If you are a new writer hoping to make a career, there's no doubt that the Romance genre is your best chance to make money with your novels. It's relatively easy to self-publish your work these days, but sales are often poor, and it's difficult to persuade bookstores to stock your novel. To achieve good sales, you really need to get your book published by a large, mainstream publisher - and they are so inundated with manuscripts, they won't even look at anything sent direct to them by a writer. They will only deal with agents - and it's very hard for a new, unpublished writer to find an agent. So effectively, the doors of most publishers are closed to most newbie writers.

By contrast, many romance publishers accept direct submissions - in fact, some go out of their way to foster new talent (Harlequin is a good example - they even have a writers' forum on their website). Romance publishers publish a large number of titles every year. Each title is only on the stands for a few months, unlike conventional publishers who may reprint a successful book many times. So romance publishers need a large number of titles each year to keep the presses rolling.

Of course, just because the door is open does not mean that you will get through! You still have to write a well-crafted, professionally presented submission that meets the publisher's needs.

Nowadays, the genre is becoming less restrictive, but Romance publishers still basically want the following key elements:

- Heroine (h) meets Hero (H).

- It must be immediately obvious to the reader who the h and H are - for instance, you can't have the h trying to choose between two men.

- Neither the h or the H can be in an existing relationship at the start of the story, although it's OK for them to have had relationships in the recent past.

- Both protagonists must be introduced within the first chapter.

- The h and H are attracted to each other, but there are always obstacles that prevent them getting together. At least some of these obstacles must arise from the characters' background, experience or personality (an inner conflict of some kind).

- There is always a Black Moment when it seems the couple will never get together.

- All is resolved and there is always a HEA (Happy Ever After).

Large publishers like Harlequin have a number of different lines, each of which has a different style. Some require their heroines to be virginal, while others allow sex but only behind closed doors, and others encourage lots of steamy explicit scenes. But almost all of them follow the rules above.

OK, so you have a plot that fits the bill. Sorry, but that's only the beginning! The style of writing is quite different to other genres. The quickest way to get the idea is to read some Romance, from as many publishers and lines as you can manage. Good luck!

Learn more about this author, Marisa Wright.
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