My Recent Comments

Thanks for reminding us about the Canadian Thanksgiving, Linda Margaret.  Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays of the year.

I love fall.

Dear Nancy,

Thank you for sharing your touching story.

Maggie, thank you for writing a book that spoke to Nancy.

Now, who needs an explanation of why Medical Romance books aren't on the shelf in North America?

Good morning ladies!  I hope your Saturday is going well.

Southern Chloe, I was in Norcross? a suburb of Atlanta.  And Penn told you right, I was giving a workshop at the Moonlight and Magnolias conference.  If you've never been, look into going next year.  They put on a great regional romance writers conference and have a wonderful reputation.

Newsflash for Chloe!  Medical Romance bought a new author a week or two ago.  She is an Australian lady, and I was told she'd waited two years to get this sale!  Be prepared for a long wait, Chloe - though I sincerely hope you don't have to wait that long!  And keep in mind, it was my second medical that sold.  My first got close, but was rejected.  Keep at it, OK?

Nancy, I'm with you, I'm such a book person, I don't know if I'll be able to adjust to Kindle.  Though my last book, Single Dad, Nurse Bride, was available on e-book for Kindle.  I'll be curious to see how it did when the next sales reports come out.

So, I'm up to chapter ten in my current book.  I'm writing shorter chapters this time around to keep a sense of a quicker pace.  I'll probably have to write around fifteen chapters to get the whole story out.  I'm having fun with this next one, but if it sells, it won't be out until the end of 2009.

To give you ladies a sense of why some of us might have to scratch our heads and think a moment when you bring up our currently released books and characters, we've usually written two to three more books since we finished the one you are currently reading!  My work in progress is the third book I've written since I wrote Pregnant Nurse, New-Found Family.

I'm really enjoying all the extra activity our group is getting.  Keep stopping by, and please please please keep reading our wonderful Medical Romances!

Hi Pamala!  I was just in Georgia near Atlanta last weekend.

I'm new on Cafe Social, but I wanted to stop by and say hello.  I'm one of six US writers for the Medical Romance line based in UK, but also somewhat available here on eHarl.

Who am I?  I'm a mother, a wife, a sister, a daughter, a friend, a traveler, a walker, a Curves gal, a writer, and  A READER!

Don't you all just looove good stories?

Hello Orchid!  It's great to see you here.  I'm one of the newer Medro authors, US based.  We've had discussions about the titles, and the answer is that they title the books according to hooks that their readers like.  So since the MedRos are based in UK, the titles must be what that UK audience likes.  Not all things translate well, even int he same basic language, but marketing has their thing down to a science, and no one can accuse Harlequin of not knowing their market.  And the authors don't get a stab at the cover blurbs either.  Medical Covers have gotten better in my opinion.  At least lately, there seems to be some real hunks on the covers, like Amy Andrews latest, and Laura Iding's fireman.  And Dianne Drake has a real hunk on her latest cover - out in UK at this time.  I have a woman who looks exactly like the character I imagined when I wrote the book, but the guy doesen't look at all like Gavin.  The cover model looks like Roman Polanski!  LOL.  Gavin was a man's man.  A tough, tight, no-nonsense man who has short brown hair.  In my mind he was a HUNK!  But the cover shows a rather nice looking guy without any real sex appeal.  IMHO.  But I still like the cover, because it conveys a good feeling, and hopefully that sells.  It's great to meet you Orchid.  I hope you'll stop by again.

Deb!  We've been told that starting in Jaunary the US medros will all be available in e-books.  And we're very happy about that!

We love your support ladies!  And needless to say, we love Medical Romance!!!!!

Jessica!  It's great to see you here, but downright depressing to hear that things haven't changed for Meds in the US since 1995!

I love the line and am proud to be writing for them, but I get disheartened at times over US distribution.  I live here, but barely exist in print.

Nancy/Shandean - thanks to going to bat for us.  You're a gem of a reader!  Rest assured, we love you for it.

Maggie, thanks for understanding the frustration.  Amy is right, there's something about walking into a store and seeing your book there that legitimizes the author's efforts.  I just keep telling myself, I'm out there in the world, a place I never expected to be and I am grateful!

Believe me I am, just a bit frustrated, too.

Hey Bookbuff,

My head is spinning with this Cole's MedRo book sighting.  I'm simply going to quit trying to figure out this business.

I've lined up twelve authors for a book fair fundraiser book signing later this month.  It is in a book store, too.  Even with my ISBN# the book store lady cannot find my "currently available at Harlequin website" book to order.  She goes through a dristributor and isn't allowed to purchase from this website.  So once again, little ol' Lynne had to order her own books to have some on hand for the signing.  And it's a headache to work that out with the Barnes and Noble book store.  So in the future, unless I know it is a special mass market release, like the books in August were, I'm not going to try to promo myself in the US.  There really isn't any point.

Having said that, I cannot believe the influx of requests for pages on my website.  So my conference workshop really stimulated people into checking out my work.  I wish there was some way I could do this sort of thing in the UK where it really might make a difference in my sales.  Or in Australia.  I guess that's why the blogosphere is so popular.  People all over the world can communicate without leaving their chairs.

Thanks for the heads up, Bookbuff!

Hi all,

I'm back from Georgia and I've just spent half an hour catching up on this thread.  Wow!  Cakes and taboo topics and blogs, oh my!  My mouth is watering and I have no business looking at a cake let alone eating one.

So my workshop went great and I got lots of fantastic feedback from attendees saying how helpful it was.  But par for the course, my current book (available on this website now) was not available for them to order for the huge book signing.  Like I said, par for the course for us red-headed step children.  Here I get the workshop attendees all whipped up and excited (or at least interested in trying medical romance for the first time) and they can't even buy the book!  Sheesh.

File the above under "why bother"

I also got to meet the ladies who run Cataromance, so that was fun too.

I'll be checking in so keep it clean and legal ladies!

Oh, and Penn, I'm off to add another book to my challenge.

Hi all,

I'm currently in Atlanta, Georgia for a writers conference, so will be checking in less regularly, but I love this thread.  Maggie, you're an advertising genius, and I only wish I had my picture of George with a stethoscope around his neck to upload and share.  I promise when I get home I will.

OK, meds in US.  Occasionally they release meds under the Presents Extra heading and this sometimes backfires.  Meds don't get reviewed like all of the other series romances in the biggest mag on romance:  Romantic Times.  That's just another in a long list of reasons that we are virtually unknown to the US market.  But when they are "disguised" as Presents, it sometimes leaves the reviewer confused.  In one of the the reviews she said she thought the well written medical scenes supported the growing love between the hero and heroine, and in another she said that too many detailed medical scenes slowed the pace down.  See?  It's a double-edged sword.  What makes us different is the medical aspect and that both h/h are med professionals.  But if we wrap ourselves in another series clothing, we run the risk of ticking off the reviewer. 

So, here we are with our hands up in the air again and no answers.

Nice try Maggie!  And when I get home, I'm uploading George in my very next message here.

Wish me luck, I present a workshop tomorrow and I'm scared!!!!

I'm so sorry to hear about the double sprained ankle bit.  sheesh, when you do something, you do it bigtime, eh?  but I see you've come up with the perfect plan for healing - reading medicals!