What does 'Romance' mean to you?

I'm finding it hard to understand what people usually mean by the word 'Romance' when it comes to books.  To me it conjures images of two or more people falling in love and lots of feel good romantic feelings with a large side of mushiness thrown in.  Stuff that'd make you go "d'awww, that is so cute/romantic/etc!" when you read it.  I can't tell if it's my view on Romance that's skewed, or if it's societies in general.

Looking at the top ten Romance books on Lulu I see three that are BDSM related (one is even a collection of real life stories that have been fictionalised) and a fourth has a warning that it contains adult material.  Throw in Fifty Shade to the mix and I'm left wondering what the hell 'Romance' actually means to people these days?

As far as I can tell, it's just erotica that's been labelled as romance so that it's acceptable to read in public.  Don't get me wrong, I have no qualms about people reading what they want and I won't ever say 'oh, you shouldn't be reading that in public' as I'm not like that, but would 50 Shades have done so well if it wasn't in mainstream shops and was labelled as erotica and not romance?

It seems like people are expecting romance to include erotic sex scenes or something along those lines, whereas I don't think that romance has to have any kind of sex at all.  I'd rather read a book that explored the relationship and the feelings and didn't have any sex that one that just had sex, no matter how well written that sex is.

Is it me that's wrong?  Is it everyone else?  Are we all wrong about everything to do with romance and relationships?  It's not like I have anything against BDSM or erotica, because I don't.  And I can see how BDSM can be romantic, but I'm not sure I agree with putting the two in the same category as romance.

I know I don't get many views, but I really would appreciate comments or thoughts on this.  I'm thinking of recategorising my book so all input on this would be great.

It's out now!

That's right, the print version of my book is now on sale!  I only just noticed an error in it so those that have already bought a signed copy will see it but I have since corrected and all new copies will be error free!  The url to get the book is this:

http://www.lulu.com/shop/rachel-james/salisbury/paperback/product-20314800.html

I'll update the book page with that later.

I am working on the ebook version which is taking a bit longer than I had hoped due to some formatting issues, but it will be up as soon as possible.  Thank you for you're patience if you're waiting for that.  I really did hope to have it up at the same time as the print version, or at least close enough.

I look forward to hearing what you think of it.  I'll be adding comments to the book page as the come in.  I just hope you like it.

News concerning signed books

Due to the response I've had about signed copies, it seems that there are people who still want a signed copy but don't have the money right now.  This is something I perfectly understand on account of being broke most of the time myself.  I have said that I will always be happy to sign books if you can find me in person, but I know it's not really practical to find me or easy as I'm not in Salisbury much these days.

Because of this I have decided to offer signed copies as an incentive for donating to my blog.  Simply donate £10 or more and I will send you a signed copy!  It's just that simple.  Unfortunately I don't keep a stock of my book so you won't get it straight away as I'll have to make an order for the books myself so I can sign them and send them on.  These orders will be made on Mondays, so it really depends on when you order as to how long it'll take to get the book.

I do use my email address for paypal transactions, so if you want to email me an inscription or request, just check you paypal receipt and it should be on there.  Alternatively, leave a comment on my blog and I'll make a note of it.

Oh, and here's a donation button:

It's the same as the button on the side menu so clicking on either will work.

My book

So, I've just made the order for those who have bought signed copies. These will be delivered to me, I'll sign them, and then I'll send them on. I'll tweet and update here when I have the books in my hands, and I'll also tweet when I send them out too. I don't know how long it'll take for them to arrive, but it shouldn't be too long, I hope! For all my bitching and whining about it, I really am touched that people want it. One of the things about depression is that it makes everything bleak and pointless. Instead of focusing on the fact that people have bought copies it made me focus on the negative. Every single sale does matter to me and I really do appreciate every single one. I'm putting a lot of effort into doing these signing and I'm saying this not because I want the attention or anything like but because I want you to understand how much you, the reader, mean to me. As for my next book, that's already written. I'll spending a lot of time going through that and making sure it's as good as I can get it. I'll probably put up a teaser at some point, which will probably be the first chapter. I'm really pleased with it though. During the rest of the year, I have a secret project codenamed 'Project Gin and Tonic' that I'll start working on. Not only that but in November I'll start working on a brand new novel. Anyone who wants to know what it's like for me to write a novel will find November particularly interesting as I'll be tweeting and blogging about the highs and lows. It'll also be a good chance to meet me and get a book signed if you didn't buy a signed copy. I like to hang out in Starbucks while I write and there's only one Starbucks where I live. Just watch my twitter account @racheljwrites to see if I'll be in or not.

First Post!

So this is the first post on my new blog dedicated to just my writing.  This is where you'll find everything you need to know about me, what I'm up to with my writing, and how to get a hold of my books.  There will also be sample chapters and sneak peeks at what I'm working on.  If there's any exciting news then it will appear here first and on my twitter account:

https://twitter.com/RachelJWrites

Feel free to leave a comment, ask questions, tweet me, etc.  I'm fairly easy going and will happily get back to you as soon as I can.  I do live in the UK so you might have to wait until I'm awake, but I will try to get back as quickly as I can.

Watch this space!