Oh, my lovelies, you have no idea how long I have waited to write that title on a post!

Well, actually, since some of you have been following me since I started writing this blog, maybe you do.  Although since, to some degree, I’ve always wanted to write a book, maybe the lifetime of the blog doesn’t really cut it. ;)

But enough waffling, down to details!

First, it isn’t the one I got the competition placing for, although that placing did indirectly lead to the sale.  Second, for the old-school among you, I should warn you that, at least to begin with, it will be in e-book form only.  Third, it isn’t out yet, nor do I have cover art, although both those things should happen soon, I hope.

But I still think it’s pretty cool!

The title of my first release is Rules are for Breaking and it is a contemporary romance starring two pig-headed people who both need to learn that you can’t run a relationship the way you run a business, before they can have their happy ending.

(Can I just say that I have never described the story that way before but it tickles me no end and is pretty accurate, so I’m letting it stand!)

It is coming out under the brand spanking new digital romance imprint of Penguin Australia, Destiny Romance. Destiny was launched at the recent RWA conference and can I say, they know how to throw a ‘do’ those girls!

It’s very exciting (to me, anyway!) for a number of reasons.

One is that it is a mainstream house taking romance seriously.  Romance fiction is the single most popular genre in the world by sales and yet it is frequently ignored.  I love and read crime, fantasy and science fiction as well, but it is frustrating that those genres get respect denied to romance authors.  (With the possible exception of scifi.  I think those guys have it almost as tough as the romance writers!)  The four debut titles in the imprint are funny, charming, suspenseful, glamorous, cool and just plain fun; sometimes all at once!  I’m hoping that the fact that they have the Penguin name behind them will introduce some new readers to the great writers, fun stories and wide variety of styles and subjects available in this genre.

Another thing that I love about Destiny is that it is an Australian initiative.  This is the brain (and love, if you’ll excuse the pun) child of Australian editors and all of the launch authors are Australian.   As an Australian, I love this for itself and also for romance.  There are many famous Australian romance authors but few of them are known well here, as they are all published by overseas houses.  Maybe Destiny can help remedy that!  If you are an Australian author with a romance to sell, click on the logo above to go to the website for submission guidelines.  They’re looking for stories!

Another is that, as a digital imprint, and a brand-new one at that, they are able and willing to take a chance on stories that are a bit different.  One of the greatest things about the e-revolution in books, is that things which previously were too short, or too risky, or too different, can now get a run, even with the older houses.  This is a great thing for writers who don’t neatly fit into boxes (she says, whistling and looking at nothing in particular) but also for readers, who are now getting a wider variety of things to read than possibly ever before.

Finally (okay, it’s not really final, there will be more talking later, but I have to finish this post somewhere) I love the Destiny covers.  It may sound shallow, but I write contemporary, woman-centred stories and I can’t tell you how happy I am to have sold a romance to an imprint that reflects that in the covers.  I love a heaving bosom as much as the next woman with a secret yen for regency romances, but it’s nice to see some clean, modern design on covers!

There will be more on this later.  Trust me, when I have cover art and a release date you will be the FIRST to know!  And I am hoping to track down some launch-party photos too.  I didn’t take a camera!

But for now: thanks for sharing this with me.  The web is a wondrous place for those of us who work alone!

Imelda


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