Monday, April 28, 2008

Fancy yourself in a novel?

yournovel.com inc. is the brainchild of husband/wife team Kathy M. Newbern and J.S. Fletcher, who make up the writer called Fletcher Newbern. They created the company in 1992, and apparently have written 16 out of the 24 novels available. Who wrote the rest? Ten contest winners who wrote "Celebrating Romance," ten short stories selected to celebrate yournovel.com's 10th anniversary.

They call themselves "romance writers," but after reading the excerpts one might disagree. No one ever said the stories were well written.

Look at the prices they charge for this gimmick:
Paperback $49.95
Paperback with picture of the couple $74.95
Hardback $94.95
Hardback with picture of the couple $119.95

Pricey for a gag gift. Self-publishing is expensive, and at one book per order, they're not getting a bulk rate. Someone must be buying the books for the team to stay in business.

From their website:
Newbern: "I was on a panel at a public relations conference and the ice-breaker question was: 'What would people be surprised to find out about you?' I answered that I had written a yet-to-be published romance novel, which got an appropriate response. Fletcher, then my boyfriend, had driven to the conference with me, and at lunch, one of the women, a friend, at the table said, 'Wouldn't it be great to read about yourself in one of those romance novels?' Well, we all laughed and kidded around about it. Then, on the four-hour drive home, Fletcher and I looked at each other, and the proverbial light bulb went off. We said, 'You know, we could do that!' and actually started outlining our first book, 'Another Day in Paradise,' on the back of a manila folder on the drive. We started writing it the next day."

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