Showing posts with label #books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label #books. Show all posts

Wednesday, January 31, 2024

#Thursday13 - First Lines of Hawk's Honor

 In honor of Hawk's Honor, Legend of the Spirit series book #3, being completed and sent to the publisher, I'm posting the first 13 lines.


Jamie Hawke is a Native American Chippewa from Michigan who is with a USMC Special Ops shifter unit. His country, his team is everything. This strong warrior holds honor above all. Being a hawk shifter on a Special Ops team is dangerous but falling in love with his commanding officer is deadly. Jamie is honor bound by the corps and won’t touch Captain Andrea “Andy” Nelson. After being wounded, Hawke is told by his shaman to find his mate before the next tour through Madame Eve’s 1 Night Stand service. When his date turns out to be no other than Capt. Nelson, he’s a dead man.

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 “Corporal Hawke!”

Zipping his rucksack closed he slung it over his shoulder and stood. His Team Leader approached from across the moonlit yard while men in full battle rattle moved at a brisk pace around her. The Captain displayed the epitome of what every female marine should be…confidant, capable, with grace and style and a military bearing unmatched. Nevertheless, a female officer in special ops, much like shifters, in all reality didn’t exist.

 Native American shifters in MARSOC (Marine Special Operations Command) with security clearance such as his could select the battalion they wished to serve with. Hungry for adventure, he chose one of the riskiest regions and fell into a team who lost one of their Critical Skills Operators in battle. So deep in secrecy, only upper brass and the CIA knew of it, the group called Spirit Walkers contained several shifters.  They went into areas where the enemy had weeks to prepare, booby-trap, and plant enough explosives to eliminate a city block. Together with their fearless leaders, they out-smarted their opponent and completed whatever mission needed to be done.

 Sure, they lost a few to pay the price of war, but what blew his mind were the “routine” tasks completed without a single bullet fired. The teams moved like specters across landscapes and through villages. Night missions often included capturing or killing insurgents and recovering maps.  

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Thanks for reading!

Please enjoy other amazing #Thursday13 lists HERE

Monday, April 12, 2021

Who Reads Romance?

 During any given period, women who read romance novels have a tendency to have twice as many lovers as those who don’t. People who read romance have sex 70% more often than those who don't.



The Romance Reader

In 2017, RWA commissioned

"The Romance Book Buyer 2017: A Study by NPD Book for Romance Writers of America."

A portion of the results can be found below. 


Who is the romance reader?

·        Female: 82%

·        Male: 18%

·        Average age of the romance reader: 35–39 years old

·        Ethnicity:

    • 73% White/Caucasian
    •  12% Black/African American
    • 7% Latino/Hispanic
    • 4% Asian/Asian American.

·        Sexual orientation:

    • 86% heterosexual or straight
    • 9%  bisexual, pansexual, or other bi+ identity
    • 2% gay or lesbian.



Reading Habits

·        Most frequent readers are younger, aged 34 and below.

·        92% of survey respondents are print readers

·        64% are e-book readers

·        35% are audiobook users.

·        Tablets and smartphones are the most-used devices to read e-books.

·        Half of romance readers read romantic suspense,

    • followed by erotic
    • historical as the most popular genres.

·        Younger readers read more Young Adult, Erotic, and

    • Paranormal Romance and less Contemporary Romance than older readers.



Acquiring Romance Books

·        Top responses for how romance readers acquire romance novels:

    • borrow from a library
    • purchase in brick-and-mortar bookstores
    • acquire them from friends/relatives
    • purchase in print via an online store
    • purchase them as an e-book via an online store.

·        A higher percentage of readers buy from bricks-and-mortar stores than online,

    • and 15% use a subscription service.

·        One-third of readers searched for new authors in the past six months.

·        Content is listed as a more important purchase influence than recommendations.



Further Insights

The future of romance is the younger emerging readership.

These younger readers are:

·        diverse in sexual orientation and in ethnicity

·        more male

·        frequent readers

·        listening to audiobooks

·        reading e-books on smartphones

·        consuming YA, erotic, and paranormal romance

·        shopping at a greater number of online retailers

·        extremely engaged on social media and willing to experiment with new authors


Source and Methodology

Source: The Romance Book Buyer 2017: A Study by NPD Book for Romance Writers of America
Methodology

·        Sample of 2,000 romance book readers

·        Survey fielded in December 2017

·        Quota for gender and age

    • based on nationally representative sample of book buyers
    • who said they were likely to read a romance book in the future

·        Screener question:

    • Do you read romance fiction novels?
    • This would include books where
      • (1) there is a central love story and        
      • (2) the end of the story is positive.



Permission is granted by Romance Writers of America to link to this page

and/or use portions of the statistics with proper citation.

Do not reprint or copy this information in its entirety. 
Source: NPD Books Romance Landscape:

A Study by NPD Book for Romance Writers of America.