Delaney Diamond with Some Heartfelt Advice and a Giveaway!

Today we have author Delaney Diamond with some advice and a giveaway, so over to Delaney....

Think You Can Write a Romance Novel? 5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't

1. There’s no money in it. The majority of writers have jobs. If they don't, they either have a trust fund somewhere or an understanding partner/spouse/parent who helps support them.

2. You won’t have creative control. Think you will? You'd be surprised. Even big names have to tweak their manuscripts at the behest of their editor. Unless you're self-publishing, fuh-gedda-bout-it (say this with an Italian-American accent). Once you turn in your lovely work of art, you run the risk of your editor telling you to make revisions. Feel free to throw your hands up in frustration and lament the changes which compromise the integrity of the piece. Then make the changes.

3. You hate selling. Shameless self-promotion is the name of the game. If you don’t do it, someone else will, and they’ll be the ones with the fat royalty checks. Avoid constant selling, which is a turn-off. Network with other authors and with readers on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, Goodreads, and in Yahoo groups.

4. Not anybody can do it. Contrary to popular belief, writing romance novels is not easy. There is no magic formula, although there are certain elements that are inherent, much like there are elements inherent in any other type of writing.

Take mysteries, for example. In a mystery, a crime is committed, clues unfold, the crime is solved. In a romance, boy meets girl (or boy meets boy), they have problems, they solve said problems, they live happily ever after. The basic idea is the same, but it’s up to you as an author to create a story around that idea that speaks to your audience and doesn’t sound like the same old story.

5. You can’t take criticism. No matter how many hours you spent getting the words just right, no matter how many years your editor has been in the industry and knows what she’s talking about, and no matter how many review sites rave about your stellar piece, someone isn’t going to like it. If you can’t take a negative critique, don’t put your work out there.

If I haven’t turned you off romance writing, then you’ve been bitten by the writing bug, and you’re as bad as the rest of us, which means:

• You have stories to tell and you can’t hold them in anymore. If you do, you run the risk of developing a multiple personality disorder and men in white coats will come to take you away.
• You’re willing to work hard on rewrites, burn the midnight oil to meet a deadline, and research to make sure your paranormal romance about shape-shifting werelizards from the planet Zargon who must have sex with a human female exactly 50 times per day (no more, no less) to keep their species alive doesn’t sound anything like the last planet Zargon romance you read with a similar plot.
• You’re willing to wait for the money, and even if it doesn’t come, you’re happy that anybody reads your work and finds it as interesting and entertaning as you, your best friend, and your Aunt Gertrude.
• You’re fine with self-promotion, and you’re just happy there are no cameras and nudity involved.

Welcome to the club! So, what are you waiting for? Get to writing.

Delaney Diamond writes sweet and sensual African-American and interracial romance novels. She’s so happy that she and her best friend are not the only ones who enjoy her stories. In fact, her short story Subordinate Position is an Amazon Bestseller. Her first release in the Hot Latin Men series, The Arrangement, is an All Romance Ebooks bestseller.

Don't miss the second book in the series, Fight for Love, an All Romance Ebooks and Amazon bestseller. 

Blurb:

Science teacher Rebekah Jamison lives a quiet life in the suburbs of Atlanta. Devastated by a tabloid scandal nine years ago, she ended her marriage to the man her parents never approved of.

Rafael Lopez, former professional wrestler and “Sexiest Athlete Alive,” regrets the lapse in judgment that caused him to lose his wife. He shows up unannounced one day with some startling news, but he gets a surprise of his own. He finds out he’s a father. To get to know his son, he whisks him and Rebekah off to his home in the Hollywood Hills for the summer.

Excerpt:
“Rafe,” she warned. She tried to ease out of his embrace, but found her efforts thwarted by his brute strength. “All right, you’ve proven your point. You’re stronger than me. You can let me go now.”

“Maybe I’m not done proving my point, ángel,” he drawled. The sensuous sound of his voice tugged at her heartstrings.

He lowered his head in one swift motion and took her mouth, startling and arousing her at the same time. He cradled the back of her head in his palm, and her anger dissipated like morning fog in the first rays of sunlight. Her fingers curled into his powerful arms as he bent her over his arm. Teasing teeth tugged the sensitive flesh of her lower lip until she could no longer bear it and wrapped her arms tightly around his neck to urge a fuller exploration.

His expert tongue delved between her lips, stroking the sensitive cavern of her mouth to elicit a moan of burgeoning desire from the back of her throat. The taste of him was intoxicating, flooding her taste buds with a flavor that far surpassed the memories she’d tucked away in the deep recesses of her mind.

When Rafael slipped his hand over the curve of her breast and shaped the soft flesh, a shudder coursed through her. In the back of her mind, she knew she should be stronger than this, but she’d always been weak for him. Nothing had changed.

Website & Blog     Facebook Fan Page     Buy link at Amira Press

Buy link at Amazon                 Buy link at All Romance Ebooks 

Are you a reader, a writer, or both? Leave a comment with your email address for Delaney, and tell her why you enjoy reading and/or writing romance novels for a chance to win a copy of The Arrangement, the first book in her Hot Latin Men series. 

Deadline for entry is 72 hours, after which she'll let random.org choose a winner.