Authors By Moonlight Welcomes our Full Moon Guest Blogger of the Month Jacquie Rogers!
The Wild, Wild West of publishing has a bonus! Yes, it’s the re-emergence of the western historical romance, and a whole bunch of talented authors writing them.
For years, nary a lone gunman could be found on the shelves. The market wasn’t strong enough for the Big Six to publish them, so readers were left in the middle of the desert with nothing but an empty canteen and no love at all. Now, we can browse any online store for “western historical romance” and find dozens of great books
We western romance authors are back in the saddle, penning story after story, and having a great time. We western romance readers are scarfing up new books like Sunday hotcakes topped with apple butter. Television has seen the light, too, with Hell On Wheels, and I hear other western series are in the works as well.
So where do you find new (or at least new-to you) western authors and books? Sites are springing up all over the place. Here are a few places to start:
Facebook group: Western Historical Romance Book Club
Amazon forum: Western Romance Authors
Blogs:
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Romancing The West, featuring a new author and title each week, and on Thursdays, articles on just about every Old West topic you can think of.
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Sweethearts of the West, over a dozen authors bringing you informative articles each month, plus new releases and other fun stuff.
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Cowboy Kisses, a newly-formed group blog with a bunch of authors and a couple readers posting each month. Whether trains, American native lore, or weapons, CK will have it for you.
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Great post, Jacquie! I’m eagerly awaiting MUCH ADO ABOUT MAVERICKS. I’m pleased you think westerns are coming back. I love reading them, as you well know, and love writing them, too.
Hey, Jacquie! Thanks so much for being with us today. I’m thrilled, too, westerns are making a comeback. I not only love to write westerns, but read them as well. And I love to watch westerns on the big and little screen! I have a long list of favorites!
Your two latest westerns sound terrific. I’ll be sure and check them out!
Mmmn. I love those cowboys. Thanks for all of the great links with suggestions on where to find them!
And thanks for joining us at ABM today.
This gives me hope that Willow Vale will be a success. I thought maybe I was swimming against the tide by trying to market a Western historical. Thank you, Jacquie.
Hey Jacquie, you’ve just put a whole different shine on my day, gal. I do hope you’re right about all this; with my own western historical coming out, it would certainly be good to think the audience is expanding!
I’m so glad to see this genre make a comeback. Awesome set of stories. Good luck, Jacquie.
Hi Jacquie, I loved Much Ado About Marshals and can’t wait for Much Ado About Madams to come out on Nook. If it doesn’t soon I’ll buy it in epub.
Thanks for joining us today!
I licked up Much Ado About Marshals on the basis of the title alone… back before we virtually met, Jacquie.
Caroline, I’m excited about all the new reading choices I have now. So few WHRs have been published by the Big Six, and many of them are re-issues. And you know I loved your latest, Brazos Bride! Then again, I’ve been a fan of yours for years.
Sherry, I’m tickled to be here! This is an awesome blog so it’s an honor. And it’s always cool to be around so many talented authors, yourself included. Writing westerns wasn’t fun for me when I knew it would just be another manuscript sitting on my hard drive, but now… Oh yeah.
Debra, ah, the cowboys. Men in chaps. And the spurs. Gotta love that low-slung gunbelt. Okay, I’m all sweaty now. Better quit. LOL
Althea, best of luck with Willow Vale! Honestly, I really do think the WHR market is growing. We just have to make sure the readers know they have options available now.
Andr, did the audience ever shrink? I’m not so sure–they just didn’t have anything to buy. My sister groused about that for the last dozen years. Now she has a Kindle and is scarfing them up like they were strawberry shortcake!
Tessa, thanks so much! Choices are always good. I’ve never liked reading in only one genre but until recently, we didn’t have a whole lot of say in the matter.
Linda, I bet Cole loved you just as much.
Much Ado About Madams is on KDP Select so isn’t available on Nook, as will the next book. The fact of the matter is, Amazon does a better job of selling my books, so that’s why I went with their program. Less than 5% of my sales was elsewhere. Not sure if there’s a way to read Kindle books on a Nook, but there are all sorts of apps out there for phones and such.
Alison, REALLY??? I’m flattered.
Cole and Daisy finally got their story told, even if Bosco thought he was the hero. I just about had to beat him with a stick to convince him he’s a sidekick, not the leading man.
Just love those historical westerns! Much Ado about Marshals sounds delightful.
Thank you, Tara! I like fun books so that’s what I try to write. And WHR has always been my favorite.
Hi Jacquie,
Thanks for all your efforts to push historical western romances. The new facebook group is fun. I still don’t see westerns on the store shelves, but one of the joys of ebooks is that we don’t have to wait for NY to tell us what we like. Best wishes for lots of sales.
Kathy, I don’t think we’re going to see any WHRs on the shelves. NY isn’t buying any except for a very few–and the books they do buy have to conform with the B-western myth. I’m just glad we can buy our preferred sub-genre at all, and now that my husband bought a kindle for me, I’m just loving the choices available. The quality is for the most part, excellent. From the publicity of all the horrible editing of self-pubbed books, I was prepared for the worst, and pleasantly surprised.
Best of luck to you with sales, also. I’d love to grow the market and grow our audiences, which involves finding all those readers who’ve given up finding WHRs to read.
Jacquie, great post! All of us WHR lovers, both readers and authors, need to publicize the growing pool of terrific ebooks available in our beloved genre. Thanks for mentioning Cowboy Kisses, a new landing pad for WHR fans.
Enjoyed the post, Jacquie. Almost as much as I’m enjoying Much Ado About Madams.
Yahoo, Jacquie. I loved this post, as an old cowgirl, that is former, FORMER cowgirl, I love westerns. And I have both of yours (love) and can’t wait for MUCH ADO ABOUT MAVERICKS.
I really want to write a Stempunk western mash-up, lol. So you know, I have have my yummy cowboys and a dash of paranormal too. Keep up the great work, my Kindle wants more of Jacquie. Now. I’m off to find my spurs. . .
Thanks for stopping by, Jacquie! Great post. I love your covers and your titles!
Hi, Lyn! We WHR readers and writers have a lot of interest in raising the internet presence of our sub-genre. Not that we ever went away, but without books, we didn’t have a whole lot to talk about. But now we do!
Charlene, I’m so glad you like Much Ado About Madams. You know how it is–we work ourselves to death to write the best book we can, but then we always wonder if it’s good enough… I guess it’s a disease. LOL
Gayle, you never really lost your spurs. The second you start that steampunk western, your spurs will be right there. I haven’t read Riders on the Storm yet but my daughter totally loved it. She’s definitely your fangirl!
Patricia, thanks for hosting me here at Authors by Moonlight. And I’m glad you like my covers and titles. I hope they work–you never know until you throw them to the wolves, so to speak. LOL
Charlene, I posted a couple replies but wordpress just doesn’t want me to answer you! Happy reading and writing! I”m glad you’re enjoying MAAMadams.
I can’t wait to get to Much Ado About Madames, Jacquie. I love westerns. There’s nothing quite as sexy as a handsome cowboy with a six shooter riding on his hip and some wild flowers for his lady in his hand. I’m happy to see the western romance is back!
Sarah, so true! I really think cowboys are the only heroes that can compete with the romantic white knight, and I’d take a cowboy any day.
Not that I’d turn down a knight… LOL. Thanks for stopping by!