clad in an exquisite pale-lilac strapless, tea-length chiffon dress with fitted bodice.

The practical part fretted about falling behind schedule. She kept one eye on the digital bedside clock and the other on the ball of white fur rolling over her chambermaid uniform on the unmade bed.

“I need to call the housekeeper, Ms. Kane. I have rooms to clean.”

“Wanda will take care of that,” the bride-to-be said airily. She turned to her personal assistant. “Inform the hotel manager that I need Rachel until Sunday.”

“Right away.” The PA bolted for the exit.

“We booked the entire hotel for the wedding,” assured the tall, slender woman with a medley of blond highlights in waist-length hair. “What the bride wants, the bride gets. Relax and show me a few smiles. Mouth open. Mouth closed. You know the drill.”

“Drill?”

“Your smile for the wedding photos. I need to approve it.” She grabbed Rachel’s bare shoulders and twisted her around for a close-up.

“Photos?” Rachel squeaked. Her heart leaped to her throat. With her beyond-ordinary face and small boobs, she’d stand out among all the beautiful people and not in a good way. “You don’t want me in your wedding photos, surely?”

Ignoring her protest, Ms. Kane tapped a scarlet, French-tipped nail against her perfect chin. “Mouth closed, I think. Yes, a sweet but sexy smile puts the focus on your big brown eyes.”

“Ms. Kane?” Rachel burbled, an embarrassed flush warming her cheeks. “I’m not pretty enough for celebrity photos. I belong behind the camera, not in front of it. You need to find someone else—”

As Rachel gestured at the mirror, she caught sight of the tiny white dog on the bed behind them. Its devilish black eyes stared straight at Rachel’s backside. To her horror, she noticed a dark stain spreading out from under its butt and over her uniform.

“Oh my gods. Your dog just urinated on the bed!”

“Did she?” With Ms. Kane’s good humor restored, she merely glanced at her pet sitting innocently beside a puddle rapidly disappearing through Rachel’s uniform into the eight-hundred-thread-count Egyptian-cotton duvet cover.

“Naughty Mopette,” she cooed. “It’s Wanda’s fault. She’s supposed to walk you every four hours. The maid will clean it up.”

“I’m the maid!”

“Not anymore you’re not. This weekend you’re my bridesmaid. A distant cousin on my mother’s side from…from…”

“Toronto,” Rachel supplied.

“Right, Toronto, Canada. Where they have that international film festival.”

“And the largest city in Canada,” Rachel added dryly.

“So it’s settled.”

“But”—Rachel flung an arm toward the mirror—“look at us,” she wailed. “Standing beside you I’m…I’m the beautiful princess’s ugly stepsister.”

“Not stepsister,” Ms. Kane scolded, wagging a slender, elegant forefinger. “Cousin, remember? And give me some credit for the ability to make you presentable. You must know that I was a model before I launched Candy Kane Cosmetics? It’s my business to transform women’s faces into the best they can be. A skillful application of makeup, and you won’t recognize yourself.”

Rachel heaved a tremulous breath, then another. She’d viewed hundreds if not thousands of films, so she knew all about the magical transformation that actors underwent in a makeup artist’s chair. All eyes would be on the bride anyway, right?

I’ll merely be a secondary character. Not even that—an extra. No one pays attention to walk-ons. I’ll be practically invisible. Her galloping pulse slowed.

Taking Rachel’s acceptance for granted, Candy Kane’s mind was already on a different track. “Don’t you dare tell any of the guests you work here.” Candy swiped fingers across her mouth in a zipping motion. “There’s a big tip in it if you keep the secret and pull this off.”

How big? Rachel wanted to ask, but kept her “sweet but sexy” lips clamped shut. Truthfully, a generous tip wasn’t the reason a shiver of excitement rippled across her exposed skin.

Panic receding, she’d belatedly begun to appreciate the photo-taking opportunities associated with being on the set in a supporting role, so to speak, instead of as a hotel employee with no legitimate excuse to approach a celebrity wedding guest.

Listen to the Playlist for Free

Each novel in the series will have a YouTube Playlist. Find the link under the description here.

Enjoy the summer!

Madelle

CAUGHT ON CAMERA BUY LINKS 

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Madelle's romantic thriller DiamondHunter is a free read in Kindle Unlimited.

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Writing YA/NA Historical Romance

You may recall that Romancing the Genres celebrated New Adult novels in August and September, and I explained then how my books could be considered both Young Adult and New Adult. (See my post at https://romancingthegenres.blogspot.com/2017/09/new-adult-or-not-by-lynn-lovegreen.html.)

I’ve learned a lot about writing YA/NA historical romance over the years, including these points:

• A writer can’t just take a modern young woman and throw her into past centuries.

• The historical information must be woven into the story without slowing down the plot.

• The romance has to be organic and appropriate for the characters involved.

For more tips and tricks, you can sign up for “Writing YA/NA Historical Romance,” an online workshop I’m leading through Hearts Through History Romance Writers on January 3-31, 2018. Here’s the course description:

Can you just throw Bella or Katniss into the nineteenth century to create a historical romance? This four-week workshop will provide the skills an author needs to write a historical romance with young characters. In this course, we will practice writing romance grounded in historical fact. We will consider setting, character, and plot points, and ensure the language is appropriate for the story. Part of our discussion will include how young women had more limitations in the past, sexuality has changed over the years, and that adolescence was seen differently way back when. We will also discuss researching and weaving in historical information. While Lynn will provide lectures and short homework assignments, participants will be encouraged to add to the conversation with their own ideas and knowledge.

To learn more and to register, go to https://www.heartsthroughhistory.com/workshops/writing-yana-historical-romance/#register.

Lynn Lovegreen has lived in Alaska for almost fifty years. She taught for twenty years before retiring to make more time for writing. She enjoys her friends and family, reading, and volunteering at her local library. Her young adult/new adult historical romances are set in Alaska, a great place for drama, romance, and independent characters. See her website at www.lynnlovegreen.com. You can also find her on Facebook, Goodreads, and Pinterest.

New Adult, or Not? by Lynn Lovegreen

When I first started writing my Gold Rush series, I knew the main characters were a little older than the typical YA (Young Adult) heroines and heroes. As I learned more about the NA (New Adult) category, I saw that my books could be New Adult, too.

Young Adult is usually defined as having main characters who are teens, and YA themes involve finding yourself or discovering who you are, and how you can develop relationships with people in your life. New Adult books follow the next part of our lives. According to the blog NA Alley (which later led to the blog NextLit: Coming-of-Age Fiction for the Modern Era), “Typically, a novel is considered NA if it encompasses the transition between adolescence (a life stage often depicted in Young Adult fiction) and true adulthood.” NA issues include finding your place in the world, identity, and living on your own for the first time.

Because my main characters were older teens but often on their own, they kind of fit in between. Four years ago, when I started doing promotion for my books, I often referred to them as YA/NA because they had elements of both, and I wanted to include both audiences. But as I looked at the market more closely, I saw a couple trends that worked against that.

One was the fact that Young Adult books are often bought by gatekeepers: librarians, teachers, and parents. Those gatekeepers are looking for YA and might be confused or put off by the NA label. Another was the fact that NA books at that time were usually steamy.

As many of you know, my books are squeaky clean. I tell people they’re G-rated and you can hand them to your grandmother or your granddaughter without fear. NA books, on the other hand, had a reputation for being R-rated. As one agent told me a couple years ago, New Adult makes her think of "beer pong and sex on the floor.” Of course, there are NA books that aren’t about that, but the perception is there.

So, after much thought, I started dropping the NA part of my descriptions unless I thought the audience was familiar with New Adult and/or wouldn’t assume my books were the steamy type. (For example, readers of this blog are either familiar with me or savvy enough to know there are different kinds of NA.) If you look at my internet presence today, you’ll see that most of the entries list YA and only a few indicate YA/NA. 

Is that a fair representation? I guess it is, for now. But I’m hoping that the perception of NA will change as more people write New Adult books and the category becomes more varied. In the meantime, I’m calling my books YA. But I support New Adult books and authors, and hope to see more published.

Lynn Lovegreen grew up in Alaska, and still lives there. She taught for twenty years before retiring to make more time for writing. She enjoys her friends and family, reading, and volunteering at her local library. Her young adult/new adult historical romances are set in Alaska, a great place for drama, romance, and independent characters. See her website at www.lynnlovegreen.com. You can also find her on Facebook, Goodreads, and Pinterest.

A Brief History of the New Adult Genre

Hi everyone! I am YA author B A Binns , writer of contemporary and realistic fiction for teens. My tagline tells you what I am about - Stories of Real Boys Growing Into Real Men - and the people who love them. 

I'm happy my fellow Genre-istas have asked me to kick of September, a month when Romancing The Genres is shining a spotlight on New Adult Books

Evolution in publishing:

Once upon a time there were only two kinds of fiction books, children's and adults. Then one day an enterprising entrepreneur noticed the amount of disposable income young teens had, and began marketing directly to older kids. Thus, the Young Adult category was born. Older adolescents and teens had their own books and sections of bookstores and libraries, far away from their former favorites like Peter Rabbit and the Bobbsey Twins. 

Technically, Young Adult books remain part of the Children’s department in many publishing houses. Voracious young readers in the 12-16 age bracket have made it a category with high growth potential. (Yes, I know, kids as young as 10 and some older than 18 read YA, but the core market, the "sweet spot" remains in that middle.) 

The World of Publishing was now complete.

Well no, not really.

"Birth" of New Adult

There remained a gap, with few books about life after high school and before the thirties. Publishers couldn't call books with college age protagonists YA, the children's book sales and marketing departments didn't know what to do them. (Lets be real, Sales and Marketing pretty much drive the entire capitalist market economy.)  Calling these books Adult didn't work either.

Still, in 2009, St. Martin’s Press issued a call for “fiction similar to YA that can be published and marketed as adult—a sort of older YA or NA.” Thus, the term "new adult" was officially coined.

When NA first emerged in the early 2000's, they were often primarily “Young Adult fiction having explicit sex;” erotica set in universities filled with Animal House style clichés and excesses, where no one actually matured into adulthood. Fortunately, much of the genre has maturing past those storylines. NA authors are now writing the stories that involve more than characters bent on exploiting the freedom to finally have all the sex and drugs they want.
 
These New Adults books chronicle the story arcs of protagonists in dealing with the period some call the Quarterlife Crisis.  Literary agent Carly Watters described NA as a phase of ‘firsts’ – starting university, getting a job, living independently, etc.

In reality, NA is not a new genre. Author Francesca Lia Block foreshadowed the genre by

several decades with her Weetzie Bat books. 

"I feel I’ve been writing NA for 25 years, before there was even a term for it. I’m very interested in the years between adolescence and full adulthood, as this time marks an important threshold in human development. For me, it was a painful period of growth and exploration. I don’t know how this category will affect YA. Some people consider it just a marketing ploy to sell more books. (Is selling books so bad, anyway?) But for me, it’s more a case of naming a category that already exists in my oeuvre and my heart."

She added a P. S.: “I worry a bit that my work will be marginalized as NA instead of just fiction and, perhaps, not taken as seriously.”

That remains a legitimate concern. In a 2014 Huffington Post article, New Adult was described as a label that condescends to both readers and authors.

"It implies that the books act as training wheels between Young Adult and Adult. For the New Adult books that are particularly childish, the label implies that they are a step above Young Adult—which is insulting to the Young Adult books that are far superior. For the New Adult books that are particularly sophisticated, the label implies that they are not worthy of being considered “adult.” It’s a lose-lose situation for everyone."

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/lauren-sarner/the-problem-with-new-adul_b_3755165.html

What makes NA unique?

The major distinction between NA and either the Adult or YA genre is the level of emotional development and interests of the audience. It's about the level of sophistication and emotional focus. The characters’ behavior and emotions are often raw because they’re young and inexperienced.  Both YA and NA stories tend to be intense and passionate, with high stakes and strong desires because that’s what life is like in those years.

As Clover Autry, author of the Anointed series, said, "Young Adult is more inner reflective of who am I. New Adult is more where do I fit in society, can I make a difference in the world?"

This coincides with a guideline for distinguishing YA from NA made by Sophie Brookover, program coordinator and social media manager for the New Jersey Library Cooperative, LibraryLinkNJ.

“In YA fiction, the characters’ lives are circumscribed by school, family, and sometimes work. In NA novels, the characters have more freedom: they’re in college or the workforce (or trying to enter the workforce). And that’s one reason YA fantasy and historical fiction crosses up easily to NAs. In those genres, the age of maturity is measured differently than in our contemporary society, and teens may be far more independent at a much younger age.”

Reader comments show ambivalence to the genre:

• I can't imagine anyone wanting to read books about 20 somethings learning how not to be mooches and leeching off family and society or wondering what to do next while they work to get out of debt. I wouldn't even consider reading such depressing topics for entertainment.
• I'm 21 and fresh out of college, and I'm stuck living at home and working in retail. In some ways I'm grown up and in other ways I might as well be 16 all over again. I can definitely see a market for books dealing with characters in this situation.
• II feel like most adult books are written for people older than me (30s and above), while YA can be more geared toward teens. It would be nice to have someone to relate to when I am 25 and feel like I'm stuck between teenagehood and adulthood. I am still living at home even though I have a college degree. I think that experience needs to be put out there. It's a unique one, yet a lot of us are living it behind the scenes.

For these and other reasons, both bookstores and libraries have trouble determining where to place and how to promote New Adult books. The Young Adult chapter of RWA, YAWRA, welcomes authors of New Adult books with open arms. But many of authors who write NA prefer allegiance with authors of Adult Fiction.

What do librarians have to say about NA?

Librarians want books that appeal to readers who are looking to find characters that share their age and interests. Neil Hollands, adult services librarian at the Williamsburg (VA) Regional Library, states that “The books we’re looking for try to capture the feel of a generation, including integrating technology’s effects on communication and relationships, new outlooks on a range of political and social issues, and more recognition and blending of the genres that younger readers are most familiar with.”

Kaite Mediatore Stover, director of readers’ services for the Kansas City (MO) Public Library, agrees. “[NA] readers tend to be urbanites, wired and techno-savvy, and on top of trending cultural-political-social issues. They are checking out books with edgy content, zippy plotting, identifiable characters, and unusual narrative structures.”

Becky Spratford, Reader’s Services librarian at the Berwyn (IL) Public Library, notes that “NA books are circulating well to all adults under 40, not just the 20- to 30-year-olds Specifically, the romances are hugely popular with my under-50 romance readers.”

Former YALSA President Chris Shoemaker said that NA probably fits a reading need for those who don’t want to read about either teenage Sturm und Drang or thirtysomethings dealing with mortgages and kids. Another past YALSA President, Pam Spencer Holley, adds,

“I’ve always wanted to have more books written that are in a college setting, but wouldn’t it also be nice to have some set in a work situation? We keep trying to get people to read more, but if the books aren’t about them or at least their age group, it makes it harder. And this age group is caught up in a lot of new things in their lives: marriage, babies, college, and work.”

Final Thoughts

New adult readers need diverse NA stories. Everyone needs to see themselves and their own experiences represented in fiction, every age and every people group. The genre still may not have its own section in bookstores, but the storylines are  increasingly being sought by agents, acquisitions editors, and readers.  This will continue as long as authors write into existence the changes we all want to see in the industry, and abstain from the original "people now free to have all the sex, drugs, and violence they want" trends.

During September, Romancing the Genres is taking a special look into New Adult with some fascinating authors. Be sure to return here each Saturday for the next installment.

In the meantime, if you are an NA author or reader, please share some of your favorites in the comments.

True Love Stories Never Have Endings

by Madelle Morgan

The title is a beautiful quote from Richard Bach. Even if sweet love sours and we move on to new partners, I believe that the experience of loving someone expands our hearts' ability to love and appreciate love.

February 14 is the day couples traditionally express their love with flowers, cards, chocolate, jewelry, and/or a romantic dinner.

Why Chocolate?

The tradition of giving a sweetheart chocolate on Valentine's Day originated with Richard Cadbury in the 1840s.

In 1861, Richard Cadbury created the first ever heart-shaped box for Valentine's Day. The chemical phenylethylamine in chocolate (stimulates) feelings of excitement, attraction, and even pleasure. (Source: The Happy Chocolatier)

Why February 14th?

I gleaned these facts from History.com:

The Christian church may have decided to place St. Valentine's feast day in the middle of February in an effort to "Christianize" the pagan celebration of Lupercalia. Lupercalia survived the initial rise of Christianity but was outlawed at the end of the 5th century, when Pope Gelasius declared February 14 St. Valentine's Day.

The Catholic Church recognizes at least three different saints named Valentine or Valentinus, all of whom were martyred.

During the Middle Ages, it was commonly believed in France and England that February 14 was the beginning of birds' mating season, which added to the idea that the middle of February should be a day for romance. - Hey, we should be eating egg-shaped chocolates for Valentine's Day instead of at Easter!

The oldest known valentine still in existence today was a poem written in 1415 by Charles, Duke of Orleans, to his wife while he was imprisoned in the Tower of London.

Marry Me, Sweetheart

Many proposals occur on the most romantic day of the year, as do winter weddings. 

Hmmm.... Do you think men might have an ulterior motive for choosing February 14 for their wedding day?

Here's an excerpt from my romantic comedy Caught on Camera that eavesdrops on the groomsmen's conversation as they wait for the bride to appear.

Halden and the groomsmen wore dark formal tailcoats, striped gray trousers, white shirts, and lavender cravats and waistcoats.

At intervals during the interminable delay, they bemoaned the wedding planner’s order for traditional English attire. Who knew it’d be as hot as hell in June in the Great White North? Apparently not the wedding planner or Candy. Or more likely they didn’t care. To them, it was all about appearances.

“She’s twenty minutes late.” Garth inserted one finger inside his collar and tugged at the garment constricting his neck. “If I ever get married, it’ll be in January.”

“Make it February fourteenth,” Mickey muttered out the side of his mouth. “Then you’ll never forget your wedding anniversary.”

“Good tip. You always think ahead, Mick.” Garth fist-bumped him behind Wade’s back.

Did you receive a proposal or get married on Valentine's Day?

Madelle

Madelle is the Canadian author of two novels, Diamond Hunter, a romantic suspense, and Caught on Camera, Hollywood in Muskoka series, Book 1, a New Adult romantic comedy.

She tweets and posts on the topics of writing & publishing, filmmaking, dogs, and the settings for her stories.

Subscribe to her blog at MadelleMorgan.com and follow her on  Twitter, Facebook, Goodreads, Pinterest, and Wattpad. 

Editing Your Book, Part 3 Copy Editing

by Madelle Morgan

Copy editing. Copyediting. Copy-editing. 

Which is correct? Answers will differ, depending on the editing style guide used. 

Copy editors go though manuscripts word by word, and their job is not simply to correct spelling and grammar.

After the developmental edit (See Part 1) and the polish (see Part 2), I contract out copy editing to a professional. The first question to ask when requesting a quote is which style guide she or he prefers.

Choose the Style Guide for Your Book

Editors may select from several editing style guides for the English language. The goal of a style guide is to ensure consistency within a manuscript, or across all books published by a particular publisher. A style guide addresses: spelling; grammar; dates; times; italics; capitalization; titles; punctuation including hyphens (three types); formatting (such as this list); numbers (spell it out or use numerals); and much more.

In the United States (abbreviated U.S. or US depending on the style guide), The Chicago Manual of Style is one of the most widely used. Some publishers may adapt a style guide to use for in-house editing of their publications.

The British have several style guide choices. Canadians tend to choose between The Canadian Style: A Guide to Writing and Editing, or an American style guide, depending on the nationality of the majority of the readership. One important consideration for Canadian authors is that American readers are accustomed to American spelling. Canadian/British spelling may appear to be typos. Examples of Canadian spelling include modelling, honour, and centre instead of the American modeling, honor, and center. 

Then there are the dozens of words with multiple spellings; e.g., fore, for, and four, or your, you're and yore. Spell check software doesn't know which you intended to use. Copy editors are trained to watch for these spelling variations.

A style guide will provide guidance on how to handle foreign words. Should ingénue have an accent? Should it be italicized? Not according my copy editor for Caught on Camera. The style guide she used considers the word ingenue to be one of the many foreign words absorbed into the English language.

To illustrate how complex and seemingly arbitrary these arcane rules can be, a style guide dictated how to address the song and film titles in Caught on Camera's playlist. Here's how the first track was edited:

"Train on a Track," performed by Kelly Rowland, from the film Maid in Manhattan.

The rationale, to paraphrase my copy editor who used The Chicago Manual of Style, is that shorter works, such as song titles, are set in quotation marks. Longer works, such as an album name or book title, are set in italics. Who knew there was a difference? Not me, before the copy edit.

Style guides don't cover everything. A copy editor will present the author with a manuscript marked up with an overwhelming number of proposed changes/edits, including his or her own preferences. It's up to the author to accept or reject each change.

I overroad style rules for some compound words that, to my eye, are more readable when hyphenated; e.g., I retained post-traumatic rather than change to posttraumatic, but agreed with the change to makeup rather than make-up.

Sentence Structure & Errors

Copy editors will normally identify and suggest changes for problematic sentences and dialogue, lack of clarity, paragraph breaks, inconsistencies (e.g., the hero's eye color changes), and structural weaknesses that were not caught in your revisions or by beta readers. Be sure to ask a prospective copy editor what s/he includes in the price quoted.

Do You Need a Copy Editor?

You may believe that your grammar and punctuation is excellent—oops, that should be are excellent—did you catch that? You may figure your readers care about the story, and will not notice the trivial errors a copy editor painstakingly corrects. However, the bottom line is this:

Do you want the quality of your published work—your legacy—to be comparable to that of traditionally-published books?

Professional editing raises the apparent quality of the career-focused indie author's work, as does a professionally-designed cover. Caught on Camera is my September release. As I promote it on various websites, I've been asked by a couple of site owners if the novel was professionally-edited. When I entered it in the Romance Writers of America RITA contest, short contemporary romance category, I was required to supply the editor's name. I'm careful to include my editors' names in my books' acknowledgements.

It appears that professional editing is becoming a quality benchmark for indie-published books, as in:

Good cover? Check.
Four and five star reviews? Check.
High sales rank in an Amazon category? Check.
Professional editing? Check.

Finally, copy editing won't transform a poorly-written story into a great one. However, a copy edit guarantees that oh-so-important reviews will be focused on the story, not jarring typos and grammar mistakes which take a reader out of the story.

Caught on Camera Blog Tour November 21-December 2

On this two-week blog tour there'll be interviews, reviews, guest posts with the inside scoop on the book, playlist and the rest of the series, and Rafflecopter ebook giveaways at each stop. US, Canada and UK residents may enter for a chance to win the grand prize—a Muskoka T-shirt, a movie clapboard, and a print copy of Caught on Camera. 

Subscribe to MadelleMorgan.com or like my Facebook author page where you can join the event to be reminded of each stop on the tour and the daily giveaways. 

Caught on Camera is 99 cents / 99P for the promo period!

Author Bio

Madelle Morgan is the author of Caught on Camera, a New Adult romantic comedy, and Diamond Hunter, a romantic suspense about diamond smuggling inspired by her years as a young engineer in Canada's far north. Retired from a career in the public service, she lives with her husband in Ottawa, Canada's capital, visits beautiful Muskoka every summer, and watches too much TV.

Madelle tweets and posts about Hollywood, filmmaking, the settings for her stories, and of course, writing.

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