The Wild West of Books, by Jacquie Rogers @jacquierogers #romance

The Wild West of Books

by Jacquie Rogers

One of the very best things about the new publishing landscape is that the readers are now in control. I know that frightens those whoíve made their living by determining what books are available, but for readers, itís a boon. We've grown up--we can decide for ourselves what we like and what we don't.

Lots of indie authors are self-published. In that case, they decide on cover art and editorial input. I've self-published one book, Sleight of Heart, and I'm really happy with the cover. Plus, I hired a professional editor with 35 years of experience as a magazine editor, Elizabeth Flynn. The book turned out very well.

Most of my books and stories, though, are through indie publishers. This is sort of the middle ground between The Gatekeepers of NY and self-publishing. Prairie Rose Publications is an indie publisher. The owners, Livia Washburn Reasoner and Cheryl Pierson, pick and choose quality books and stories, not having to worry about the massive overhead of Manhattan rent or a hundred employees' salaries.

What does that mean? It means they can take chances--chances that benefit readers. It means that readers have books available with quality covers and that have been well edited. It means that all the stories are coherent, the characters are developed in a logical fashion, and the setting is plausible. PRP takes a lot of the gamble out of buying an indie book.

It also means that sub-genres that have been given short shrift by New York are now thriving. One of those sub-genres that's doing well is western historical romance. And that's what Prairie Rose Publications gives us--a down-home good book set in the Old West. Take a look at the website and you can see new releases by Sara Barnard, Tanya Hanson, Cheryl Pierson, and the English Rose, Gil McDonald. Kathleen Rice Adams has a novel on the verge of release that I can hardly wait to read, too.

Another benefit of both the Wild West of publishing and ebooks is that it's now feasible to release short story anthologies. Five years ago, you couldn't find a short story. Now, theyíre quite popular. PRP has both a Chrismas (Wishing for a Cowboy) and a Valentine's Day (Hearts and Spurs) release, the first with eight stories and the second with nine stories. Itís so great to read these stories when weíre on the go but still want our Happily Ever After fix. Short stories were made with Little League baseball practice in mind. (wink)

PRP has many more anthologies in the works, so saddle up your Kindle. Prairie Rose Publications plans to take you for a quite a ride!

Hearts of Owyhee series

Contact Jacquie:

Website | Pickle Barrel Gazette | Facebook

Pickle Barrel Bar & Books | Twitter | Pinterest

Writers Are A Dotty Lot by @JacquieRogers #historicalromance

Writers are a dotty lot. Even the ones who try to act cool. I bet not one single Prairie Rose author will disagree.

You see, we have these people living in our brains and they do the darnedest things. Whether we have the authorly bent or not, we’re forced to write their stories, else the men in white coats would whisk us away. Some days, that doesn’t sound like a bad idea.

Did you ever wonder how characters come out of our heads and make stories? Most of us have no idea—they’re just there.

I’m in the early process of creating three stories right now—a novel, the fifth in my Hearts of Owyhee series, a short story for Prairie Rose Press, and a novella for my Muleskinners series. Of the three, I’m acquainted with the characters in the Muleskinners best, so they’re the quietest. In a manner of speaking.

Okay, so that’s not true. The first story, Muleskinners: Judge Not, was published in Wolf Creek, Book 6: Hell on the Prairie. It’s in Elsie’s first-person point of view. The second story is her brother Zeb’s. He wants to tell it in his first-person point of view, but Elsie thinks it should stay in hers, since she’s the star of the show. Zeb says the only reason she’s the star is because she hogs the stage, and points out that he has the gift of gab, not her. She then says that if he tells the story, it’ll be a full-blown novel and not a novella.

I’m not sure who’s going to win that argument, but at least that story has some semblance of a plot. No title yet, though. Look for Zeb’s story, however it’s told, sometime in May—unless they stop arguing and I can get to it now.

The short story for Prairie Rose Publications’ Lassoing the Groom is nebulous at best. I have four or five female characters who all insist they should get the lead part. If they knew who I had in mind for the male lead, there’d be a dozen of ’em lined up, so I’m not saying. But he’s a bad boy. A very, very baaaad boy.

He’s been yammering in my ear, too. Frankly, I’m gonna have to lasso him myself because he isn’t a bit interested in starring in this story or any other. He has places to go and trains to... well, never mind, and he’s not keen on a high profile. But man-oh-man, you should see the shoulders on that fellow. Sigh.

I’m also in the process of defining the characters for my next novel, Much Ado About Mustangs. The hero is no stranger—Josh McKinnon is Kade’s (Much Ado About Miners) brother. So he’s been around, and he got shot in the arm the last book, so he’s still recovering at the beginning of this one. Josh is a great guy, which means I’ll have to throw a few obstacles in his way. One of them is Lady Pearl Montford. Yes, methinks a good time will be had by all, except maybe Josh and Pearl—but hey, it’s a romance.

My story in Hearts and Spurs, A Flare of the Heart, began when I saw a picture of an 1880s woman boarding a stagecoach. Hmmm, that bustle. Wouldn’t it get in the way? And wouldn’t those of us with oversized cabooses love it if bustles were the rage today? Because I wouldn’t need one at all. And what if the heroine got stuck?

I’m not kidding—the whole story came from that one thought, right along with the hero, Ross Flaherty. He’s sworn off women because they’re too delicate. Celia Yancey and her bustle come along, bringing a passel of trouble with her. Yes, we had fun. I hope you do, too.

What is it about a character that makes you remember her/him long after you’re finished with a book? Comment and win a Kindle copy of Sleight of Heart. No, I haven’t mentioned it, but it also has a bunch of characters that kept me hopping.

I'll also be giving away a copy of Much Ado About Miners to a subscriber of my newsletter, The Pickle Barrel Gazette.  And for a good time, join the crazy crowd at Pickle Barrel Bar & Books on Facebook.