Journeys of Romance

The amazing Shelly Ellis talks to Jess building in tension and connections, being character vs theme driven, properly labeling for reader expectations, her process, learning the characters through writing, and that there is no meritocracy in publishing.

Love Sweet Arrow bookstore duo Marissa and Roseann Backlin join Jess Michaels to talk about the joys of the romance genre, their first year in business and the impact of covid on it all.

Ruby Lang joins Jess to talk about tricking ourselves into losing romance for literary fiction, the concept of "very well read" in romance, processing emotions in what we write, her process, the ever changing parts of writing, her publishing journey, trying to explain our industry to people not in it and the nuances of the issues around illustrated covers.

USA Today Bestseller Mia Sosa joins Journeys of Romance to discuss the importance of finding your community and bonds, being a better/more intentional recommender, the evolution of reflection in romance, how she started writing (and writing full-time), her process and grabbing on to the good stuff!

Author Joanna Shupe talks to Jess about her journey to writing and publishing, how there are no wrong choices in writing or publishing, not wanting to be boring and the horror of the middle of a book. We also do a deep dive into diversity in historical romance, the eraser of our true history and facing that truth of history in historical romance and the lie of "historical accuracy".