Genre Discussion #4: Dark Romance

 I spent some time checking out my old posts, because I'd really like to revive the blog as my main method of talking to my audience (GRRM does it, why can't I?). In that peruesal I found a little series I did that I'd like to bring back. Let's talk about genres! Today’s genre is one that has gained a ton of popularity over the last year or so: Dark Romance. 

What is dark romance? Well according to Google: “Dark romance books are very different from the run-of-the-mill, everyday romance novel. This more mysterious genre often this includes themes of abuse, violence, trauma, and morally grey main characters” 

Overall I’d agree with that general description. Dark romance books aren’t the same thing our mothers and grandmothers were reading twenty years ago. They delve into deeper, more triggering content. Many dark romance novels also explore bdsm and other kinks that may not be easily found in a regular romance novel. Characters are more complex, and the romance isn’t the classic ‘hero gets the girl’. Now, not every romance novel with a morally grey main male character is going to be a dark romance. Nobody would ever claim A Court of Thrones and Roses as part of the dark romance genre. 

Why is Dark Romance gaining popularity? This is just my opinion, but I think it has a lot to do with how much readers can relate to the trauma and experiences some of the dark romance characters have. It’s a way to safely delve into dark subject matter, packaged in a nice story. And of course no one is going to complain about the smutty goodness. 

As always, books are a place to explore ideas, just because someone reads a dark romance novel doesn’t mean they have any interest in experiencing a relationship similar to that in real life. The separation of fantasy and reality is always important to remember. I recommend always checking the trigger warnings when looking into any dark romance as novel as there can be many triggering topics addressed. Such as stalking, SA, bullying, brain washing, and other forms of abuse. 

Now for the part everyone is really here for. What Dark Romance novels would I recommend to you? 

• Butcher and Blackbird (and it’s sequel Leather and Lark) by Byrnne Weaver
• Psycho Shifters by Jasmine Mas
• Den of Vipers by K.A Knight
• My Dark Romeo by L.J Shen and Parker S Huntington
• Losers Part One and Two by Harley Laroux 
• Queen of the Reapers by Jesse Halliwell
• Cruel Prince by Jillian Frost

I’ll admit there’s quite a few popular dark romance novels I am not interested in reading due to their content. I’m sure they are fantastic novels, but they simply are not for me! This genre is growing larger and larger every day so there are tons of books out there. 

Writing Update #17: What I've Learned

 Code Red has been out for close to six months now. I've got to start off with a couple brags of course. Below are some reviews I've gotten: 

Okay now that we're passed the minor ego trip, I want to share some of the steps I took as I figured out self-publishing. I don't believe that authors are in competition with one another and if anything about my journey can help another author figure out exactly how they want to go about self-publishing I'd love to help. I'm still learning so trust me I'm sure a year from now I'll look back on this post and have better information. I learn something new about the process every day. 

• What platforms did I work with? There are a couple options when you have a book to self-publish. A popular option is going to Amazon, using KDP to be part of the KU program. However, this limits where your ebook can be available. You make a few cents per page read. I did not choose KU for my first novel. I had always imagined my books being available everywhere. So with some good advice from a friend, I published Code Red on Amazon, Kobo (And I was able to enroll in Kobo Plus), B&N/Nook, and later down the road Google Play. I am still working on figuring out how to meet Apple's requirements, but I'm sure eventually I will. I have not yet used Draft 2 Digital, after a recent situation with them involving their opinions on AI I am unsure if I will. I also use IngramSpark for physical copies. IngramSpark has far better print quality than Amazon, I highly recommend using them for your print copies. You can do an ebook as well, I have not yet broached that option. 
• How do you market? Well let me be honest, I'm still figuring out marketing. I did hire a PA (if you're interested in working with her, please feel free to reach out. She also did the cover art for Code Red and Blue Dreams. She's very talented with fantastic prices). Social media is not my forte so I knew I needed someone that could handle that for me. We're still working to grow my platforms, and I hope with time I'll start to see better numbers. I have not started investing my money in ads yet. It is on my list, but I feel that until I'm seeing a larger profit margin paying for ads is a low priority on my list. Facebook book groups are my best friend. 
• ISBN’s? If you are only planning to enroll in KU and use Amazon for getting all of your physical copies you can absolutely use Amazon’s free ISBN numbers. However, if you intend to use any other platforms for publishing please consider investing in ISBN numbers through Bowker. While it isn’t cheap to do so, you can use their ISBN numbers on any publishing platform. 
• How did I format? I want to be honest with you. I am not the tech wizard that formatted their novel themselves using word. I also didn’t go the free route and use Reedsy. I want to mention both of those before I tell you about what I used. When you are self publishing and paying for each thing out of your own money it’s important to consider where you invest. If you are comfortable using Word and already have a Microsoft subscription go for it. If you need something free Reedsy comes to me highly recommend from other indie authors. Personally, I write in Word, but I didn’t feel confident enough in my abilities to format myself. I purchased Atticus. This was a long term investment, a commitment that I was going to continue writing and publishing. Atticus is fairly user friendly, with plenty of turtorials on how to use all of its features. You can also use it to write your novel as well. I am still partial to Word when writing. 
• Editing? It’s easy enough to follow along on my journey from writing Code Red at eighteen to finally releasing it at twenty five. Editing was a very long and arduous journey for me. I didn’t hire an editor. Instead I had a number of people read Code Red at every stage, taking their notes and critiques to improve it. I’m sure if I cracked the cover of Code Red today I would find plenty of mistakes, but I think the product that I released can hold its own. My suggestion to those of you unable to hire an editor is to reach out to as many people as you trust with your manuscript. Keep your feelings and ego out of it, and listen to what help they try to offer you. Once I was pretty confident in the quality of my work, I ran it through Hemingway Editor. This allowed me to take care of run on sentences and other mistakes that this website catches. I am not a huge fan of Grammarly, but it might be helpful to others. 

I think I’ll stop the post there. It’s a lot of information to absorb. If you’re interested in asking specific questions or learning more about how I handle the writing/editing/publishing process please feel free to reach out to me. Remember to follow your dreams!

Taila Out.