Valerie Bowman, St Martin’s Press bestselling author of The Irresistible Rogue, The Untamed Earl, The Unforgettable Hero and coming soon The Legendary Lord, shares her top tips for getting published in romance…

1.Join Romance Writers of America. RWA is a nonprofit trade association whose mission is to advance the professional and common business interests of career-focused romance writers through networking and advocacy and by increasing public awareness of the romance genre. This group taught me everything I know and I’ve made some of my very best friends there. I cannot recommend it enough!  www.RWA.org

2. Read. Read. And read some more. If you aspire to be published in historical romance, read a lot of historical romance, especially the newest historical romance being published. Find debuts and see what sort of stories they’re writing. 

3. Browse the internet. Some of my favorite sites for writers include agent Kristin Nelson’s archived blog http://nelsonagency.com/pub-rants/. It is one of the best sources of information for writers out there. Some other sites I love are: http://writerunboxed.com/, http://pred-ed.com/, and http://queryshark.blogspot.com/. But the fact is there there are hundreds of fantastic sites for writers and they’re all at your fingertips. Find, read, and learn.

4. Did I mention reading? You not only need to read historical romance, but I also highly recommend that you read books on the craft of writing. My favorites include: Writing a Romance Novel for Dummies by Leslie Wainger, Techniques of the Selling Writer by Dwight Swain, and Story Genius by Lisa Cron. I spent a summer several years back reading every single craft book I could get my hands on. It did wonders for my writing. In addition to reading books, if you can swing it, I highly recommend writing workshops by Michael Hague, Bob Mayer, Margie Lawson, and Donald Maas. 

5. My biggest tip for writing and publishing historical romance, however, is:  sit down and write. There’s no substitute for actually writing the words on the page. In fact, I’d argue that finishing a book is probably more important than how good it is…at least at first. When I started writing, I finished two manuscripts from beginning to end before I did any of the other things I mentioned above. Why? Because i wanted to prove to myself that I had the stick-to-it-ive-ness to actually finish. Don’t let research or perfectionism slow you down, either, just type (or handwrite) and FINISH!

VALERIE BOWMAN grew up in Illinois with six sisters (she’s number seven) and a huge supply of historical romance novels. After a cold and snowy stint earning a degree in English with a minor in history at Smith College, she moved to Florida the first chance she got. Valerie now lives in Jacksonville with her family including her two rascally dogs. When she’s not writing, she keeps busy reading, traveling, or vacillating between watching crazy reality TV and PBS. She is also the author of the Secret Brides series, starting with Secrets of a Wedding Night, Secrets of a Runaway Bride, and Secrets of a Scandalous Marriage.

“The story that unfolds is filled with humor, a twisting plot and the vibrant characters that have become Bowman’s hallmark… exactly what readers want.”
−The Washington Post on The Irresistible Rogue

“With its lively plot, heated sexual tension, surprising twists, engaging characters and laugh-out-loud humor, Bowman’s latest is another winner.”
−RT Book Reviews on The Irresistible Rouge

“With a romance novel as good as this one, it’s difficult to accept anything less from other Regency romance novels.”
−City Book Review on The Untamed Earl