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Rating: 
Summary: Misleading
Review: Buying how to books without being able to browse them is always a risky proposition. I thought though, that I had made a good choice with this Teach Yourself book, 'Writing a Romantic Novel and getting Published.' I am familiar with the Teach Yourself line of books and have always been impressed with their quality and this is a quality book. Just not what I thought that it would be. The author, Donna Baker is apparently a popular author in Britain, with Mill and Boons books, Harlequin if your in America, and she refers often to her own books, and other books from the same genre in this how to book. I do not want to write Harlequins and this book is written mainly for people who want to write a Harlequin romance. Unfortunatly that is not apparent with the fifty tag lines that are provided for the book. Ms. Baker spends the first couple chapters of the book justifying writing romance novels. Really, if I felt the need to justify wanting to write romances I WOULD NOT HAVE BOUGHT A BOOK ON HOW TO WRITE THEM, Jeeze. Those points aside, it is a good how to write book in general and a good reference on how to write Harlequin romances. I guess what I really did not like was her constant self-promotion. Writing a Romantic Novel has so much personal information about Ms. Baker that it is as much a book for fans of her other books as it is a how to book. It takes the novice author from the beginning when one creates the characters to the end getting it to the publishers in a clear and concise manner. It is for the would be author of shorter 55,000 to 60,000 word romance's. However, her admittedly good writing advice can be found in a Readers Digest, 'how to write', book. If you just want to get started on a novel go ahead and browse those. Their titles generally indicate when the books are for a special market like science fiction or the short story market unlike this book. Buy one of those if you want a good how to book.
Rating:
Summary: Misleading
Review: Buying how to books without being able to browse them is always a risky proposition. I thought though, that I had made a good choice with this Teach Yourself book, `Writing a Romantic Novel and getting Published.' I am familiar with the Teach Yourself line of books and have always been impressed with their quality and this is a quality book. Just not what I thought that it would be. The author, Donna Baker is apparently a popular author in Britain, with Mill and Boons books, Harlequin if your in America, and she refers often to her own books, and other books from the same genre in this how to book. I do not want to write Harlequins and this book is written mainly for people who want to write a Harlequin romance. Unfortunatly that is not apparent with the fifty tag lines that are provided for the book. Ms. Baker spends the first couple chapters of the book justifying writing romance novels. Really, if I felt the need to justify wanting to write romances I WOULD NOT HAVE BOUGHT A BOOK ON HOW TO WRITE THEM, Jeeze. Those points aside, it is a good how to write book in general and a good reference on how to write Harlequin romances. I guess what I really did not like was her constant self-promotion. Writing a Romantic Novel has so much personal information about Ms. Baker that it is as much a book for fans of her other books as it is a how to book. It takes the novice author from the beginning when one creates the characters to the end getting it to the publishers in a clear and concise manner. It is for the would be author of shorter 55,000 to 60,000 word romance's. However, her admittedly good writing advice can be found in a Readers Digest, `how to write', book. If you just want to get started on a novel go ahead and browse those. Their titles generally indicate when the books are for a special market like science fiction or the short story market unlike this book. Buy one of those if you want a good how to book.
Rating: 
Summary: Very helpful book on writing short, contemporary romance
Review: Though this concise, thorough, 162-page book is written by a British romance writer, it is still very helpful for American writers interested in the mechanics and market for short contemporary romance novels, the area in which the author has specialized. Though her book is not as fleshed out as The Complete Idiot's Guide to Getting Your Romance Published by Julie Beard (a much larger book), Ms. Baker does an excellent job of pointing out the unique aspects of romance compared to other types of fiction. I will not list all the topics covered in this review, since you can click on the Table of Contents, index and browse 24 pages of the book on this web page. I, personally, found her sections on plotting the most useful parts of the book--very helpful! For anyone interested in writing romance, Writing a Romantic Novel is well worth adding to your collection of how-to books.
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