Say What Now?

You may or may not have heard that I released my latest book (and first novella), Vanished, on September 17. I say you may not have heard about it because I’ve basically done zero promotion for it aside from mentioning it on Twitter and Facebook and my website. It’s an absolute failure of marketing, something that would undoubtedly cause the more seasoned professionals to shake their heads and cross me off their list of semi-intelligent creatures.

Frankly, I wouldn’t blame them. But what I know that they don’t is that Vanished breaks the Cardinal Rule of Romance. I’ll sort of spoil it for you here. The three letters most appropriate for describing the ending are not HEA or HFN. They’re WTH.

So you see my dilemma. How do I market a book that I think has some very romantic moments but doesn’t have the required ending? To which review sites do I submit? I’ve labeled it gay fiction and suspense. I would prefer to call Vanished a romantic suspense novella, but adding that word “romantic” sends tremors of fear down my spine. I can hear the ranting and raving from here. I don’t want to deceive people. That’s just stupid. 

I’ve never wanted to conform to expectations. I don’t want to be pigeon-holed. I want to be free to write the story my characters tell me. Hopefully I’ll do it well enough that you’ll follow me into the next adventure, regardless of what it might be.

With Vanished I wanted to do something completely different. I had two main goals to accomplish with this one: write something for my dad to read (i.e., not Riley), and explore what happens when you wake up one morning and your husband isn’t there anymore. I failed at the first, but I hope I succeeded in the second.

So, what do you say? Are you willing to take a chance? Will you go on this adventure with me? Or do you require an HEA/HFN every time? Let me know in the comments. 

If you're ready and willing to take a chance, click the Books button at the top of the page for buy links.