My last post mentioned romance author Marie Force's killer survey in the context of my deciding that I needed to do more marketing through Facebook. I haven't yet changed the format of QA's Facebook page (click the link and like it -- I'll wait). However, thanks to Marie's saavy tips, I have started doing more linking of my books complete with hashtags. And it has helped so Marie was right about that - people do find books through Facebook. This post is because I promised a follow up to delve into more of Marie's marvy info.
Now, my question is about the survey's finding that contemporary romance has become more popular than historical romance - 27.55% of responding readers preferred contemporary to 23.15% preferring historical. Why do I find that interesting? Because my numbers don't bear that out at all. My historicals sell far, far better than my contemporaries although I think the contemporaries are great books. My personal sales ratio is about 85% to 15% in favor of the historicals.
I'd LOVE, LOVE, LOVE for the contemporaries to catch up to the historicals in sales. Heck, I'd cheer if they passed the historicals. My historicals are composed entirely of my wicked, wacky and way warped imagination. They're over the top tales where the heroes tend to be bad boys who fall in love as hard as they fell into risky, risque behavior. My contemporary heroes share the over-the-top personna to a point, but those books also call upon knowledge I've gleaned from my "day job" - as a lawyer. My contemporaries all take place at that precarious point where love and the law meet. It's a dangerous spot, which is why those books are my "Dangerous Relations" series.
None of my contemporaries takes the reader inside the courtroom as much as Dangerous Relations: Seducing the Billionaire. That book starts in the Family Courtroom where the hero is divorcing his "belle bitch" wife. It's a tricky endeavor because he doesn't want a separation from his soon-to-be ex's half sister, Rachel. She's only 17, but the hero fell in love with her about a year earlier, when he rescued her from an abusive foster home. She's been too young to allow her any idea of his real feelings, even if he hadn't been too married to show her. But, at the beginning of the book, everything is about to change. When it does, the hero finds himself in a Courtroom, where his only defense against felony charges is to show the jury his helpless adoration for the girl who vanished just when she could have saved him. If you like love stories, trial stories or romantic suspense, you'll love Dangerous Relations: Seducing The Billionaire. Pick it up and give it a read today - you'll be glad you did!
My other two (2) contemporaries are also at the juncture of love and the law - at different stages. Dangerous Relations: Griffin's Law is about a law student who commits the serious offense of falling in love with one of her professors. And the professor? He's hiding more than she could've ever imagined. Dangerous Relations: The Office Ink is about a young associate targeted by the law firm partner who hired her. Too bad for her that she was also targeted by the partners brother. And when Cupid's passing out flaming arrows, someone could die. Did the young associate's boss kill the competition, brother or not?
This post is my test marketing of my contemporaries. Marie Force's survey says contemporaries are outselling historicals. Like I said earlier, my experience has been the opposite. Will my numbers from this test prove Marie right or wrong?