This week on The Self-Publishing Show, James Blatch and Cissy Mecca are together in Pennsylvania after celebrating the wedding of their friends Lucy Score and Tim. James even had the honour of officiating the ceremony.
There's also exciting news for Lucy Score fans: Things We Never Got Over is heading to the screen, with filming for the Amazon Prime series, titled Runaway, about to begin in Vancouver.
Inspired by Lucy and Tim's own friends-to-lovers story, James and Cissy dive into romance tropes and why they work. Cissy runs through some of the most popular tropes with readers right now, from enemies to lovers and forced proximity to fake dating, grumpy/sunshine, second chance and fated mates. They look at how tropes create conflict and reader expectations, how authors can combine several tropes in one book, and why the same relationship dynamics can be useful well beyond romance.
Key Talking Points
Why building an audience and strong author business matters before a breakout moment arrives
Why tropes have become such a powerful part of romance marketing
How BookTok has helped make readers increasingly trope-aware
Enemies to lovers and why it remains such a popular trope
Forced proximity and the "one bed" microtrope
Combining multiple tropes to build conflict and tension
Fake dating and arranged relationship scenarios
Grumpy/sunshine and opposites attract
Friends to lovers and second-chance romance
Protective and morally grey heroes
Fated mates
Using romance-style relationship dynamics in thrillers, crime, fantasy and science fiction
Why successful tropes still need believable characters, conflict and emotional development
A preview of next week's discussion on book promotions and BookBub Featured Deal performance
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