Hi everyone,
I had the most perplexing experience in the store yesterday. Last time I checked, it is still January. Here in Ohio, we have had one good snowfall so far. Just one. I’m fairly certain that February will probably have at least one more good snowfall, and I wouldn’t be surprised by one in March, just when I’m twitching to start planting for Spring.
When that first snowfall dumped on us, I went out and tried to find some snow boots for my little one, so he could go out and stomp around in the snow with warm feet. Nope! Sold out. I was too late. My bad. I’ve never been good at shopping, and the little guy’s feet grow so darn fast, I never want to buy anything too early.
So I figured, I’d go out and buy a set of boots now. Easy right? Not quite.
Guess what they had stocked in the store?
Swimsuits. Lots and lots of swimsuits.
If you walked through the back of the store, you would have assumed that it was 85 degrees, not freezing rain outside. They had attachments for sprinklers to turn them into play fountains, water guns, water balloons, snow cone makers (I’m not kidding), but no snow boots. No snow gloves.
What the heck?
First of all, if I really wanted to buy a swimsuit for my kids right now, they’d grow out of it before they could use it this summer. And there’s no WAY I’m trying on a swimsuit after the post-Christmas cookie binge I just went on.
I can’t find what I need to buy, (stuff for the snow) because someone in the store’s distribution chain of command has dictated that the way to turn a profit is to push the next season so they’re ahead of the game.
I’m not ahead of the game! I need snow boots!
That got me thinking. The bottom line here is this store has failed to give me what I need when I need it, and so has lost the opportunity for a sale.
As romance authors, are we giving readers what they need when they need it? Do we even know what our readers really need?
The only thing I have to go by is conversations on blogs and my own feelings about what I would like to read. Obviously I write SFR, but I write it because I feel like I need a story based on high-stakes adventure with a sense of wonder and possibility. I need a story with gripping emotion that is focused on the romantic arc. And occasionally I need to read something just plain hot and steamy.
What do you need?
What are you looking for that romance isn’t delivering for you right now?
And have you stumbled on the last cache of snow boots out there? What have you read that really satisfied what you were longing to read lately?
Jess
January 21st, 2010 at 4:33 pm
I just finished Anne Gracie’s To Catch a Bride, which was a nice mix of heat and sweet. Interesting heroine who grew up on the streets of Cairo posing as a boy.
Different is good. I love (and write) historicals but sometimes they seem too similar. Give me a twist!
January 21st, 2010 at 5:14 pm
I agree, Maggie. I love reading historicals, but one of the things that eventually drove me to paranormals was the similarities in plot conflicts between books. Now paranormals by virtue of their abundance unfortunately have a bit of that problem as well.
I think in any subgenre, the trick is staying fresh while delivering what everyone is expecting.
January 21st, 2010 at 11:14 pm
Hi, Jess! Shopping is such a crazy thing–the way they stock the stores often seems out of sync with what shoppers might actually be able to use at the time! As for books, I love the variety out there! I just finished Ann Aguirre’s Doubleblind for a sci-fi-ish fix, and just started the first of Larissa Ione’s Demonica series for a paranormal one… I’ve got some historicals waiting when that mood strikes, some westerns, some contemporaries… not sure what might strike my fancy next! Maybe I’d even be able to find boots
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:03 pm
First of all, sorry to hear about the snow boots! Second, I think the number one thing I’m looking for in romance and I’m not getting is a lo of originality. Publishing is a business and when it sees that one type of book is getting bought, it decides that ten books that are similar should be bought as well. I’m having a hard time finding books that are really giving me something different. Something fun and hot and scary and sexy and different.
January 22nd, 2010 at 2:12 pm
I feel like I’m always looking for something different. Different settings, different conflicts, different characters. I love it when I find something like that.