Mary Balogh – Vanessa Kelly, Author

I’m so pleased to have historical romance author Cheryl Bolen guest-blogging with us today. Cheryl’s first book was published 1998, and she’s been writing wonderful, award-winning Regency romances ever since. Remember all those great traditional Regencies we used to love to read but publishers decided they didn’t like to publish? Well, Cheryl is here to tell us what happened to them.

Take it away, Cheryl!

Sweet Regencies Return

The axiom that everything in publishing is cyclical has never been more evident than in the recent proliferation of “traditional” Regency romances sitting at the top of ebook bestseller lists.

When I joined Romance Writers of America in 1993, almost every romance publishing house was looking to acquire Regency romances. The two most successful of these houses were the Signet Regencies and the Zebra Regencies published by Kensington. These books were fairly short, comparable in size to the old category romance line of Harlequin Romance and just as sweet as that line.

During the 1990s especially, the book clubs at these publishing houses had a large list of subscribers for these Regencies.

Unfortunately for the authors of the books, the advances publishers paid were low—hence, the need to keep luring new authors.

It was also during the 1990s that the success of the longer, sexier Regency historical exploded, and many authors—like still-perennial bestseller Mary Balogh, who started her career writing wonderful Signet Regencies—jumped ship. Others like Mary Jo Putney and Candice Hern followed.

As the reader’s taste for the juicier, meatier book increased, sales of the sweet Regencies decreased. One by one, the publishers, such as Fawcett, started dropping their Regency line. Signet and Zebra Regencies limped into the new millennium, determined to keep their lines viable. Around 2004, both houses—by then suffering diminished print runs—revamped their covers in an effort to look less old-timey. In 2005 Zebra produced some dynamic covers for its Regency imprint (check Victoria Hinshaw’s Ask Jane), but it was not enough to overcome lagging sales. By the next year, no mass market paperback Regencies were being published.

What a difference seven more years made. By 2011, many, many readers who could no longer purchase their sweet Regency love stories in bookstores turned to reading devices like Kindle, Nook, and I-Pad and started downloading ebook reissues of out-of-print Regency romances. Former Signet authors Candice Hern and Elena Greene and former Zebra authors Shannon Donnelly and Mary Kingsley had multiple number one bestsellers in the Amazon Kindle Store in historical romance.

Many other “sweet” Regency originals made it to number one on Amazon, including my own The Earl’s Bargain, Christmas at Farley Manor, and His Lordship’s Vow. (I had published steamier Regencies in mass market paperback, but I like the sweeter stories just as well.)

Former Zebra author (and Rita winner) Alicia Rasley is now bringing back all her Regencies, and many more, like Hinshaw, are making plans to reissue theirs. (Sometimes getting back an author’s rights from the publisher can be an arduous process. And when we do get them, we don’t own the original covers.)

The beauty of ebooks is that there’s no competition for shelf space; therefore, there is room for books to suit all reading tastes. And those tastes seem to have come full circle over the last two decades.

Cheryl Bolen in the award-winning, bestselling author of both sweet and sexy Regencies. Her July release is Book 2 in her romantic, light-hearted Regent Mysteries series. Titled A Most Discreet Inquiry, it could be described as “sweet.”

Vanessa, here. Cheryl, thanks so much for being with us today. And I’d like to encourage readers to stop by your website for details on all your books, including buy links and excerpts.

News Flash! Cheryl is giving away a copy of one of her books. Just leave a comment for a chance it win a copy of One Golden Ring, which won the prestigious Holt Medallion.

I’m so thrilled to have a special guest on my blog today—the fabulous author of humorous Regency romances, Kieran Kramer! Kieran’s debut novel, When Harry Met Molly, was a breakout hit on the romance writing scene. It’s the first book in her Impossible Bachelors series, and it garnered rave—and I do mean rave—reviews, including starred reviews from both the Library Journal and Booklist.

It also received this Top Pick Review from RT Book Reviews:

“You’ll smile and even laugh out loud reading Kramer’s delectable debut—even the title’s nod to the famous film elicits a grin. With her perfect sense of pacing, comic timing, poignancy and marvelous characterization, this utterly enchanting new voice will have you eager for more.”

Books two and three in the series are Dukes to the Left of Me, Princes to the Right and Cloudy With a Chance of Marriage. Besides having FABULOUS titles, they also received great acclaim, including more Top Picks and starred reviews. And no wonder—I can assure you that Kieran’s books are delightful, romantic reads. If you haven’t read the first books in the Impossible Bachelors series, you really must!

Kieran has a new book coming out in November—If You Give a Girl a Viscount—and it promises to be just as much fun as her earlier books.

Kieran is here today for a fun little interview, giving us a glimpse into her writing life. Please welcome the wonderful Kieran Kramer to the blog!

Hi Kieran! It’s so great to have you here with us. I have a question I’ve been dying to ask—who are some of your favorite Regency rakes, real or fictional?

Oh, my goodness, I have *one* huge Regency crush–who else but Mr. Darcy? But I also fall madly in love with Mary Balogh’s heroes!

When you’re writing a book, do you avoid reading other Regency historical romances? What genres do you like to read instead?

When I decided to get published, I thought, “I should do what the successful people do, and maybe I’ll be successful, too.” And so I listened to every word that came out of Debbie Macomber’s mouth. One thing she said was that she reads outside her genre when she writes (which is why she loves Regencies, LOL!). Anyway, that habit really resonated with me. So I have missed out on lots of great Regencies. I’m dying to read Sarah MacLean’s ELEVEN book, Julia Quinn’s ALMOST LIKE HEAVEN, and loads of other Regencies.

To be honest, when I got published, I wasn’t reading a whole lot of Regency historicals other than Julia Quinn and Mary Balogh’s. I had read a huge stack of Signet Regencies in college, but then I moved away from historical romance in general for a long time. Mary Balogh, Amanda Quick, and Julia Quinn brought me back, not that others couldn’t have done the same, but I had lots of other reading interests to indulge, too, all those years. During that more “contemporary “era,” I was reading lots of Jennifer Crusie, Jayne Anne Krentz, and Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I also fell in love with Janet Evanovich and Sue Grafton. I also read a lot of non-fiction and re-read some classics, including children’s classics with my kids.

Does music help you write? Do you put together play lists for each book? If not music, what other creative techniques do you use to spark your imagination?

Yes, music helps me a lot when I write. But I’d say 50% of the time I write in total silence. It depends what is required in the scene and what my brain needs to get creative. The closer I get to deadline, the more I listen to music. I don’t come up with playlists book by book–I tend to stick with the songs that inspire me all the time. This list I came up with on my Spinsters Club blog covers some of the basic tunes that rev my Muse. Music, movies, going on a walk with my dog, hanging out and listening to stories from family and friends, reading the newspaper, surfing the Net…those are my indulgences that grease the rusty cogs of my imagination.

Thanks so much for being with us today, Kieran! Just for my readers, Kieran will be giving away an extra special treat–a Regency-inspired porcelain tea bag rest along with some “tea time” goodies and a signed copy of Cloudy With a Chance of Marriage. (Kieran’s cat Joon is not part of the giveaway!)

Kieran and I thought it would be fun to talk about books—what have you read recently that really knocked your socks off? And if you have any questions for Kieran, feel free to ask!

Guest Author: Cheryl Bolen And The Return of the Sweet Regency

Guest Author: Kieran Kramer & Giveaway!