Would you like some friendly help getting started writing some of America’s most popular fiction? Author Rebecca Vinyard has put together a collection of folksy wisdom for aspiring romance writers to help them get published. Romance fiction makes up more than half of all mass-market novels sold, with over 2,000 new titles released each and every year. And unlike other fields of fiction, romance truly welcomes new writers, as editors search through queries and conference appointments for the next Nora Roberts or Barbara Delinsky. In 49 chapters, The Romance Writer’s Handbook takes aspiring writers through a quick course in writing romantic fiction for today’s markets. Here is "from-the-ground-up" advice on how to begin to climb romance writing’s ladder of success.. The short, readable chapters in The Romance Writer’s Handbook provide practical information to help improve any writer’s stories. They offer advice on creating new but familiar heroes and heroines; crafting scenes, places and plot complications; and tackling thorny issues that range from point-of-view conundrums to steamy love scenes. The Romance Writer’s Handbook is the helping hand every author needs to get going and write romance stories that satisfy and sell. It includes: • Info on the business side (setting goals, finding an agent, formatting manuscripts, submitting winning query letters, and more). • The lowdown on giving and receiving critiques. • A paragraph-by-paragraph study of a well-written synopsis (essential to catching an agent’s or editor’s eye). • Valuable advice on creating an author website. • Short interviews with bestselling authors Lorraine Heath, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, Connie Flynn, Katherine Sutcliffe, Judy Christenberry, and Suzanne Brockmann. • Market information on mainstream publishers active in the romance field. • A useful list of small presses and e-publishers.