There’s no place like home. Dirty dishes. Piles o’ laundry. Naughty cats. Bills. Emails. Yup, I’m not on holidays anymore, but I’m glad to be sleeping in my own bed. After two days at home, I’m still tired—I have that close-the-eyes-and-tilt-sideways thing going on. Was going to the Romance Writers of America National Conference worth it?  Absolutely.

Good news: The romance book industry is healthy. Publishers are buying pretty much all genres.

Bad news: It’s not getting any easier for new authors to get a foothold. Competition is fierce. The market is crowded. It’s up to the author to do what they can for themselves, contact the right people, do extra publicity and so on. Not really anything I didn’t know, but it’s nice to realize my perceptions were on the mark.

Ugly news:  Sadly, no one has discovered the magic bullet that will a) create a bestselling formula or b) get your name in front of the requisite number of eager readers so that your book fulfills its potential.  Theories abound, however, many with price tags attached.

Overall:  The only thing people agreed on as a critical ingredient for success was persistence. The stubborn will survive.

Exciting stuff:  Paranormal romance and urban fantasy are booming and OMG are there some talented writers coming out in the next six months!  Definitely check out Jessica Andersen’s Final Prophecy series. I got a free copy of book one (Nightkeepers) and started reading it when I got home. I’m hooked.